Doctor Who is struggling to fill the Tardis – one man is to blame

It feels like some time ago when Ncuti Gatwa’s run as the Fifteenth Doctor came to a desperate end, as he regenerated into Billie Piper. 

But it went down so badly that the Sex Education star poked fun at the half-baked reveal during an SNL UK monologue nearly a year later.

Doctor Who will now officially have to make good on that head-scratching manoeuvre, after the BBC confirmed the Time Lord will be back in 2026, with a Christmas special penned by Russell T Davies.

But I’m not so sure.

Because if you’re an avid Whovian, you’ll know the dire whispers from the gossip mill have not quieted in recent months, despite the BBC’s apparent renewed faith in the Tardis. 

It has now been reported by The Sun that the Christmas special might have to be scrapped because nobody wants to step into the Tardis as the Sixteenth Doctor.

The Time Lord has been labelled a ‘poisoned chalice’ by insiders, which is a staggering admission when you consider the transformational effect it once had on the careers of its stars. 

A reported stumbling block in the casting process has been the ‘baggage’ of the recent series of the show. After endless headlines and hints, it was announced that Disney officially ended its partnership with the franchise, but Davies is still in as show-runner.

However, painful as this is to say, I think the current struggle to fill the Tardis proves the time has come for him to leave.

The BBC might have asked Davies back so that he could address his own shameless nostalgia grab insertion of Piper into proceedings, which certain fans likened to the last-ditch efforts to right a sinking ship.

But it’s clear from the reported ongoing search for a Doctor that the BBC doesn’t want to settle for some Rose Tyler fudge, or perhaps even Piper doesn’t want to do it. You can hardly blame her given the reception.

Or maybe Davies is still on board because there just isn’t a comprehensive sense of how existential the problem Doctor Who currently faces is. With record low ratings and no Doctor to pilot the Tardis, this is a battle to keep us interested, and cheap tricks aren’t going to work.

Or maybe Davies is still on board because there just isn’t a comprehensive sense of how existential the problem Doctor Who currently faces is. With record low ratings and no Doctor to pilot the Tardis, this is a battle to keep us interested, and cheap tricks aren’t going to work.

I want to caveat what comes next by saying that I think Russell T Davies is a visionary, who is in large part the reason we’re all here still talking about Doctor Who after the TV show was quietly shelved in the 80s.

I have no doubt that in the years since he revived the franchise in 2005, he has come across obstacles which he has overcome confidently. 

He’s a legend, but I no longer believe he is the right person to run this show.

I’ve felt this for some time. Specifically, since I watched Space Babies. In that first season of Gatwa as the Doctor, the episodes I liked best – Boom and Rogue – were the only ones not written by Davies.

The obvious exception to this was Lux, a bravado episode with an exquisite, meta interlude that spoke to how hard-to-please this fandom can be. And yet one episode does not a brilliant series make. 

Even Gatwa animated into 1950s Miami couldn’t get a bump in the ratings; it was one of the lowest-viewed episodes in what were already paltry viewing figures across the series.

Elsewhere in Gatwa’s run, I was disappointed. Instead of solid storytelling, we had callbacks and cameos, plus the Disney-ification of a fundamentally British cultural institution.

Classic villains were eschewed in favour of a toothless, silly variety (again, the less said about the Space Babies’ Bogeyman, the better), presumably to appeal to the Disney kids. And everything hardcore Whovians know in their bones was explained as if for the first time.

Even the release schedule was engineered for a time difference and the seasons were numbered as Season One and Season Two when procured by Disney, as if what had gone before didn’t matter.

Then, when none of that was working and Gatwa decided to peace out, it felt like Davies used the nostalgia of Piper to survive. 

However, Disney’s lack of commitment will be better for the show going forward, if it means Doctor Who can do less cringy bootlicking to American audiences.

But a Davies pivot from what he has advocated for years, harping on about the coming demise of the BBC and the need for Who to go global, feels fundamentally unsustainable.

He was the loudest advocate for Disney’s involvement and the moneyed door it opened to his newfangled Whoniverse, promising it would become a sci-fi version of the Marvel universe. The current state of both franchises is strikingly similar.

The fact we’re still awed by David Tennant, Catherine Tate or Billie Piper returning to our screens is evidence of the mark Davies has made on Doctor Who. But there is little in his recent tenure to compare to what he did in 2005 and that’s a problem.

If Doctor Who is going to once again rise from the ashes, we need someone who actually wants to do it and that likely requires new ideas. 

Who, you might ask, could replace him? If we’re fan casting, I would love to see what Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker would do with the Doctor. Whether he would fancy the scrutiny is another matter. 

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Although given all three show-runners during the modern era have been men, it would be a welcome sight to see a woman in the job. Kate Herron and Briony Redman, the duo behind standout episode Rogue, brought writing that was sharp and tender. 

The exchange between the Doctor and Rogue in his ship was the most compelling of the series, set to Kylie’s Can’t Get You Out of My Head.

It pains me to say all of this, because I still think Davies is brilliant, and Lux proved he can still contribute as a one-off writer if needed. 

But there’s also only so many times you can mount the mammoth task of revitalising a once-phenomenally successful franchise as show-runner.

It’s time Davies left that job to someone else.

A version of this story was originally published on October 29.

Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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