While we’re all pondering what exactly the future of Doctor Who is right now after the last three years, it seems that returning showrunner Russell T Davies has big plans and he already told us what they may be.

I know a lot of people enjoyed the current run of Doctor Who under the show running of Chris Chibnall, but I think it’s truer to say that the majority of fans didn’t, with viewing figures plummeting to unforeseen depths – now, once again, this is not a reflection on actress Jodie Whittaker who could only work with what she was given but when, among rumours and fears that Chibnall’s work would see the end of Doctor Who for good this time, a beacon of light shone across the sky, announcing: “[Russell T] Davies will make an explosive return to screens to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who in 2023, and series beyond.  BBC Studios are partnering with Bad Wolf to produce”.

This was amazing news because not only was Davies back, the man who bought Doctor Who back after many years in 2005 to make it bigger than it ever had been before, but his production company, Bad Wolf, which he started while working on the series in 2005, was handling the new series’ creation alongside BBC, meaning that we would hopefully be seeing a more free Doctor Who.

And that might just be the start of it.

In a new interview, Chibnall said of running a series like Doctor Who: “The challenge we were set by the BBC was to keep up with Netflix,.

“The challenge for the people who succeed us is to keep up with Disney+. The creative rules are being thrillingly rewritten by shows like WandaVision, while production standards and methods are being redefined by The Mandalorian.”

In this light, it makes us feel a little sorry for Chibnall who was handed the keys to a potential MCU-sized universe. Although, our pity soon wanes when we reflect on the fact that he couldn’t even get the first series off the ground properly.

But what does that really mean? Well, if what Chibnall is saying is right, it likely means the BBC wanted a Doctor Who universe, a Whoniverse, if you will… you know, like Davies had a decade or more ago. Want Doctor Who? We have it. Want more adult content? Here’s Torchwood? Something more family-friendly to get those a bit too young for Daleks yet? Here’s the Sarah Jane Adventures… Davies was building a universe long before Marvel or Star Wars.

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“I was in the middle of running an empire,” Davies said of Doctor Who during the press circuit for his series It’s A Sin.

“And my god I did that 10 years too soon, didn’t I? There should be a Doctor Who channel now. You look at those Disney announcements, of all those new Star Wars and Marvel shows, you think, we should be sitting here announcing The Nyssa Adventures or The Return of Donna Noble, and you should have the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors together in a 10-part series. Genuinely.”

Is this what Davies is doing? Is this why in the space of a few days when Davies has only just picked the reins up again, we have a new Doctor in Ncuti Gatwa (here), a returning Doctor (here) and a TARDIS belonging to the current Doctor? Are we seeing a new explosion in the Doctor Who universe? I mean Davies set up lots of ideas in his time… we had a clone of the Tenth Doctor (Tennant) trapped in a different universe, who still exists plus, while Chibanll brought little to the table, he did give us The Timeless Child which set up the idea that there are many more Doctors than we knew about with Jo Martin, left, playing one of them.

Not to mention, one that the fans want Paul McGann’s Eight Doctor, who got one outing in the Doctor Who movie in 1996, is a character fans have begged to have return. We also had Tom Baker’s Curator, a future version of the Doctor, leaving the door wide open for many more regenerations as well as returning familiar faces. And that’s not even looking at characters like the Paternoster Gang, River Song, UNIT and so many more.

Given that Doctor Who literally covers all of time, space and can also cover the multiverse, there’s not limit to what this show, or rather its universe, can be. Just give Big Finish a look if you’re trying to imagine how big this story really is.

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Looking at the worlds of Star Trek right now, he added: “You laugh, but did Star Trek fans ever think they’d be getting a Captain Pike series? Ever? That’s insane.”

“The whole science fiction world is so creative and so money-making right now,” said Davies, “I think your wildest dreams can come true.”

Davies has already told us his plan for Doctor Who now that he has some more creative control under Bad Wolf and it seems to be, if Chibnall is right, what the BBC wants too.

All we have to do is sit back and look forward to traveling all of time… and its relative dimensions in space.

Source:Doctor Who Magazine and TV Times