One Doctor Who writer believes the show is as dead as it has ever been right now. The British science-fiction classic was rebooted by Russell T. Davies in 2005, with Christopher Eccleston in the role of the titular Time Lord, and Billie Piper as his assistant. Eccelston was then replaced with David Tennant, whom many deem the best Doctor.
After overseeing the most successful period of the revival’s run, Davies stepped away from the show in 2010, with Stephen Moffat taking over. Doctor Who has evolved over the years, with the first female Doctor in Jodi Whitaker, Ncuti Gatwa’s first Black Doctor, but following Gatwa’s regeneration into Billie Piper’s Rose, the series now sits at a crossroads.
In an interview with Doctor Who Magazine (per Bleeding Cool) Shearman, who penned the 2005 episode “Dalek,” gave his views on the current state of the show. He claimed the show is as dead as it’s ever been, and with no current Doctor, the show is in danger of feeling regressive with whatever it does next. Check out Shearman’s comments:
“At the moment I’m in a ‘pull’ phase. It’s weird because the show is probably as dead as we’ve ever known it. After 1989, we had, for years, a current Doctor. Now, everything that is ever going to be produced in Doctor Who terms is going to feel retrogressive. At least with the New Adventures and then the BBC Books [original novels published in the nineties] you thought, ‘It’s the current Doctor – McCoy or McGann’. No one’s going to start writing Doctor Who books with a Billie Piper Doctor, because no one knows what that means. In a funny way, the closing moments of The Reality War seem to put a full stop on things. We didn’t have that before.”
“I don’t know that it matters. But it’s a strange thing: it’s made me want to embrace it, because the whole of Doctor Who feels like it’s in its own bubble.”
Despite what many believe was an attempt by Disney to manipulate the viewing figures, there is little doubt that times have been hard for the House of Who in recent years. Davies reinvigorated a tired franchise when he first resurrected Doctor Who back in 2005, but of late it’s hard to escape the feeling that he has overstayed his welcome.
First broadcast in 1963, Doctor Who is the longest-running science-fiction television series in the world.
Shearman is right that Doctor Who has an uncertain future right now, and it’s going to take some very clever and creative writing to get the series back on track. It’s unclear who will play the new Doctor, or even whether there is still an appetite for Doctor Who in modern day popular culture. It does seem like the show is on an indefinite hiatus until a creative direction for it can be reached.
It is unclear what the future holds for this storied franchise, and with the way recent events have unfolded, a hiatus for the show might be the perfect antidote. Creative shakeups are in order, and addressing the narrative direction, and the show’s lead, will be essential before Doctor Who season 16 can happen.
As Shearman hints at, the show might be quietly over, for now, but as the past has shown, there is always scope to bring back Doctor Who, in one iteration or another. One thing that is certain is that the series will need to pivot and change things in order to regain the trust of viewers, and become the force it once was.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
