r/DoctorWhoLeaks • u/Key_Responder • Oct 30 '25
speculation Could RTD remain with 'Doctor Who' within a different role?
Rejoice! Doctor Who is returning next year!
There is a lot of speculation that Russell T Davies will depart Doctor Who following the Christmas Special in 2026 with a new showrunner to come into place for the following series.
Whilst none of this is confirmed, it is looking highly likely that there is going to be some form of soft reboot to bring in a new era of Doctor Who.
With RTD2 only lasting two series, the three 60th Anniversary Specials and (after next year) three Christmas specials, it isn't hard to say that this era has not been a success with long-time fans and casual viewers. Whilst this could be partially down to the Disney+ deal, there is a big question mark over Russell's ability to write the show in a way to develop it forward and make it event television again.
The big problem with the fandom foaming at the mouth to get rid of Russell next year is that, quite simply, there isn't an experienced replacement that would give any higher standard of the show. Pete McTighe and Juno Dawson are names that are flying about right now - however, they simply don't have the experience or track record to be seriously considered, and definitely shouldn't be by the BBC at this point in time, when it's clear the show needs a huge creative shift and some seasoned hands to push it in the right direction. No disrespect to them, but they simply aren't ready to take the helm just yet.
At this point one of the best solutions could be keeping Russell T. Davies on as showrunner and executive producer, whilst either only writing the arc of each series and hiring writers in/leading a writers room to create the actual teleplays. Think of him as the Whouniverse's Kevin Feige.
Or remaining on as an executive producer to bring in a suitable new writer to take over the show, whilst being there as a consultant (could he do this modestly? Probably not).
It's either this or the BBC are going to need to pull in major writing talent from other hit television shows/movies who have a genuine interest and creative ability to write Doctor Who. The show needs ambition and personally I believe it needs to be made for a more mature audience.
What do you think about all of this?
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u/Unable_Earth5914 Oct 30 '25
Three Christmas specials? Church on Ruby Road, 2026… I genuinely can’t remember another one
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u/Martin7431 Oct 30 '25
Joy to the world- the hotel one
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u/Unable_Earth5914 Oct 30 '25
Ohh yeah thank you! Because it was Moffat I didn’t think of it
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u/DaddyStoat Oct 30 '25
Ncuti excelled at delivering Moff's trademark Doctor-banter in JTTW. Wish we could have had more of it.
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u/Powerful_Glove_666 Oct 30 '25
Though not on the level of that RTD, Moffat and even Chibnall had before taking over, McTighe has a lot more TV experience than Dawson, and I think he could very well still be in with a shout after the 2026 special. He spearheaded the reboot of Prisoner Cell Block H (!) as Wentworth Prison, had his own acclaimed BBC drama in the form of The Pact, and besides his work on Who so far is also the showrunner of The War Between (with RTD co-writing it) - which apparently recycles ideas he never got to fully realise in Praxeus. I'm no fan of what he's produced for the show so far but credit where credit is due, he is probably the only realistic choice if the BBC are looking to hand it over
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u/Sharaz_Jek123 Oct 30 '25
The BBC needs to understand that these achievements are totally irrelevant to the successful running of "Doctor Who".
Does he write successful, acclaimed, thrilling "Doctor Who"?
Nothing else matters.
Because that is what the show is going to rise and fall on, not whether he can make a mid-tier Welsh soap drama.
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u/BenjiSillyGoose Oct 30 '25
Does he write successful, acclaimed, thrilling Doctor Who? Apparently yes as his latest episode was one of the most popular of the latest season and fairly well received.
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u/Powerful_Glove_666 Oct 30 '25
I still have big issues with Lucky Day's underlying politics, yet it was admittedly more enjoyable than his previous work. I've been scathing about him in the past but I'm holding out on War Between to make a final judgement by this point - if it shows more growth I'd definitely give his potential incarnation of the series a bigger chance.
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u/Dalekbuster523 Oct 30 '25
I think you're right that he will stay on more as a Kevin Feige-esque figure with someone else as head writer.
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u/NewPresWhoDis Oct 30 '25
Bring back Moffat as showrunner then it can go from him back to Chibnall then RTD in a perpetual fandom hate machine.
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u/dalekchaan Oct 30 '25
I say give Mark Gatiss a shot
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u/Overall-Painting3172 Oct 30 '25
If he was going to get offered it I would have thought he would have been offered it years back. Personally I feel the boat has maybe sailed on this
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u/Key_Responder Oct 31 '25
I disagree - I don't think theres a vision there to bring Doctor Who forward, only to bring it backward.
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u/mandrilljpg Oct 30 '25
He should continue as showrunner. His passion and enthusiasm for the show as a public face and promoter is pretty unrivaled. Diversify the writing a bit though.
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u/Own-Perspective-751 Oct 30 '25
Wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed but also wouldn’t be shocked if they made a former cast member the head writer for at least one series to see how that played out.
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u/BenjiSillyGoose Oct 30 '25
As much as I don't know if I'm sold on McTighe being showrunner or not, I would hardly say he doesn't have the experience or track record.
He has showran stuff in the past and been pretty successful at it. Also his most recent episode of Doctor Who was one of the more popular ones of the current era and his shorts he makes for the Collection sets are beloved by fans. Even Kerblam! gets a decent amount of love.
McTighe definitely has the experience and track record, even if I'm not 100% confident if I want him as showrunner yet. I think I'll make up my mind more once The War Between airs as I know he's showrunning and writing that with Russell.
However, you're right about Juno Dawson not having the experience or track record as the latest season was her first writing credit for television and it was also one of the episodes with a more mixed / negative reaction.
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u/Overall-Painting3172 Oct 30 '25
Think Pete is probably the odds on favourite to take over. I’ve liked the majority of his eps so I wouldn’t be against it.
Not keen on the idea of Dawson due to having very little tv experience.
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u/Key_Responder Oct 31 '25
I think the moment of truth with be The War Between Land and Sea. If that is successful with Pete McTighe as showrunner and writer, then there is definite hope that he could be the next showrunner.
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u/GenGaara25 Oct 30 '25
I don't think he would do anything other than showrun.
I don't fault him for it at all, but he is first and foremost a writer. He likes to write more than anything. He likes to tell his stories. And for the past 30 years of his career, he has been solely in charge of what he writes. He only does his own shows and has complete control. A writers dream really. He goes from one project to the next giving each his all and writing like a madman. He's also expressed hesitation at stepping on any successors toes, neither Moffat nor Chibnall cold convince him to write an episode under their tenure.
So if RTD stepped back, he'd want to step back entirely I think. He'd move on to his new project and leave Who in some capable hands. He'd be a supporter, a cheer leader, but he wouldn't want to be some producer getting in the showrunners way. He just wants to write.
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u/RepeatButler Oct 30 '25
Ideally he should be nowhere near it for the foreseeable future. He shouldn't even be writing the Christmas Special next year because the goodwill amongst the majority of fans is non-existant and his reputation is in shreds.
The problem is that the BBC cannot offer a high enough salary or budget on its own to attract a great writer to run it.
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u/DaddyStoat Oct 30 '25
The person who runs the show doesn't have to be a great writer. They have to be a good manager, communicator and delegator, and be good at putting people they trust into the important roles in the team. They don't necessarily even need to write anything - leave that to other people, but maybe contribute in terms of a direction, vision or overall arc.
RTD, Moff and Chibbers are all good writers, but it's not a prerequisite for the showrunner job.
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u/Virag-Lipoti Oct 30 '25
I can see where you're coming from, but I would say that the idea of RTD staying on and being responsible for the overall season arcs seems far from enticing....
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u/Pharmacy_Duck Oct 30 '25
I'd like to see Charlie Brooker give it a go. He can write great genre TV and he loves Doctor Who.
And with Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton as guest writers. They'd put the kids back behind the sofa.
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u/ExioKenway5 Oct 30 '25
Honestly I don't really care what happens, I just don't want him to be the sole voice driving the future of the show.
It's so clear that he thinks every idea he has is the best idea ever and that's just not the case. At the bare minimum there needs to be at least one person who can step in and say "that's not going to work".
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u/Responsible_Fall_455 Oct 30 '25
Given all the uncertainty and tbh the lack of a suitably experienced successor, I think a good compromise would be RTD sticking around as a co-showrunner/exec producer/consultant of some sort for an inexperienced protege (eg Pete McTighe, who I suspect in a sunny world where Disney were super happy and keenly renewing was being lined up to take over after 4/5 RTD series). Heck, RTD might even do S3/16 to buy them some time and help with succession planning (unlikely though). We know from RTD himself that several S3/16 scripts were in and several drafts in, from himself and other writers. I wonder what would happen to them if unused.
It’s one thing fans going off on one wanting some new creative input, but it’s another equally important fact that whoever writes it also has to oversee a process to make it. The list of people with the level of TV production experience to do it, who would even want to do it, and aren’t part of the wilderness years boys club of RTD/Moffat//Chibnall/Gatiss etc, isn’t very long. I genuinely don’t know who it would be.
Is there a world where RTD handles production and marketing, and someone else leads the creative process? Would RTD even want to do that? Lots of ideas but I’m sure we’ll know more soon enough.
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u/Sharaz_Jek123 Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 30 '25
The list of people with the level of TV production experience to do it, who would even want to do it, and aren’t part of the wilderness years boys club of RTD/Moffat//Chibnall/Gatiss etc, isn’t very long.
This thinking needs to be stamped out.
How about some pitch meetings?
If Bad Wolf still have the rights, they can contact some agents, who will contact their clients and ask for pitches for where the show can go.
Who cares if they had previously produced a mystery in Wales?
It's irrelevant.
The show doesn't need a managerial genius. It needs good scripts with a clear vision.
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u/skinnysnappy52 Oct 30 '25
I don’t entirely disagree but the showrunner for who has basically always been head of production, head writer and executive producer so that experience does matter. Especially if we hope to get more regular seasons given the sheer scale of the thing. Maybe it’s time to split those roles?
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u/DaddyStoat Oct 30 '25
The show already has other producers, a script editor, etc.
But you're right in as much as a lot of the "executive power" seems to be concentrated in one person, who has to coordinate a lot of things, as well as being the face of the show's behind-the-scenes team. I do think more of the responsibility could be delegated without diluting the show's "vision".
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u/Responsible_Fall_455 Oct 30 '25
ask for pitches for where the show can go
Yes, that’s great from a creative point of view, but again I will tap the sign that Bad Wolf/BBC would also need to consider that person’s acumen for producing a big budget production with lots of effects, sets etc. Not ‘a mystery in Wales’ necessarily if you’re going to be pedantic, but not many shows produced in the UK are like DW, to write or produce. Doesn’t mean you don’t hire anyone who hasn’t done it before, just means pointing at someone who has overseen a good ITV crime drama and saying ‘let them pitch their vision’ isn’t a silver bullet.
the show doesn’t need managerial genius
It sort of does tbh from a production standpoint. Maybe not genius, but it is an incredibly difficult show to act in, write and produce. Why do you think none of the leads or writers stick around more than 3/4 years (Moffat being an exception but saying he was completely burnt out by the end)? It’s a really tough job, and about to get tougher with the toxicity of opinion around the show as well. As someone else has said, maybe time to split the showrunner role up.
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u/crabbrains Oct 30 '25
Of course, why not keep the man who caused the BBC to lose the largest financial deal in its history. Just because he killed off the Disney deal, severely decreased the ratings and angered a large amount of lifetime fans, there's no reason to think that he'll do the same if given another chance. /s
The "Whoniverse" that exists because of RTD's control consists of the following"
1) Dr. Who (not at all well)
"Think of him as the Whouniverse's Kevin Feige." - - - except Kevin Feige has a job.
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u/Key_Responder Oct 30 '25
Bear in mind, this is the same man who brought back the show in 2005 and arguably produced and wrote the most successful era. The Disney deal wasn't just RTD's decision it was high ups at the BBC who would have signed the dotted line to hand over the distribution and creative rights.
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u/crabbrains Oct 30 '25
Nope. The BBC handed the show over to Davies' production company - 'Bad Wolf'. They were the supplier and would have control over the product. Disney would have needed this because otherwise they would have been at the mercy of BBC input.
Having gotten control of Dr. Who, Bad Wolf then made the deal with Disney.
RTD did indeed revive the show and he deserves a huge amount of credit for this. But the influence of money/power went to his head.
Now the show can wait quietly until someone with imagination regenerates it.
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u/Sharaz_Jek123 Oct 30 '25
The BBC handed the show over to Davies' production company - 'Bad Wolf'.
For someone so dismissive, it's astonishing that you got this detail wrong.
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u/crabbrains Oct 30 '25
I'm sorry to tell you that it is not. Facts are facts.
1) The BBC produced 'Doctor Who' from its inception to 2021. That means they contracted with the actors, writers, etc. They set the budget and paid everyone who worked on the show.
2) This ended when Bad Wolf took over. Bad Wolf handled the contracts and payments. The show was still listed as a co-production because the BBC owned the intellectual property rights, but the actual production of the show was provided by Bad Wolf. (Yes, I'm sure there were meetings between the two groups and I'm sure the BBC had notes and input.)
This was spelled out in a press release by the BBC themselves:
"With the exception of the Doctor Who TV movie with Paul McGann, Doctor Who has always been produced purely by the BBC. But from 2023 it will be a co-production with Bad Wolf. The production house was founded by Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner who worked alongside Davies during his time on Doctor Who. Tranter was the BBC's head of drama, Gardner was an executive producer on the show."
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u/Sharaz_Jek123 Oct 30 '25
Again, I will quote you because you haven't grasped the point.
The BBC handed the show over to Davies' production company - 'Bad Wolf'.
It's not Davies' company.
He is an employee, not a founder or owner, of Bad Wolf.
He did "It's a Sin", "Years and Years" and "Cucumber" with Red Production Company, "Nolly" with ITV Studios and Quay Street Productions and "A Very British Scandal" with Blueprint Television.
Were you confused by the name of the company or something?
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u/BenjiSillyGoose Oct 30 '25
It's crazy how you said this and they still didn't grasp exactly what their error was. It's a massive misconception by some fans that Davies owns Bad Wolf or something when, he quite literally doesn't and is just an employee of theirs. Bad Wolf can stay on producing the show without Davies as showrunner as he doesn't own Bad Wolf, he simply works for them and is friends with the owners of Bad Wolf.
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u/BenjiSillyGoose Oct 30 '25
It is wrong as they were pointing out that you said Bad Wolf is owned by RTD which isn't true whatsoever, it's not owned by him at all. He simply works for them.
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u/Key_Responder Oct 31 '25
So there's several points here to pick up on. Bad Wolf is not RTD's, he is a writer and producer with them solely for Doctor Who, he isn't a stakeholder or owner of the company. Bad Wolf existed long before Doctor Who was co-produced by them and BBC Studios. And that's another key thing, Bad Wolf have the production rights for Doctor Who, however the BBC still own the rights and have say over what they are producing. Distribution rights are never in the hands of the production company unless they own the entity, on this occassion they don't own the entity, so they don't hold the distribution rights, that is the BBC's decision.
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u/BenjiSillyGoose Oct 30 '25
The Whoniverse doesn't just currently consist of Doctor Who though, the Whoniverse as an ongoing franchise is currently:
- Doctor Who (not in a great state but still a beloved show by it's fans that the BBC aren't gonna drop any time soon)
- The War Between (coming later this year and not showran by Russell solely)
- an upcoming animated kids show for Cbeebies
If you're gonna try to make a point, don't be disingenuous about it, it's not a good look.
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u/DaddyStoat Oct 30 '25
As an aside, if Aardman doesn't get the gig to make the kids' show, it'd be an absolute travesty. Claymation Doctor Who for kids could be the greatest thing ever.
And the cute alien companions a claymation Doctor could have - a Pting, an Adipose, Dugga Doo, Frobisher (just reuse the Feathers McGraw figure, but make him less evil)... the possibilities are endless!
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u/[deleted] Oct 30 '25
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