Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

[Tomalak]

Agreed, it’s too valuable for the BBC not to continue in some form.

The initial focus will need to be the 2025 Christmas special, as I don’t think one was filmed with the Season 2 production block. Probably means that having a third season on air for spring 2026 will be pushing it. It may be a series of Specials instead.

Alternatively, it could be an 8-episode season in autumn 2026, or even a split season. The budget cut could mean more use of the existing sets, like the Tardis and the UNIT HQ. Maybe less location filming.

 

[JD]

And William Russell was pushing 99 at the time. He was pushing 90 when he did his brief cameo in Adventures in Time and Space. He was already in his 80s when the new era started, and by the looks of his credits on IMDb already largely retired from live action acting, although he was still prolific in Doctor Who audio. There was no way he was ever going to play a role larger than a sentimental cameo such as the one he had in Power of the Doctor or might have had in Day of the Doctor if things had gone differently.

HIs appearance in Power of the Doctor set a Guiness World Record for the biggest gap between 2 TV appearances by an actor as the same character.

And it got cut out of the broadcast episode. Presumably someone pointed out that actually nothing's confirmed yet. The clowns really are in charge of the circus now.

I'm not sure what the last comment means? All that probably happened was someone realized that they hadn't made an official announcement, and didn't want it getting out until one had been made. I doubt he would have said that like that if he didn't already know for a fact he was filming them, so it being cut was probably just an attempt to keep the news quiet, not because he was wrong. Obviously, if that was the plan, it didn't work since the news had already gotten out.

 

[Tuskin38]

But, suffice to say, bringing Ace and Tegan, the way he did, as well as their respective Doctors, was... basically, awful.

Nah, it wasn't awful.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Nah, it wasn't awful.

I loved almost every minute of Power of the Doctor. It was a little over stuffed, but very powerful and emotional.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Not a fan of Chib’s era but I thought the way he brought back old Doctors was very clever and I would love to see it used again.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Yeah, it was fantastic to undermine Jodie's exit by robbing her incarnation of standing in for the Fifth and Seventh Doctrors as the incumbant Doctor when interacting with Tegan and Ace (just imagine if they did the exact same thing with Matt Smith and Death of the Doctor).

 

[Starkers]

Not a fan of Chib’s era but I thought the way he brought back old Doctors was very clever and I would love to see it used again.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that era either but again I really liked the

Yeah, it was fantastic to undermine Jodie's exit by robbing her incarnation of standing in for the Fifth and Seventh Doctrors as the incumbant Doctor when interacting with Tegan and Ace (just imagine if they did the exact same thing with Matt Smith and Death of the Doctor).

It's terrifying how often Chibnall robbed Whittaker's Doctor of agency, no surprise he did it even in her finale

 

[Mr Awe]

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I absolutely loved him bringing back the old Doctors and companions.

Agree about Chibnall robbing Whittaker's Doctor of her agency. I'm not sure why he did that so consistently?

Chibnall is a nice guy in person. Had an opportunity to share some laughs in a small group setting. But, not really a fan of his era.

 

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, it was fantastic to undermine Jodie's exit by robbing her incarnation of standing in for the Fifth and Seventh Doctrors as the incumbant Doctor when interacting with Tegan and Ace (just imagine if they did the exact same thing with Matt Smith and Death of the Doctor).

Eh, it was an anniversary special, celebrating BBC's 100th. Of course past Doctors were going to be brought back, along with having them interacting with their companions. That might even have been mandated by BBC, which Chibnall can't be blamed for.

 

[Mr Awe]

Eh, it was an anniversary special, celebrating BBC's 100th. Of course past Doctors were going to be brought back, along with having them interacting with their companions. That might even have been mandated by BBC, which Chibnall can't be blamed for.

Actually, I asked him about the past Doctors when I thanked him for including them. He said it was his own choice. Not mandated. He just wanted to include them. His said it with almost childhood glee, which I loved. If he was going to be writing that special, it was going to include those classic Doctors.

The original idea was that this story was going to be the regeneration story and it would've been his final story instead of the Sea Devils (it would've had the same basic plot as the Centenary Special but minus the classic Doctors). When they added the 100th special, he added the classic Doctors to that story. And wrote the new Sea Devils story for the earlier special.

 

[Tomalak]

I really enjoyed PotD, and Jodie’s send off was very nicely done.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

It was a lame end to a tremendously lukewarm, underwhelming era with a plot that doesn't make a lick of sense (I still don't understand the Master was doing the whole time in there).

 

[Tomalak]

That's pretty standard for the Master. What was he thinking in Logopolis?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

That's pretty standard for the Master. What was he thinking in Logopolis?

Or why bother with a disguise in Time-Flight? The Master doing nonsensical stuff is part of the territory.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

That both of these examples feature probably the second-least favorite of the Master is not a co-incidence, surely? And from the 80's, to boot?

 

[Tomalak]

His Delgado-era plans are no better. Typical Master story involves him doing something stupid that will inevitably backfire, and getting the Doctor to bail him out when it indeed does.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

But at least you knew what he was doing. You got the gist of his plan, even if they were stupid.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

No matter what, it was maniacal fun. That's all that matters. At least for me.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Good for you. To me, it was the quintessential cap to an incredibly underwhelming era. One where the Doctor is a shadow of her true self and the show doesn't commit to anything, whether its story, character or plot, without some massive compromise. Even with its ridiculous, mind-numbing lore rewrite it doesn't commit, the equivalent of dropping a bomb in a random place without thinking of what comes next.

Definitely not fun, and certainly unworthy of Whittaker's talents.

 

[Australis]

I'm very sad.

I've turned into one of those fans.
The "I'm not watching this until those people are gone!" types.

I know it's just IMO but:
Gatwa is a terrible actor
The scripts were uniformly awful
RTD has, as they say in technical parlance, completely shat the bed
And the House of Mouse has contributed to the downfall of a great series.

Go back and watch 9 and 10. Completely different show. My grandkids might like the Space Babies one, but it tonally doesn't match the finale, where everyone dies.

Very sad. Maybe I've aged out. But I strongly believe RTD's writing is nowhere near up to scratch. Maybe he's making too much money now. Maybe Disney has too much to say.

I will probably check out the first and last eps, just for nostalgia and habit.

What's next? Probably animated Who, with squeaky sound effects, for the young audience (can see it now, Young Dr Who), and live specials for the adults.

Let me know if it improves.