The showrunner Russell T Davies retakes the keys to the Tardis
- Publication: The Times
- Date: 2023-11-25
- Author:
- Page: Saturday Review, p. 20
- Language: English
The showrunner Russell T Davies retakes the keys to the Tardis and prefaces his new Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa, the Sex Education star, who will start at Christmas) with an old one. David Tennant (right) was the tenth Time Lord, but he is now also the 14th, returning to the fray with his old companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate). The last time these two clapped eyes on each other Donna had somehow (and please don't write in) absorbed a dangerous dose of the Gallifreyan's mind power in a procedure that saved the universe, but also meant that if she remembered him she would die. So both the Doctor (and Davies) have to tread delicately when he returns to Earth and they hook up. I have seen the whole episode, but its details are subject to the kind of draconian embargo restrictions from the BBC that make the Daleks seem anti-authoritarian. What I can say is that there is the usual world-saving shizzle and a story arc that covers all three specials, which ought to please most fans. Davies, never a writer to shy away from diversity casting, gives Donna a daughter called Rose, played by the transgender actress Yasmin Finney, and there is a key role for Ruth Madeley, an actress with a disability. The special effects look flashier than usual, thanks, it seems, to the dollops of moolah from Disney, the new co-producers. The big test will be whether viewers take to Gatwa, and Davies is clearly hoping that a Tennant-shaped reminder of why many fell in love with the show is the best way to start.
Doctor Who: 60 Years of Secrets & Scandals
Channel 5, 830pm
This look back on some of the Time Lord's more problematic moments tends towards the homespun, British cheapness of the show. Yes, there are the alleged sexual misadventures of the producer John Nathan-Turner, and the actress Nicola Bryant is frank about requests to wear tight tops and pretend she was American. But it's more silly than scandalous, reaching its apogee with the single Doctor in Distress, whose originator, Ian Levine, remembers as the worst charity record ever made.
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- APA 6th ed.: (2023-11-25). The showrunner Russell T Davies retakes the keys to the Tardis. The Times p. Saturday Review, p. 20.
- MLA 7th ed.: "The showrunner Russell T Davies retakes the keys to the Tardis." The Times [add city] 2023-11-25, Saturday Review, p. 20. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: "The showrunner Russell T Davies retakes the keys to the Tardis." The Times, edition, sec., 2023-11-25
- Turabian: "The showrunner Russell T Davies retakes the keys to the Tardis." The Times, 2023-11-25, section, Saturday Review, p. 20 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=The showrunner Russell T Davies retakes the keys to the Tardis | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_showrunner_Russell_T_Davies_retakes_the_keys_to_the_Tardis | work=The Times | pages=Saturday Review, p. 20 | date=2023-11-25 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=26 December 2024 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=The showrunner Russell T Davies retakes the keys to the Tardis | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_showrunner_Russell_T_Davies_retakes_the_keys_to_the_Tardis | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=26 December 2024}}</ref>
