The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Davies travels back for Dr Who return
Russell T Davies will return to Doctor Who as showrunner after departing in 2009, the BBC has announced.
The writer, who was behind the 2005 revival of the Time Lord, will replace Chris Chibnall when he and current Doctor Jodie Whittaker leave next year.
Davies will make his return to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who in 2023.
He said: “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.”
Chibnall has served as executive producer and head writer since taking over from Steven Moffat in 2017 and was responsible for casting Whittaker.
In July, it was announced Whittaker and Chibnall would exit the sci-fi drama in the new year.
Whittaker will star in the next series, which starts later this year, before making her final appearances in a trio of specials next year.
The first special will air on New Year’s Day, the second will be later in the spring and the third, when The Doctor regenerates, will air in autumn 2022 and will form part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations.
Welsh screenwriter and TV producer Davies’s credits include A Very English Scandal, and Years And Years.
It’s A Sin, his most recent drama, explores the HIV/ Aids crisis in the 1980s.
It stars Olly Alexander and follows young gay men in London in the 1980s.
Alexander is favourite to replace Whittaker but his manager recently released a statement that said: “Even though Olly is often contacted by Cybermen, I’m afraid I have to exterminate this speculation.”
Chibnall said: “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.”