Russell T Davies says telling stories “on a bigger scale” is one of the reasons he returned for a second stint as showrunner.
It’s safe to say that Doctor Who fans are excited about the future of the show right now – what with the return of Russell T Davies as showrunner, the upcoming 60th-anniversary celebrations with David Tennant, and the introduction of a brand new Doctor in Ncuti Gatwa.
Perhaps one of the main reasons to be optimistic about what lies in store is that thanks to the involvement of Bad Wolf Studios as a co-producer and Disney Plus as an international broadcast partner, the sci-fi series has been given the biggest budgets in its long history.
And Davies – who previously served as showrunner from the show’s big comeback in 2005 until the end of season 4 in 2010 – has explained that he now feels “a lot more free” in terms of what he’s able to write after the extra injection of money.
“It’s one of the reasons I’ve come back — you can tell stories on a bigger scale,” he told GQ in a recent interview, although he added that not all of the previous issues had disappeared.
“It’s the same old problems, I still have to cut scenes because they’re too expensive, and I still have to reduce the number of monsters, and things like that,” he said. “But my imagination feels more free, a lot more free, actually. It’s just a joy to write anyway. I’m really proud of it. Oh my god, there are some strong episodes coming up.”
In the same interview, Davies also reiterated his desire for further spin-offs – in the same vein as popular series such as Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures that aired during his previous stint as the show’s boss.
“I always believed in spin-offs when I was there,” he said. “Those spin-offs declined when I left, and I can see why. And I very much left after 2008, when the money became scarce, I think that’s fair enough for the public service broadcaster that the money is spent on other things.
“But now, it wasn’t my idea, it was the BBC’s notion to go for a streamer to invest in the show worldwide, which I completely agree with.”
Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer with episodes of the classic series also available on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here.
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