http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/r...day-50-1855505

Okay, it's from The Mirror, the journalist can't spell Eccleston, and some points get a bit repetitive sounding, but I thought some points were worth reading.

Today's Davies 50th birthday, and a perfect opportunity to remember his impact on the show. Without him, we might not have an episode of the series to watch tonight

Surely Steven Moffat should get the credit for blink!

It's the same way Moffat now gets the credit for the likes of Vincent and the Doctor, often rather than Richard Curtis. I think it's likely a shared victory between showrunner and writer in any of this situations. Not to mention it takes the right director, the right locations manager, the right choreographer and so on to make any episode truly spectacular

Davies as showrunner was responsible for the decision to implement Doctor-lite episodes. Not Steven Moffat.

I don't think the reviewer was trying to claim he wrote the episode - see the last part of the sentence.

There is so much on that list that I don't agree with, I shan't list them as there are plenty of RTD bashing threads and this one should be a celebration!

This should be number 1! It is what Russell does best.

Yes, he does do it extremely well, but it's not really what Doctor Who is supposed to be about.

If there should be a No. 1 reason than it definitely should be him bringing DW back. Because pretty much anything else he did or did not do in DW is a question of personal preferences.

This thread will be an argument by 8PM.

What a wonderful article! Russell and his partner have had a really tough couple of years so its lovely his work is bring celebrated in this way.

What did happen to his partner eventually?

AFAIK, Andrew's still engaged with treatment and recovery from multiple operations to remove cancerous brain tumours.

They did get married in December last year.

no 51 should be he is my twin. We were both fifty today

28. Torchwood: Children of Earth


- hell yeah



However

40. He broke America!

- is more a Moffat era thing because for much of RTD's tenure it was shoddily treated by Syfy and it was only with it's moved to the BBCA, which while a smaller channel actually promoted and invested in the show in it's own right, that we saw it gather momentum. Even now it's a relatively small but growing brand in the US.

51 - He let someone else take over

52 - Knowing this would only make himself look even better.

...."in the minds of fanboys" is how that sentence should have ended.

However to make the series the success it has been, yes, it is, it's not 1983 any more, Who had to move with the times.

So, really it was "bring Who back the way RTD did it, or not at all and have it stick as books and audio episodes forever"

...and yet still the fans moan.

Says who?

The show's lasted fifty years and from having all manner of characters take part at some point and the show dip into pretty much every genre I can think of, there's not much that Doctor Who isn't about.

There are a few non-reasons in that list, but I agree with most of them, in particular the spin offs he created. Giving Sarah Jane Smith a spin off was a brilliant idea and one of the best things RTD ever did. As the article says, Torchwood Children of Earth was also a masterpiece. It was great that there was a time the three shows would interweave with each other (10th and 11th Doctors in Sarah Jane Adventures, Martha in Torchwood and Ianto and Gwen in The Stolen Earth for instance). It made the whoniverse generally more interesting and exciting, and allowed for some interesting crossovers and ideas that might not have happened on the main show- such as the return of Jo Grant and the Brigadier in SJA or the darker storylines seen in Torchwood. It's a shame we essentially lost both spin off shows in a single year (for now...Torchwood may return hopefully). If I was the Moff, I would definitely consider a new spin of show.

There are many modern shows that involved grounded characters with personal relationships. There are many modern shows that focus solely on the main characters and their exciting adventures.

Although Who has classically been the latter, I don't think that introducing elements of the former is an essential part of modernising as such, but as a means of bringing depth and focus back to the companion character. It's not just a case of having a good idea for the story, and tweaking 'companion dialog' to be character-specific.

If anything, the template for this was laid in the late 80s by Seven and Ace - not by family, but by Ace's history.

I still don't believe RTD understood Doctor Who when he first started - I honestly believe he was saved during series 1 & 2 by guest writers as his own material during those first 2 years was extremely childish. But after those iffy years (from his material) I found his work got stronger - still containing the childish moments but generally being able to write much more suitable stories - which lead to his strongest writing with Midnight and Turn Left.

I still struggle to forgive him for The Slithereen, Anne Robinson Bots, Peter Kaye, Burping Bins and Britney Speares 'Toxic' - but he got better.

and I'm still struggling to forgive him for the Tenth Doctor and Rose romance.

Hang on I thought Doctor Who was "all about change"? So surely Doctor is not really specifically supposed to be anything? It can adapt and change to suit the times?

But at least he didn't come up with the sub-Eastenders "mother didn't know that another character was her daughter" plot twist.....

Parting of the Ways was childish? IMO Russell wrote many of the best episodes in his tenure.