Russell T Davies’s focus is on Doctor Who for ‘years to come’

The returning showrunner also said he won’t be developing new projects “for a while” because of his Doctor Who duties.

By James Hibbs

Published: Monday, 06 March 2023 at 12:00 am

With Russell T Davies coming back to Doctor Who just as the series is celebrating its 60th anniversary, fans may have assumed that his second tenure at the helm of the long-running sci-fi show might have been a brief one, setting the show up for the future before a new showrunner steps in.

However, we now have confirmation that this will not be the case, as Davies has confirmed that he will be working on the show for “years” to come.

Speaking on the Table Manners podcast with Jessie and Lennie Ware, Davies said that he will be working on the show “for years I think actually, I will have to spend years on that”.

When asked whether this meant he wouldn’t have any other new projects in development, Davies said: “Not for a while. I am sorry. Time to give these young people a bit of space.”

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Ncuti Gatwa and Russell T Davies.
Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Elsewhere on the podcast, Davies also said of returning to the show: “It is lovely. I only came back because I had things to do, things I wanted to do and stories I wanted to write. It doesn’t feel like I am going back, as cliche as it sounds. It feels like I am going forward.

“The fact that I have loved that show my entire life and it is my first memory in life, not my first memory of television but my first memory in life… and remember all those years later it becomes the number one show in Britain it’s like, how lucky am I? Very, very lucky.”

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Davies also spoke on the podcast about his recent drama series Nolly, which stars Helena Bonham Carter and arrived on ITVX in February.

Doctor Who will return to BBC One in November for its 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant, before a season with Ncuti Gawta‘s new Doctor starts airing in 2024.

It was recently reported that the show will be using “top of the range technology, the kind that Marvel films use” for its new series, while Katy Manning has teased that new spin-offs currently in development will see “people returning”.