Doctor Who Confidential
- Publication: TV & Satellite Week
- Date: 2024-05-01
- Author:
- Page: 6
- Language: English
Showrunner Russell T. Davies reveals all the secrets in our insider's guide to the new series
After returning to the job of Doctor Who showrunner last year to oversee the show's 60th-anniversary specials starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, which also included the first appearance of Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor, Russell T. Davies is very much back in his element.
With the series now premiering internationally on Disney+ as well as on the BBC in the UK, the potential worldwide audience for Doctor Who is bigger than ever before, and that's a responsibility that Davies - who has also created acclaimed series Years and Years, Cucumber, It's a Sin and Nolly - doesn't take lightly.
Here, Davies, 61, tells us how the new series will be bigger and better than ever...
What can you tell us about the stories you've got planned for this series?
We're not finished with the mystery of Ruby's birth at all - that's going to be a spine of the entire series, and the title of the seventh episode is The Legend of Ruby Sunday. So there's a lot to come. There have been some fun theories from viewers - some people think it was Jodie Whittaker [who played the 13th Doctor] who left Ruby on the church doorstep, because it was a mysterious woman!
We've got some great episodes coming up - there's one set in Wales that's unlike any story ever told anywhere. I cannot describe the menace that's in that one - it has to be seen to be understood. It's a really extraordinary episode.
What can we expect from the Doctor and Ruby's relationship across this series?
There's an extraordinary focus on Ncuti and Millie [Gibson] - in the opener, for example, they're in every scene. They're in every scene of the third episode, too. I did that on purpose because it's a big show and a new audience. This is going to be seen for the first time in so many territories worldwide, so I wanted people to absolutely love the Doctor and Ruby.
They're more centred in these episodes than anyone has ever been before, and it works - the two of them become indelible, and I love it.
How difficult has it been to keep the secrets of this series under wraps for so long? We try to keep it secret from the outside world, but there comes a point at which you have to relax. If you walk through our studio, you'd see drawings of the monsters on the wall - the design department's planned everything, so the names of the monsters are everywhere.
We have to work and make the show, so, to a certain extent, you have to say enough secrecy' - it doesn't really matter; the point is to make a good show. But equally, we're not going to go blurting out the names of all the enemies!
You were away from Doctor Who for 13 years. How long have some of these story ideas been percolating?
I remember talking to [former showrunner/head writer] Steven Moffat about the fifth episode around 2010. And there's stuff in the finale that I must have been thinking about for 40 or 50 years!
TARDIS TRIO
There's much more to come, as filming is already well under way on the next series. Gatwa and Gibson will both be returning to the TARDIS, joined by a new companion (whose character's name has not yet been revealed) played by Annika and Andor star Varada Sethu. 'I feel like the luckiest person in the world,' says Sethu. 'It is such an honour to be a part of the Whoniverse, and I couldn't ask for a better team than Ncuti and Millie to be on this adventure with!'
STAR GUESTS
As always with Doctor Who, a host of brilliant guest stars will appear throughout the series.
In addition to Golda Rosheuvel and Jinkx Monsoon in this week's double bill (which also includes cameos from Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas and Johannes Radebe), later episodes feature Dame Siân Phillips, Henpocalypse! star Callie Cooke, The Capture's Indira Varma and Mindhunter's Jonathan Groff. 'The UNIT team is also back, led by Jemma Redgrave as Kate,' reveals Davies. 'Lenny Rush is coming in as UNIT scientific adviser Morris [left], while returnees include Bonnie Langford as Mel, Alexander Devrient as Colonel Ibrahim and Yasmin Finney as Rose.'
COMING UP
Ex-showrunner Steven Moffat returns to write his first Doctor Who story since the 2017 Christmas special as he's penned the third episode, Boom, which sees the Doctor and Ruby landing on a war-torn alien planet. The fourth episode, 73 Yards, is a folk horror-themed tale set on the Welsh coast, while the fifth entry, Dot and Bubble, is set within an alien colony.
The sixth episode, Rogue, is a Bridgerton-style adventure that sees the Doctor and Ruby caught up in a high-society gathering in the Regency era, and the two-part finale, The Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire of Death, sees the duo back in London and working with UNIT.
Captions:
Ruby and the Doctor have a ball in the sixth episode, Rogue
Varada Sethu (left) joins the next series
Nicola Coughlan is set to appear in the Christmas special
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- APA 6th ed.: (2024-05-01). Doctor Who Confidential. TV & Satellite Week p. 6.
- MLA 7th ed.: "Doctor Who Confidential." TV & Satellite Week [add city] 2024-05-01, 6. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: "Doctor Who Confidential." TV & Satellite Week, edition, sec., 2024-05-01
- Turabian: "Doctor Who Confidential." TV & Satellite Week, 2024-05-01, section, 6 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Doctor Who Confidential | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_Confidential | work=TV & Satellite Week | pages=6 | date=2024-05-01 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 December 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Doctor Who Confidential | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_Confidential | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 December 2025}}</ref>
