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March 28, 2024, 08:54:28 PM

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RTD back for Doctor Who

Started by Jack Shaftoe, September 24, 2021, 04:17:47 PM

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Jack Shaftoe

Holy crikey.

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news/?article=russell-t-davies-to-return-as-doctor-who-showrunner
QuoteMulti award-winning Russell T Davies will take control of the TARDIS once more as the next Doctor Who showrunner, succeeding Chris Chibnall who departs next year.

Russell T Davies will make an explosive return to screens to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who in 2023, and series beyond.  BBC Studios are partnering with Bad Wolf to produce.

Responsible for Doctor Who's revival in 2005, he is credited with propelling the show into a global phenomenon and making it one of TV's biggest hits.   His tenure on the show oversaw a surge in popularity enjoying huge acclaim and success. The Doctor won the nation's hearts through his masterful relaunch, which led him to create two spin off series, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures during that time.

Davies left the show in 2009. A lifelong Doctor Who fan, he has most recently achieved huge success with Years and Years, A Very English Scandal and It's a Sin which won Best New Drama at the National TV Awards this month.   Russell T Davies says "I'm beyond excited to be back on my favourite show. But we're time-travelling too fast, there's a whole series of Jodie Whittaker's brilliant Doctor for me to enjoy, with my friend and hero Chris Chibnall at the helm – I'm still a viewer for now."

Chris Chibnall says "It's monumentally exciting and fitting that Doctor Who's 60th anniversary will see one of Britain's screenwriting diamonds return home. Russell built the baton that is about to be handed back to him  - Doctor Who, the BBC, the screen industry in Wales, and let's be honest everyone in the whole world, have so many reasons to be Very Excited Indeed about what lies ahead."   Piers Wenger, BBC Director of Drama says "As the 13th Doctor prepares to embark on new and extraordinary adventures, the winds of change are blowing... bringing with them news to delight Doctor Who fans across the globe. We are thrilled that Russell is returning to Doctor Who to build on the huge achievements of Chris and Jodie. Thank you to the two of them and the team in Cardiff for all they continue to do for the show and hello Russell, it's wonderful to have you back."

Russell T Davies will make an explosive return to screens to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who in 2023, and series beyond.  BBC Studios are partnering with Bad Wolf to produce.

Jack Shaftoe

Wait, sorry, just seen this is already addressed in the RTD/Moffat threat, delete if necessary.


Jack Shaftoe


JamesTC

The other thread is for retrospective as much as anything so having a separate thread for discussion and speculation isn't a bad thing.

daf

Yes, I think a new 'New RTD' thread is a good idea - I'll pop a link for it in the 2005-2017 thread.

Endicott

Exactly, which is why I'm choosing this thread to express my complete surprise and mild optimism that Who might go somewhere better again.

Deanjam


Jack Shaftoe

I never really clicked with RTD, Moffat much more my cup of tea, but christ, after Chibnall...

My brain has immediately gone to speculation that if RTD didn't come back they were going to put the show to rest for the forseeable, but I have nothing to back that up at all.

JamesTC

Quote from: Jack Shaftoe on September 24, 2021, 04:32:17 PM

My brain has immediately gone to speculation that if RTD didn't come back they were going to put the show to rest for the forseeable, but I have nothing to back that up at all.

Modern equivalent of when Sydney Newman suggested bringing back Troughton to save the show in 1986.

H-O-W-L


Jerzy Bondov

It should just be RTD and Moffat on a rotating basis, keep everyone happy

In my mind, I was resigned to the idea that the BBC were just letting it run as a zombie franchise with the minimum amount of money and talent needed to produce it, just to keep the syndication cash coming in and that they didn't really give much of a fuck about it any more, ala Top Gear.

So to see them bring RTD back on board proves that they a) realise the ship needed righting and b) do still give a shit about it.

I do wonder if they've actually booted Chibnall in favour of Russ and the whole thing has been stage managed to spare his blushes.

dissolute ocelot

So does this mean Olly Alexander or Billie Piper as the next Dr? Or Julie Hesmondhalgh?

Leo2112

Eh I thought Olly Alexander was the weak link of It's a Sin so wouldn't be that thrilled.  A bigger name just to appear for a single series à la Eccleston wouldn't be a bad idea.

McDead

Ben Wishaw has got the goods, and he's done great work with RTD before. And maybe this doesn't matter so much anymore, but he's "Doctor-ish"

Norton Canes

Any chance they could can the 2022 specials and bring him forward a year?

JamesTC

Any chance they could can the last two series as well and bring him forwards to 2018?

Chairman Yang

Obviously Chris Chibnall is well shit but imagine being that shit, so unbelievably shit, that they bring in the old guy to fix your mess.... the guy who's already fucked off having fixed it once already.

I'd be mortified.

Replies From View

Quote from: daf on September 24, 2021, 04:26:13 PM
Yes, I think a new 'New RTD' thread is a good idea - I'll pop a link for it in the 2005-2017 thread.

when I followed the link from there to here I immediately forgot what had happened and then I started wandering around with my cock out


DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN DAF OR I WILL CONVERT YOU INTO A PLASTIC ONE THAT SPUNKS CLINGFILM

Replies From View

Quote from: Chairman Yang on September 24, 2021, 05:07:39 PM
Obviously Chris Chibnall is well shit but imagine being that shit, so unbelievably shit, that they bring in the old guy to fix your mess.... the guy who's already fucked off having fixed it once already.

I'd be mortified.

I don't know whether such a shit person would be able to feel mortified.  Chibnall probably hasn't put all these pieces together.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

#21
Quote from: Jack Shaftoe on September 24, 2021, 04:32:17 PM
My brain has immediately gone to speculation that if RTD didn't come back they were going to put the show to rest for the forseeable, but I have nothing to back that up at all.

I think that's an entirely reasonable speculation. DW stopped being must-see television during the Chibnall era (the big viewing figures for Whittaker's first episode don't count, that was always going to be a ratings smash), it just sort of chuntered along without much fanfare. Given how much it costs to produce, the BBC won't have been happy about that. So it stands to reason, in their TV executive minds, that the best way of rectifying that situation is to bring back the writer/producer who revived the show and turned it into a national talking point.*

And I suspect that RTD, although he's too nice and professional to ever admit this, was dismayed by the show's decline in quality and popularity. Like Moffat, he absolutely loves DW and wants it to continue forever. He wants it to be good and special, as opposed to something that's just there like Death in Paradise or Midsomer Murders

So in theory at least, it's the ideal outcome for RTD, the BBC and the viewers.  Everyone's a winner.

* I don't think the uptown top-ranking BBC nabobs - yer Alan Yentobs and Marmaduke Husseys - will have noticed that Chibnall is a shit hack idiot who doesn't have a clue; all they care about is that one of their flagship shows isn't as successful as it used to be. If Chibnall's mediocrity had somehow clicked with the masses, they would've been perfectly happy.

EDIT: That was a very long-winded way of articulating what most of you have already said. Should've checked before posting. Soz.

Deanjam

Quote from: Leo2112 on September 24, 2021, 04:52:47 PM
Eh I thought Olly Alexander was the weak link of It's a Sin so wouldn't be that thrilled.  A bigger name just to appear for a single series à la Eccleston wouldn't be a bad idea.

Oh just give me a year with Michael Sheen.

Alberon

I think it makes sense. RTD brought back the show the last time it was cancelled so it's logical he brings it back after this cancellation. I'm just glad the gap was only five years this time and not sixteen!

Leo2112

Would be cool to see some RTD Who episodes with decent production/art direction.  That's one aspect of his era which didn't age particularly well.

daf

Quote from: Deanjam on September 24, 2021, 05:21:02 PM
Oh just give me a year with Michael Sheen.

I don't think we've had a Welsh Doctor yet, have we?

Malcy

Quote from: daf on September 24, 2021, 05:29:59 PM
I don't think we've had a Welsh Doctor yet, have we?

(Tom's the closest - coming from the old 'capital of North Wales', Liverpool)



Matt Smith recently said he wants Rhys Ifans to be the next Doctor. Sheen would be great too.

BritishHobo

Proper delighted by this, once the bafflement died down, and the paranoia that it was one of those "an anonymous source told The Sun that Russell might have possibly had a hypothetical dream in which he considered returning as showrunner but ultimately didn't" stories.

I like that we don't really know what this could be, but whatever it is it'll be great. If it really is just a nostalgic throwback to the RTD era, then that'll at least fit nicely with the 60th anniversary - and his show had so much life to it, it'll be refreshing. It'll be lovely to have the speed of the dialogue back, the sparkle of his ideas, the joy of his characters.

On the other hand, which is even better, I can't imagine this will be the same as before. He obviously approached New Who as the writer he was sixteen years ago, making decisions informed by the classic series and the long gap, as well as what TV was like at the time. He's going to be bringing a lot of different things to his writing this time, and very possibly envisioning it in a completely different way to the way he did in 2005. Didn't he do an interview recently saying that if it had been revived now it would be a big-budget Netflix miniseries thing? It could feel completely different, and have a completely different attitude towards the backstory of the character.

Most importantly, it'll definitely be sticking around in Cardiff now.

Replies From View

What's funny as well is that Children of Earth was an attempt to fix Chibnall's version of Torchwood.

daf

Quote from: BritishHobo on September 24, 2021, 05:34:06 PM
If it really is just a nostalgic throwback to the RTD era, then that'll at least fit nicely with the 60th anniversary - and his show had so much life to it, it'll be refreshing.

Whereas I'd previously not been that bothered about the 60th anniversary (and had actually forgotten it was coming up), I'm proper excited now!

McGann & Lucie-Miller BBC3 spin-off, please! :)