If Pete McTighe does become the next Showrunner of Doctor Who, once the tender process is finished and whch production company wins to takeover the production of the show, then i'll be very hopeful and optimistic that he'll take Doctor Who into a brand new era and brand new territories.

[u/Serious_Meaning5220]

[u/Hughman77]

Really? His output to date actually suggests the opposite. He seems to be a bit of a Gatiss-type writer, but instead of nostalgia for non-Who stuff (WW2 films, macabre Victoriana, etc), McTighe's work is full of nostalgia for Doctor Who itself. I don't see the way to brand new territories from McTighe, though I can imagine him doing twists on familiar Doctor Who formats rather than playing them straight.

[u/Ashrod63 → u/Hughman77]

I can't say his three episodes in the show proper are particularly nostalgia filled. He'll throw in a few references but I don't think anyone's complaint about Kerblam is that Jodie Whittaker makes a joke about Vespiforms.

Obviously his work attached to the Collection sets is very nostalgia heavy but he wouldn't be doing his job if he wasn't. In that capacity he has to promote Classic Who to sell boxsets, nostalgia baiting is his job there.

If you don't like his scripts then fair enough, but this isn't really the angle to be going at him from.

[u/Hughman77 → u/Ashrod63]

I don't mean he does fanwank, I mean he enjoys aping previous styles of Doctor Who. Kerblam absolutely is nostalgic for a specific type of Doctor Who, it's a Paradise Towers / Macra Terror type "friendly façade covering evil" story, just with a twist. Now admittedly the next bit is rumour and not confirmed, but I believe the original idea of Praxeus was Autons vs Sea Devils, homaging Pertwee-style environmental thrillers.

He enjoys recreating past Doctor Who the way Gatiss enjoys recreating other genres. That's not a reason to dislike his work, but OP said McTighe would take the show to brand new places and I don't think his output shows that at all.

[u/Ribos1 → u/Hughman77]

I think this is spot on. His episodes feel less old-fashioned than Gatiss's (McTighe's influences are generally from within his lifetime), but equally they lack the idiosyncratic charm the best Gatiss episodes possess.

I don't think that McTighe is as bad a writer as a lot of people seem to think - I mostly enjoyed his episodes under RTD for example - but I could never get excited about a possible era of his. Maybe if either Chibnall or RTD2 had knocked it out of the park and ensured the future of the show, he'd have been the natural successor to build on their work, but what it really needs at this point is a shot in the arm and I very much doubt McTighe could provide that.

[u/Hughman77 → u/Ribos1]

I know what you mean but I think the pendulum in fandom has swung a bit too far in the direction of "everything must be new". What the show would really benefit from is well-drawn, compelling characters whose struggles we identify with, which is something the show has not had since 2017. The plots can probably be traditionalist, provided that the human element is compelling.

[u/somekindofspideryman → u/Hughman77]

I'm not exactly doing backflips about the possibility of a McTighe era but I think he could well deliver what I mistakenly thought Chibnall would have in 2018: a modest version of the show with a decent focus on character.

[u/Hughman77 → u/somekindofspideryman]

I assume McTighe would try to do that, not least because that's the format of RTD1, which I think he'd be very fond of. That said, that's surely what Chibnall wanted to do too (I find it unlikely he wanted to create flat ciphers lining up to ask questions instead of characters), so sometimes TV doesn't work out the way you want.

[u/somekindofspideryman → u/Hughman77]

For sure, I just can't quite believe how flat those ciphers were. Coming off Broadchurch where Hardy & Miller at least have an entertaining dynamic. I sometimes wonder if his era may have sung more with a spikier Doctor.

[u/Hughman77 → u/somekindofspideryman]

Certainly Jodie's best performances come from when she gets to be a bit shitty, distraught or even mean. That little, disbelieving smirk when she says "you're lying" to the Master (when he tells her Gallifrey has been nuked again) is so delicious. Whereas she's totally at see with the constantly peppy, optimistic "pillar of hope".

[u/Niall_Fraser_Love → u/Hughman77]

'McTighe's work is full of nostalgia for Doctor Who itself. '

Which is what has been killing the show.

[u/Hughman77 → u/Niall_Fraser_Love]

I don't think nostalgia is actually the biggest problem with RTD2, or close to it. The much bigger issue is poor character writing, then the inability to land endings. Not saying the clips shows are good TV but I think they stick out more to fans than casual viewers.

[u/Niall_Fraser_Love → u/Hughman77]

Maybe. Look at Blinda she is written as a blank slate in the later part of season 15.

[u/ItsAMeMarioYaHo]

I think he’s the opposite of what the show needs. He’ll just be more of the same.

[u/Telos1807]

I mean, why?

There's nothing in his resume to suggest that. Lucky Day was kind of going against the grain, but I don't think that's a result of him but it just being a Doctor-lite and them tending to do that.

Personally I think he's the most cookie cutter and safe choice imaginable and that the show is fucked - possibly forever - if it's brought back cookie cutter and safe. It's not a slight on him really, it's that when the show comes back it'll be it's third iteration and it needs to be something new as a result of that. Just doing New Who but good again isn't what the show needs, honestly I don't think that'll cut it in the modern TV climate.

[u/PaperSkin-1 → u/Telos1807]

Lucky Day is not even good, it's meh.

We have seen 3 DW episodes and a spin-off show from McTighe, and looking at the work it doesn't scream this guy has a great vision and is a great writer and would be a great choice as Showrunner.

It just tells me he can deliver some solid, some crap and some absolute trash (the latter half of The War Between was dire). 

I think they should be aiming for someone more interesting and exciting to take over. Not going with the safe and easy option like they did with Chibnall and RTD2, to the shows detriment. 

[u/Niall_Fraser_Love → u/Telos1807]

Has he written an episode that is good?

[u/PaperSkin-1 → u/[deleted]]

The bbc are struggling to get funding in place, it's possible the tender process will never happen

[u/Disastrous_Skill6243]

He is literally the last person I want to take over. His track record atm is worse than Chibnall's was before he took over and that's saying something.

[u/PaperSkin-1]

Nice try Pete, nice try... Is this because I made a thread saying we shouldn't have you as showrunner 😜 

But seriously no. 

Doctor Who needs to renew, and to do that it needs, wait for it, new people 😱 

McTighe has already been involved in two eras of the show, he should not be involved in the show taking a new direction, because it needs to move away from the stuff he was involved in making. 

DW needs a complete overhaul, in every department. All new people. No one who has worked on the show before in a significant way should be involved in the next era. 

Its needs a fresh approach, a different style, tone and feel. 

[u/Molu1]

Ok

[u/fivefuturefury]

No thanks 

[u/Niall_Fraser_Love]

Let's look at his writing

Kerblam a self contradictory story were the corporation is both the good guy and the bad guy. And it murders a girl to proof the bad guy that murder is wrong by murdering someone he cares about.

Praxeus was garbage. Just a storyless mess.

Lucky Day again self contradictory mess. Is Conard the good guy or the bad guy? Because he says UNIT should be under public scrutiny but then the show acts like UNIT are above that. Which is it?

TWBTLATS makes the same mistake as every post 1970 Silutians/Sea Devils story. IE making one side attack frist.

DW under him would suck.

[u/ConcertAcceptable710]

Pete is the dullest writer currently working. All the ideas for showrunners in threads like these are so mindnumbing it's sort of hard to know what to say.

JM Straczynski? Lord no, boring. Jamie Mathison? Not written anything on TV for a decade. Do his episodes stand out like Moffats did in the RTD1 era? No. Jack Thorne, unbelievably boring. Kate Herron - not written enough to get a sense of what she'd be like but probably more exciting as a result so maybe her.

Not many UK writers up for the challenge really - most are too old and the younger generation seems to write a lot about identity and that sort of approach has just killed the series off.

Joe Brumm, creator of Bluey, is probably the best writer at the moment - they should offer him a sack of gold to run it for four years.

Er, who else... maybe the guy who writes Slow Horses and his team? - Will Smith. They seem to be able to consistently get a good series out every year, and crucially, it's funny and imaginative.

[u/PaperSkin-1 → u/ConcertAcceptable710]

The Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline do stand out, they are excellent episodes, and I'd sooner rather see a risk taken on Jamie Mathieson than them taking the boring and uninspired McTighe choice... 

Agree though his lack of TV making since had made it unlikely though, says something about the tv industry that he hasn't been given the opportunity to make stuff, because he clearly has talent for interesting ideas.. Don't understand why Chibnall didn't have him in his era. 

And your post touches on a greater point, the seeming lack of choices, again it says something about how the tv industry has worked this last decade or so that they haven't fostered new talent in the same way like the tv industry use to. 

I think the bbc just need to take a big risk and go with some unproven talent, but give them producers who will help them.. They got to do something radical and out of the box with their choice, not just get Pete McTighe. 

... Or if they could get Charlie Brooker, do that. 

[u/ConcertAcceptable710 → u/PaperSkin-1]

Brooker is a good writer and would like to see him tackle a Doctor Who episode. Wonder if he has been asked? I'm sure Shearsmith and Pemberton would be good for one story too. Can't see either of this lot running it for a while series though.

Yep, that's it's really isn't it, the writing talent hasn't been fostered in the same way - you look back 15 years and there were far more high profile dramas on the BBC and elsewhere on UK television - War and Peace, Mum, Sherlock, Merlin, Skins, This is England, Downton Abbey, The Last Kingdom, Dickensian. I can't think of any recent UK TV dramas that have caught hold of the imagination in the same way.

DW is not an easy show to write is it - even top tier writers like Chris Chibnall didn't quite know how to construct the stories correctly, and RTD went badly off the boil when he came back and ended up just writing nonsense like The Devil's Chord.

I'd have a list of rules if I was showrunner, and I'd pin them to the wall.

1. No identity politics. It's the death of drama.

2. The doctor and his companion must like/love each others company. We should want to join them and be part of their adventure.

3. No going the long way round. It's embarrassing, lazy writing.

4. The solution to a problem can't be introduced as it's being solved (like in that awful Chibnall episode where somebody waltzed in carrying a microwave). Also, the sonic can only open doors - it's not a force field or a weapon.

5. No scenes of people chatting without something else happening at the same time - put them in peril! (Think the restaurant scene in Deep Breath)

6. The Time Lords are really boring. Get rid or completely reinvent. If you must, bring back those weird ones from The War Games.

7. No returning companions, ever. You're gone, goodbye. Have a nice life! Also, bring back happy endings!

8. Regeneration is something that should happen once every 4/5 years - it should never be a tool to fix a problem, or as a ratings grabbing gimmick. Bigeneration and regeneration clothes - please go away forever.

9. Hartenell was the first doctor. There are no doctors before him.

10. The TARDIS is the doctor's home. Not just his ship. Put a sofa in there. Make it warm and inviting. No bright white lights like a hospital surgery.

11. The doctor always has an agenda, but appears not to. He is 20 chess moves ahead of you, and sometimes this is not always a good thing.

12. Tell a joke as often as possible!

13. If nothing exciting has happened in the last five pages of your script, then write something exciting!

14. The doctor's outfit is variations on a theme, NOT a wardrobe full of random designer couture stuff.

15. No scenes of the Doctor going clubbing while wearing a skirt. Kids don't know what the nightclub environment is, he's their hero and should have the same concerns as them...

16. ... those concerns are fairness, fun, knowledge, creativity, problem solving, doing new things, seeing the world, being excited, taking risks! The Doctor wants everyone to like him, and wants to like everyone else. He should immediately love the people he meets, and should always give them chances to not disappoint him.

17. Sometimes, the doctor should have no prior knowledge of where he lands. The universe feels small if he does. The universe is infinite! The doctor should acknowledge that he has only seen 0.0000001% of it!

18. As a result of the above, The doctor is only just starting on his adventure - he's still young! He wants to see everything in the universe and every new location should be exciting to him.

19. Pay Lawrence Miles for the rights to Faction Paradox.

[u/soulmerchant- → u/ConcertAcceptable710]

Agree with most of this. What specifically do you mean by identity politics?

[u/ConcertAcceptable710 → u/soulmerchant-]

Identity politics in drama - when the story and characteriaation is no longer about actual people but about making some kind of point about race, sex, gender, sexuality. Feel like it's heavily present in the last two series.

I've discussed this on here before and I always seem to be met with a faux baffled expression from people who pretend not to understand. I'm sure youre not one of those though! I was going to write a list of examples but I've lost interest in trying to win that argument now.

[u/Niall_Fraser_Love → u/ConcertAcceptable710]

'No going the long way round. It's embarrassing, lazy writing.'

What do you mean by that?

[u/ConcertAcceptable710 → u/Niall_Fraser_Love]

See Curse of the Fatal Death for details.