I've heard that comparison to Davison come up several times recently. I don't totally see it myself--maybe because Davison had more agency, as you say.And she is very much like Five, only I think Davison had more agency, but more importantly Davison acted as if he were all the other Doctors, an old man in a young man's body etc, even in her best moments I've never got that sense of great age from Jodie (rarely got it from Tennant to be fair)
Unfortunately, that reminds me so much of the late era of Classic Who. There just wasn't the will among higher ups and among the pool of producers to go in and fix the show. It was seen as more effort than it was worth. When JNT left, there was literally no one who wanted that headache of job, which is why it was rested. It had all the downsides of being a complex, difficult show to make that was struggling in the ratings. And, none of the upsides of being an innovative new show that is exciting to work on. As I understand it, it wasn't about ratings at the time and it wasn't intended to be gone for so long.Moffat won't come back, not barring some kind of nightmare request from the BBC that says the show will end if it doesn't. Maybe not even then. It's a hard, time consuming (and lets be honest) often thankless job that I think most writer/producers would think twice about before taking. I mean a great opportunity as well but definitely a double edged sword.
One of the problems I think is that, reading between the lines which is never a good idea, I get the feeling that Chibnall was kinda coerced into it by the BBC. The Beeb did seem to see him as the only choice which is odd.
I, too, think Chibnall was coerced, or had to be convinced. I and think he might well have been the only choice ala JNT.
That all seems very applicable to the current show right now. I'm not usually a doomsayer, but I do suspect that it won't be long before the series is rested. As it was with Classic Who, it won't be because the ratings are so terrible. But rather an institutional willpower sort of thing.
Now, I'm reading even further between the lines! However, a rest of 5-ish years wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Of course, the risk would be of the resting extending on for longer than planned, as it did with the old show.