I hope I'm not unleashing a violent can of worms with this one, but there's some interesting talk in the spoiler thread and I'm eager to hear more opinions.

Helen Raynor wrote Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks for Series 3, and The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky for Series 4. She's also dabbled in Torchwood (and Primeval) and is currently the only woman to have written for NuWho.

For those who have read The Writer's Tale, many will know that Raynor perhaps unwisely read online responses to her episodes after they were broadcast. There were many comments (on Outpost Gallifrey I believe it was) that were insulting, threatening and degrading directed towards her and it gave her a massive confidence knock. RTD had to phone her to convince her she wasn't a poor writer and was indeed very capable. Furthermore, RTD admitted that he had simply given her a checklist of things to include in the Dalek story, and he didn't give enough of his time to the treatment of her scripts in Series 3 and they suffered as a result. Of course this insulting behaviour from anyone (online or not) is unacceptable, though of course people have the freedom to like or dislike a particular writer, or even a writers particular output.

Opinions on her Dalek story are heavily divided, though interestingly many who dislike the story often point out that the script wasn't the problem at all. Her Sontaran story is usually held in a positive to high regard. Which begs the question, would people want to see Helen Raynor write another episode of Doctor Who in future? We have a lot of writers who come back time and time again and I don't think that's a trend that is going to change quickly... does anyone think Raynor could be one of them recurring writers? Just interested to hear opinions as personally I would love to see her return for another story - I found her scripts to be very good.

Is she a friend of Steven Moffat?

If not, she'll face a hard fight to get her foot in the door.

I loved her Dalek story. Some really great dialogue. As it's been said elsewhere, RTD didn't give the episode the attention it needed. I also love her Sontaran two parter.

I'd say it was the synopsis of the episode that was the problem- the whole turning people to pigs for no reason and the human-dalek/dalek-human thing. Having said that, I'm glad she didn't write a script for Smith as she style didn't quite fit the tone of the show. Obviously we don't know what the tone of series 8 will be but I'd imagine it'll be darker- something I never really felt from Raynor's script.

Although there should be other writers in the writer's team other than White-British men. I know this forum generally hates Doctor Who being associated with America, but I think there are several script writers over there that write in a Doctor Whoish way (such as Joss Whedon and Vince Gillian- not saying either of these will do it, but they're just examples). Any thoughts?

Thought the Dalek two parter was awful and the Sontaran one just okay. Does that mean she deserved personal abuse? No. Does that mean she should be 'off the list' of future potential writers for the show? Certainly not, if whoever is showrunner at the time feels she deserves another go. Wasn't a big fan of MacRae's Cyberman two parter in Series 2 but he then wrote one of my very favourite episodes in Series 6. Happy to leave the decisions to those in charge. It's their job after all.

Having read The Writers Tale I was aware of the dent in confidence Helen Raynor got following the online reaction to her episodes though I never saw any of it myself. Was it actually personal and vicious or was it for the most part just critical of the quality of the writing? Because obviously the former is totally unacceptable and horrid but the latter is all part of the job and as such is fair game.

I feel sorry for her. It must be horrific to have something you work so hard on torn to pieces but especially in the internet age you have to develop Rhino thick skin otherwise you would just go mad. Look at RTD and Moffat. They are often accused of being arrogant or flippant towards fandom but then they have to be to protect themselves from all the abuse. Especially Moffat. Some of the personal abuse and attacks he receives on line are obscene and go far far beyond critiquing his work and instead turn in to character assassination. In the face of that I suppose the only option is to think 'F*** 'em' and stick two fingers up otherwise you could risk losing the plot completely.

As for the merits of her writing? Well there are certainly alot worse episodes of New Who...some of which have been written by far more prominent and famed writers than Raynor. And the Dalek two parter had some interesting moments. I find the Sontaran one fairly awful and with little to merit a rewatch. And here for me is the problem. The two times Helen Raynor has written for the show she was given a big two parter with two massive villains. As such the episodes will be held up to far more scrutiny than a mid season filler episode. Expectations are naturally going to be higher.

And I found the episodes to be functional and nothing more. Not appalling. Just utterly mediocre. The dialogue didn't grab me, the characters were rather dull and the big idea moments in each were poorly executed. How much of this is down to Helen Raynor herself is up for debate of course. But there was nothing about her episodes that seemed to have a defined individual voice of her own. They could've been written by committee. She's not alone in that of course so it is perhaps unfair she gets singled out but its still how I see it. I would almost prefer bad episodes with a bit of flair to bland mediocrity. Mediocrity is what she's delivered thus far. Very much Primeval quality. Functional. Adequate. This is why while I accept Gattiss has hardly been a massive success everytime he writers for the show at least his episodes have a certain something.

That said she should still be given another go I reckon but I suspect she is more suited to Wizards vs Aliens and Atlantis than Doctor Who.

Yeah, her only weak script across the whole Whoniverse was weak for reasons beyond her control. She's reliably great. More Raynor would be excellent.


A bit of both! But while the latter is, as you say, often part of the job, I don't think that makes it fair game. Most nasty comments are from people who are too lazy to parse them as opinions. There's a huge difference between "I didn't like Doctor Who last night," and "Doctor Who was a pile of dogshit." That doesn't mean you have to mince words, you can really go to town on what you feel and why you feel it without being destructive, and people who favour destructive language because they can't be bothered to say something constructive do themselves absolutely no credit with me.

I don't much like The Name of the Doctor. There's a surface thrill in it, the scenes of Gallifrey and of Clara in the Doctor's time stream are ace, but they're glued together with concepts that feel like a stretch even for the Whoniverse (dream conference!), and this constant explanation of the plot - despite good moments, it doesn't push my buttons. I don't think that means it's fair game for me to be a prick about it, if I make a petition for Steven Moffat to be fired I'm still a bit of a cock-end!

I thought the Sontaran two parter was good, solid traditional Doctor Who, and her Dalek 2 parter had some interesting stuff going on, although admit that I haven't seen it in a while. And her Torchwood series 1 episode, which I believe was the one with Gareth Thomas, was relatively strong IMO, one of the better episodes that series.

If she took Internet comments too serious, that's a shame. Opinions are like ars....well, you know the expression. Obviously no problem seeing her return, but it won't happen on Moffat's watch cos he's a misogynic, sexist bleeping bleeper who would never employ a female writer. FACT.

Must be true. I read it on tinternet.

The britishness of doctor who and it's associated universe is part of what makes it great. Writers can be men/women/black/white but keep them british. When this rule is forgotten and someone thinks it's a good idea to let the americans be involved, we just get car crashes like the tv movie or torchwood miracle day.

On the subject of helen raynor, I personally though both her Dalek and Sontaran two parters were so-so. soundly written, tight stories, but not really special or exciting, so while I wouldn't be against her return, I wouldn't neccesarily be hoping for it.

Jacqueline rayner on the other hand wrote the stone rose, the last dodo, and magic of the angels, which are three of my favourite among the book range, so i'd really like to see her pen an episode.

I 200% agree with you that Doctor Who should remain British and if it got rid of its innate Britishness I wouldn't watch it. It's probably the only British TV series that's internationally acclaimed and still airing new episodes. All I'm saying is that they should try having foreign writers, as they can quite easily write a British style script- take Episodes for example, even though its written by Americans its feels more like a British sitcom than an American one, and the British characters still seem very 3D, real and British.

Although I prefer my british tv written by british people, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to occasionally try out a foreign writer, although I think maybe americans shouldn't be the first choice based on past form. An australian writer could be good.

Based on what exactly would an Australian writer be a good idea? All their great TV series like Neighbours and Flying Doctors and erm...erm...surely something else?

As opposed to those pesky Americans with The X Files, Lost, Buffy, Angel, Hannibal, Six Feet Under, True Detective, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, The West Wing, House of Cards. I could go on.

Just saying that Americans have been tested in the who universe, and have not done to well in the past, so maybe if we have to have foreigners, then maybe give someone from another country a chance, and the closest people culturally to us, other than american's are probably australians. As said i'd rather it could be all british writers, as I feel there is enough talent in britain for our british show that there is no need to outsource. Americans write a lot of brilliant tv, granted, but I feel doctor who is different to the kind of tv they traditionally produce, and I feel based on the type of tv they do produce and past examples that doctor who is just not their thing when it comes to writing. Just an opinion.

That sums up my opinion nicely. The Dalek story was god awful for me, but from the sound of it it's not a mistake she'd repeat.

That said I liked her Torchwood episodes a lot so I guess I'd rather have her back than RTD oh and I hope she's learnt to avoid Who forums now

For the most part I enjoy the dalek two parter, its gos some surprising swerves that are brave like the doctor not being able to fix the pig mutants. Its one thing to dislike an episode, but to be abusive is out of order.