the future of Doctor Who?

[Andrew Curnow]

Can I be the first to say I'd rather they stopped after 4 years, than put Steven Moffat in charge for a 5th year.

[Paul Clement]

Can I be the first to say I'd rather they stopped after 4 years, than put Steven Moffat in charge for a 5th year.

Why? Even if his stories haven't been to your taste, there's no suggestion that any other producer would pen as many stories per season as RTD has, and added to that, it wouldn't necessarily mean all the stories written by other people would be clones of his.

[Raston]

Gary Russell's taking over as script editor?

When was this announced?

Did they not say he was becoming a 'trainee' script editor a few months back.

[Larry]

well in a way if i'm honest i'd rather it did stop after a 5th series while it was still on top and still producing top quallity stories. I'd hate Doctor Who, to end up like Stargate or Star Trek and just be kept going longer then they should of and season after season churning out poor to average stories..

[Paul Clement]

If they have a good mix of writers who have fresh new ideas to the show, and don't try to stick to a tried and tested formula, I don't think the series necessarily has end up producing average stories after a while. Doctor Who would have a good pool of writing talent to select from that should take it a few years more, and by then new writers may have emerged.

[MacNimon]

The difference between Star Trek and Doctor Who though is that Star Trek had around 26 or 52 episodes per year, depending how many series were running at a time. Doctor Who, on the other hand, has 14 at the moment. It's hard to imagine the same sort of burnout here in the near future.

[Mark]

No series of Star Trek had 52 episodes

[Andrew Curnow]

I think Mac means when, for example, TNG and DS9 were both running, that would be (more or less) a total of 52 episodes per year.

Paul, you might be right, but personally I think that (certainly nowadays) whoever takes over from RTD will be in the same role of very firmly stamping their template on the show. And regardless of the quality of his scripts, I don't personally like Moffat's take on the character of the Doctor - it works more or less when confined to his own stories, but if he were the guy in charge...

[Logo Polish]

Isn't Mark Gatiss usually the name bandied about as a replacement?

[Raston]

He does not havce the experience though.

Moffat and eh the name escapes me writer of fear her... they do have the experience at exec roles, and also writing for various TV shows.

[Paul Clement]

Moffat and eh the name escapes me writer of fear her

Matthew Graham wrote Fear Her.

He does not havce the experience though.

His experience with League of Gentlemen would probably be enough for him to be considered for the role.

[Raston]

Thanks paul.

No i don't think it would, he was a writer with part of a team, and not in an exec role. Plus League is Comedy, they would probably want some drama experiance as well. Gatiss has some things going for him yes, but i think he needs more Drama writing and an exec role under his belt to be considered for who.


Moffat has the exec experiance from coupling-and he will have more, and indeed drama experiance from Jeckyll and Hyde when thats out. He is also the lead writer for both those shows.

Graham has experiance from This Life, Hustle and an exec role on Life on Mars- all high regarded serious drama, that certainly make him a strong contender from the known names connected with who thus far.

[Paul Clement]

Although he has said in interviews that he didn't actually do much becuase of problems in his life at the time, Gatiss also has the role of Script Editor for Little Britain on his credits.

[Anthony Williams]

Matthew Graham is a possibility, as Life on Mars will only be getting a second series. So he should be free soon But given that he's only written for one episode of Who so far, I think it's unlikely.

As for Moffat... well, he's another possibility, being the name that seems to be bandied around the most. He'll have written for every one of the first three series, where neither Gatiss nor Graham have, so that's another point in his favour. Yet, I'm not sure what he'd do with the show. His arrogance annoys me, and he seems to like doing things deliberately to be controversial (like the whole Doctor-Reinette relationship)

tbh, would Gatiss really want it? He's already got a lot on his plate with the League, script editing for Little Britain and so on.

I'd say the most likely of the three is Moffat, but you never know!

Ant x

[Raston]

I don't know if having written for who is going to actually be all that important in being the new exec producer.

Moffat may seem arrogant- but then so is RTD- you have to have ultimate faith in what you write sometimes because otherwise if you think its ****e how is anyone else going to like it!

[Larry]

sorry if this has been asked before but what's happening to Phill Collinson..

[Pip Madeley]

sorry if this has been asked before but what's happening to Phill Collinson..

He's touring with Genesis next summer.

Oh, CollinsON!

I guess he'll stay with the show? But then again, he might've had enough. He's already had a holiday away - Susie Liggat took over as producer for one filming block.

Speaking of producers, is it me or when people think of Who's producers, they think of the greats like Lambert, Hinchcliffe, Williams, JNT... then RTD, instead of Collinson? I don't think he gets enough credit.

[Larry]

He's touring with Genesis next summer.

Oh, CollinsON!

I guess he'll stay with the show? But then again, he might've had enough. He's already had a holiday away - Susie Liggat took over as producer for one filming block.

Speaking of producers, is it me or when people think of Who's producers, they think of the greats like Lambert, Hinchcliffe, Williams, JNT... then RTD, instead of Collinson? I don't think he gets enough credit.

I'd certainly agree with that but I suppose it's because Collinson, is not as high profile as what RTD is yet the fact it's Collinson's name that appears on the opening credits you'd think people would think him as the main man.

[Anthony Williams]

however, one could argue that we're currently in the RTD/Collinson era, in the same way that we used to be in the JNT/Cartmel era, for example. The script editors (Helen Raynor, Simon Winstone et al.) gain so little recognition in comparison to their predecessors.

Ant x

[Paul Clement]

however, one could argue that we're currently in the RTD/Collinson era, in the same way that we used to be in the JNT/Cartmel era, for example. The script editors (Helen Raynor, Simon Winstone et al.) gain so little recognition in comparison to their predecessors.

That's certainly true. The names of the Script Editors of the new series never stay in my head, whereas I'll never forget the ones from the old series.

[Si Hunt]

Get Dan Freedman back!

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

Get Dan Freedman back!

Si.

You are inSANE, Davros!

[Andrew Curnow]

It's interesting isn't it, how fandom in general has tended to attribute the success or blame of various eras to certain people. It's not always the Producer, which in one sense seems odd - for example, I always think of the Pertwee years as Dicks & Letts; then there's the Hinchcliffe and the Williams eras - but then, although we tend to refer to the JN-T years, we do also seem to refer to the Saward, and particularly the Cartmel, era.

I suppose, though, that being executive producer, as well as chief-scripter, etc, etc does put RTD in a more powerful position that Phil Collinson - if it came down to it, who would get the final say on a matter of dispute I don't know.

[Paul Clement]

I suppose, though, that being executive producer, as well as chief-scripter, etc, etc does put RTD in a more powerful position that Phil Collinson - if it came down to it, who would get the final say on a matter of dispute I don't know.

When you add the fact that RTD also pretty much gave an overview of what he wanted the stories to include for the other writers, it shows he has probably got more control than any other producer of Doctor Who ever had. It also explains why the script editor isn't as known as before too.

[Si Hunt]

A producer today isn't the same role as it was in 1989 - in Who's case, RTD is clearly occupying the role that JNT, Hinchcliffe etc. took in the past (casting Doctors, deciding which stories are made, spearheading publicity), regardless of what his job is called.

Si.