Doctor Who bosses Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner have been talking about Series 14 as some of their best work yet
Production of next year’s Doctor Who episodes is continuing at Wolf Studios in Wales. Alongside filming, the Bad Wolf team are continuing their publicity masterclass of teasing audiences with snippets of information without revealing very much at all. It’s certainly paying off, though, in terms of getting fans excited without spoiling the storylines themselves. Most recently, Russell T Davies has been on BBC Radio 2 where he discussed Series Fourteen with presenter Michael Ball. There he described it, and specifically Episode 14.4, as “one of the greatest things I’ve ever made in my life.” This from the writer of the likes of Queer as Folk, It’s A Sin, and A Very English Scandal. And with Davies’ Doctor Who resume also containing episodes like Turn Left, it’s a claim to get dual pulses racing.
It’s also echoed by comments by Doctor Who executive producer Julie Gardner in the pages of DWM Special Edition: Showrunners. “[Davies is] writing amongst his best-ever work,” says Gardner, “The scripts are big and extremely ambitious.” (The magazine is on sale now for even more insight into not just Davies’ working methods but his predecessors too.)
We still don’t know which other writers will be joining Davies in guiding Ncuti Gatwa’s first series as the Doctor
There are currently thirteen episodes of Doctor Who in various stages of production. These are the three 60th Anniversary specials airing in November, the 2023 and 2024 festive specials, and between those Christmassy affairs, the eight episodes of Series Fourteen. Surprisingly, though, the team have yet to publicly name any writers other than Davies himself. Gardner’s interview does give us our first real confirmation that other writers are involved, however. She describes Davies as writing “the majority” of episodes and as involved in deciding “who and when” others come on board. It’s unclear how much longer we’ll have to wait until we discover who those writers are.
Meanwhile, it’s heavily rumoured that the first of the new Whoniverse spin-offs will be UNIT
Meanwhile, following the recent confirmation that a ‘Whoniverse’ of spin-offs were in the early stages of development there have been claims that first among them with be a UNIT series starring Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Stewart. Blogtor Who should stress that this is still unconfirmed by the BBC itself. But in contrast to the familiar tabloid gossip, it is coming via reputable outlets like Deadline who claim their BBC sources have confirmed it. It would also fit with what we already know about UNIT appearing in Series Fourteen. How better to pave the way for a new spin-off than introducing the members of the new team in a kind of back door pilot in Doctor Who itself?
We’re now just eight months away from Doctor Who’s return, bringing David Tennant and Catherine Tate with it. Meanwhile Series Fourteen with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson is now deep into the second of its four filming blocks. And while much remains unknown, one thing is very clear: 2023 and 2024 are going to be very exciting times to be a fan.
It needs to be a whole lot better than ‘Doom’s Day’, that’s for sure.