In his new book, Russell T Davies has opened up about the highs and lows of his latest Doctor Who run, offering a surprisingly candid look at what went wrong, why he believes the show fell short of expectations, and what he had planned for Season 3.
Writing in The Queerest of Folk, Davies explained that confusion surrounded the show's relaunch as part of its Disney+ partnership from the start. The Disney executives involved in the deal had never watched Doctor Who and, perhaps more surprisingly, didn't even know about one of the show's most acclaimed modern episodes, "Blink."
The decision to kick off the new era with a three-part 60th Anniversary celebration also left Davies questioning the way the show was introduced to a new audience. "I think that f***ed it from the start," he admits in the book, calling it "a confused launch."
Davies also shares his belief that online leaks were one of the biggest reasons for his latest stint in the TARDIS falling flat, claiming that they "destroyed the profile of the show."
Some of the show's most memorable episodes also came about because of issues behind the scenes. "73 Yards" and "Dot and Bubble" came about after last-minute delays to the production of Sex Education meant Ncuti Gatwa began filming Doctor Who three months later than originally planned.
As a result, Davies had to come up with Doctor-lite stories to fill the gap. Neither episode was part of the original eight-episode pitch sold to Disney, meaning two stories originally intended for Episodes 4 and 5 remain a mystery.
Despite those difficulties, Davies doesn't appear to harbour major regrets about the two-season run. Reflecting on the era, including the controversial mystery surrounding Ruby Sunday's parentage, he describes the finished product as "magnificent."
There is, however, one particularly curious passage in which Davies discusses "fixing problems on the spot" before immediately talking about casting Belinda and effectively "parking" Ruby. The book doesn't elaborate on whether Millie Gibson's Ruby was considered one of those problems, but you may recall tabloid reports about the actress being a "diva" on set (she's strongly denied those claims).
As for the planned third season, Laurence Clark and Jack Thorne had written a story set during the Great Fire of London, Lydia Adetunji had tackled what is described as a brutal NASA space station story, and Sharma Angel-Walfall had penned a "lovely" episode set on a Manchester council estate.
Davies also wanted Juno Dawson to write another episode and was in talks with Kate Herron and Briony Redman about bringing Jonathan Groff back as Rogue for a sequel. That story, he says, was "forever getting postponed."
And then there was the planned finale: a full four-part Dalek epic that would have brought Season 3 to an appropriately explosive conclusion.
However, after watching the first two seasons, many fans on social media are questioning why Davies didn't include ideas as exciting as this in the series much sooner. It's also unclear how Gatwa's regeneration would have impacted these plans.
As for Doctor Who, work is currently underway to bring the series back with a new creative team and direction.