If you thought that the BBC might\u2019ve made the first move here, begging Davies to resume TARDIS-wrangling duties, just as the Chris Chibnall\/Jodie Whittaker era was drawing to a close\u2026 well, you\u2019d be wrong.<\/p>\n
In his \u2018Letter from the Showrunner\u2019 column for Doctor Who Magazine<\/a>, Davies has revealed that it all started during lockdown, during a series of online watch-along events that were orchestrated by Emily Cook from Doctor Who Magazine. And it was actually Davies who had to ask the BBC if it was possible.<\/p>\n As Davies recalls it, \u201cDWM organised Tweetalongs \u2014 the cast and crew of selected episodes tweeting simultaneously with fans worldwide. Enormous fun! David Tennant, Catherine Tate and I gathered online to watch The Runaway Bride.\u201d<\/p> Davies continued: \u201cI just looked at my phone. It was 20.01 on 18 December 2020 \u2014 Catherine texted me to say how much she\u2019d enjoyed it. It texted back: \u2018God, let\u2019s get David to do some more Doctor and Donna, I loved it so much!’\u201d<\/p>\n Davies went on to note, \u201cuntil I looked those texts up, I thought Catherine said it first. But it was me! I don\u2019t think I really meant it, though. Honestly: no secret plan at work. But then Catherine replied, \u2018Let\u2019s do it! The Doctor and Donna \u2014 The Lost Adventures.’\u201d<\/p>\n Even with Tate seeming keen, Davies wasn\u2019t sure if it would actually happen. \u201cI thought that was that\u201d, he wrote in his column, \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t actually go back, would we?\u201d<\/p>\n Davies, by his own account, did nothing at this stage. \u201cBut then! Catherine texted on 23 December, \u2018David said he\u2019d do it again in a heartbeat! Who do we need to speak to? Come on, let\u2019s get the old band back together!’\u201d<\/p>\n The reaction of Davies went like this: \u201cOh. Really? Wow! Merry Christmas. So I double-checked with David, he said yes, and then\u2026 Well, I simply had to be professional. As a former producer of Doctor Who, I had a job to do; if David and Catherine had expressed a wish to return, it was literally my job to let the BBC know. It wasn\u2019t my choice any more. It was my duty.\u201d<\/p>\n Davies added later in the column, \u201cSo I just thought, well I\u2019ll throw it out there, and since Chris [Chibnall, showrunner for the Whittaker era] is doing the busiset job in TV, I won\u2019t add to his workload. I\u2019ll email Piers Wenger, the Director of Drama. Simply reporting into ask: I have no idea about your future plans, but might this fit in somewhere? A Special? The anniversary? An extra? A one-off, maybe? What d\u2019you think?\u201d<\/p>\n And the rest, as they say, is history. Or is it the future? Or a parallel present? All we know for now is that Jodie Whittaker\u2019s Doctor regenerated back into David Tennant (with Tennant adding a line during the regeneration<\/a>) in the latest episode, The Power of the Doctor<\/a>.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll have to tune in next year (the specials are coming in November 2023) to see how exactly Tennant\u2019s new\/old Doctor reunites with Tate\u2019s Donna, who, as you might recall, has something of a condition \u2014 her head will explode if she ever remembers the Doctor. How\u2019s that for a reunion?<\/p>\n Doctor Who Magazine<\/a> issue 584 is out now.<\/strong><\/p>\n Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer<\/a>\u00a0with episodes of the classic series also available on BritBox \u2013 you can sign up for a\u00a07-day free trial here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of our\u00a0Sci-Fi<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Rob Leane Published: Sunday, 13 November 2022 at 12:00 am So, after all these years, how exactly did former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies and former Doctor Who star David Tennant end up returning to the show? With Catherine Tate as well! We now know how it happened, folks. If you thought that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25748,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/russell-t-davies-asked-bbc-if-he-could-return-to-doctor-who.jpg",1600,1066,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/russell-t-davies-asked-bbc-if-he-could-return-to-doctor-who-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/russell-t-davies-asked-bbc-if-he-could-return-to-doctor-who-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/russell-t-davies-asked-bbc-if-he-could-return-to-doctor-who-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/russell-t-davies-asked-bbc-if-he-could-return-to-doctor-who-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/russell-t-davies-asked-bbc-if-he-could-return-to-doctor-who-1536x1023.jpg",1536,1023,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/russell-t-davies-asked-bbc-if-he-could-return-to-doctor-who.jpg",1600,1066,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Rob Leane Published: Sunday, 13 November 2022 at 12:00 am So, after all these years, how exactly did former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies and former Doctor Who star David Tennant end up returning to the show? With Catherine Tate as well! We now know how it happened, folks. If you thought that…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2035\/01\/David-Tennant-Catherine-Tate-return-574addf.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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