Does anyone know who actually wants to take on the showrunner's job?

It's no use saying "Whithouse would be perfect" if Whithouse himself wouldn't touch it.

I suspect Gatiss would love to do it. But it is only a suspicion. He does lots of things. And I have no idea if any other DW writer (or even non-DW writer) would be keen.

Anthony Horowitz
Peter Jackson would probably love to
Stephen Fry " "
Gareth Roberts " "
Toby Whitehouse " "
Me and possibly the majority in this Doctor Who sub-forum
Pretty much the entire fandom
Some guy/girl next door to some random person somewhere

etc...

Well I'm happy and in the minority it seems. series 10 will likely be his last like others have said.

I know this isn't the most popular of news but another series of Steven Moffat Doctor Who or a gap year or gap years while they find a new showrunner isn't something I would want.

If Whithouse or someone else is the heir to the throne, they may simply want time to formulate their plans for the show with a general stopping point for Moffats story arcs at the end of series 10.

Also in terms of episodes within their own eras Moffat will clearly be finishing with more but he has also had his two Doctors last longer than RTD did. Would Russell's plans have changed had Eccleston remained for more than a year?

Final thought, just because you don't like this era doesn't automatically mean you'll like the next one either.

Just my two cents

^ I think it's just that some people like to take those risks and see the show changed up a little more. There's no guarantee you will or won't like the next era of the show, but there's some people who just don't like the current era or people who are fine with it but are eager for the show to take a new direction. If there was ever a TV show that challenged the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' notion it must surely be Doctor Who.

At any rate though you do make a very valid point - another year of Moffat running Doctor Who is, to anyone, surely better than nobody running Doctor Who at all?

Hmm. Personally, I will most likely feel the same way about the next guy as I do about RTD and Moffat. Both produced great, albeit flawed Who, and in both cases the flaws became more and more glaring as their tenures wore on. In my opinion the key to being a great showrunner on a show like this knowing when it's time to quit and the show is due a refresh. RTD knew when to, Moffat didn't.

Can't say I'm excited or unexcited...flat..thats the word.

Series 8 was a near return to form in it's structure and diversity whilst having a much welcome dollop of fun. Yet it still suffered from the showrunners rather unengaging companion series arc, something that after series 5 I feel Mr. Moffat has not managed to pull off. Multi Clara was a great idea but the character suffered due to the need for mystery.

The Missy arc however was spot on and I feel if Clara had just been having adventures with the Doctor without the tepid Danny side story and it's resolution, then, again imo, the series would have been stronger for it.

That said I will be approaching series 9 as I have every other. Hoping it will be one of the best, or even the best yet. I hope Mr. Moffat knocks it out of the park. I really do.

May main concern however, just as it would be with any showrunner, is can Mr. Moffat bring something new to to the table after 4 series under his belt? I don't mean in terms of structure, pacing or shooting style, but ideas with a fresh feeling to them rather than having that 'been there already' vibe.

Fingers crossed anyway.

I am really looking forward to seeing what tweaks Peter Capaldi has made to his Doctor.


As for potential future showrunners? After just watching both series of 'Inside No, 9' I know which two people top my wish list.

Oh dear Lord. People glibly comparing it to the JNT era are so laughable. There is no correlation at all. Moffat and his shows are still big box office. He is world renowned now as one of the big name writers. This is fact. You might not like this fact but its true. Moffat wins awards. Baftas. Hugos. He has made stars out of Smith, Gillan and Darvill and turned Cumberbatch and Freeman into megastars. The critics for the most part rave about his shows and his episodes. Hollywood and US TV would kill for him to work there. Check the international sales and viewing figures. Now Top Gear is screwed the BBC might as well offer him a throne.
I agree that it shouldnt be in his hands much longer and that it's always good to freshen it up but it's nothing like JNT. The show was a bad joke acriss the board and he made it a worse one. Do pay attention.

And Granny hits the nail on the head. Who exactly? I asked this question of someone the other day when they said it should change showrunner every five years and they didn't actually have an answer beyond 'someone else'. There isn't a room somewhere with passionate and brilliant writers with the dedication and skill of RTD and Moffat just twiddling their fingers waiting to be asked. You can't manufacture what they do and have done. One day it'll fall into the hands of a writers room or the kind of mediocre hacks that churn out Merlin and Atlantis and then you'll be sorry.

So you know for a fact that all these people would be willing and able to take on the job?

I know you would be willing. The named ones would be able. Would the time, the place and the loved one come together, though?

This is a serious question. I don't know if any of the above, or anyone else, has expressed a genuine desire to be the next show runner. By genuine I mean not just vague ambitions but concrete assertions.

One thing this may mean is that Capaldi and Moffat end up leaving at the same time. If Moffat was leaving after Series 9 I could easily see Capaldi staying for at least one more series under another showrunner but given he'll have done three series' with Moffat he might feel that's enough.

Of course given that Moffat was invited in by the BBC the other week to discuss the next five years of DW we may end up with both Moffat and Capaldi till Series 13 or beyond



Whithouse has said (going back a couple of years) that he would be interested if asked.

They did have two people in mind. One couldn't do it because they were too busy, the other one didn't want the hassle.

Slayer2012

Look at him - just waiting!

Moffat Stuff

I bet the person who is too busy is Neil Gaiman. I wonder who the other is... Gatiss maybe?

The glaring difference between the RTD and Moffat eras is there has been no heir apparent. If they have someone in mind then the best plan would be to use the next couple of years for succession planning.

I just hope Moff isn't staying by default - that there's no one else willing or available who has the ability, so he's waiting until someone is found.

That wouldn't bode well.

But I'm a pessimist. Ignore me.

Oh....ok.

So has this been officially confirmed?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had such hopes for series 10

fresh new idea's

A series which didn't leave more questions than answers because the showrunner gets bored too easily.

A story arc which wasn't a complicated mess.

oh well.

I will say that series 8 had some good individual episodes (and that last christmas was brilliant) as every series has had, but Moffat really can't do story arcs, and loves posing questions which he dosen't yet no the answers to, then loses interest when it comes time to answer them, resulting in many big build up's which have lead to an underwhelming bit of nothingness, passing remark type resolutions, which are my main reasons for wanting him to go.

I've tried to think each year, 'this is the year he'll deliver a decent story arc/series finale' but it hasn't quite happened yet

Oh well. I suppose if I want to see satisfying story arcs and epic resolutions I'll have to rely on the RTD era dvds some more until at least after series 10 by the sounds of it.

It kind of seems that way to me.

It worries me how the top-end of the BBC seems to rely on so few people to manage their most lucrative franchises.

It's fair to say that regardless of what guise Top Gear takes next, it won't ever reach the same heights of success, and it's downfall comes (in small part) because they had everything riding on the availability and employability of just three people.

Then there's Doctor Who. Probably their next biggest cash cow, and it seems to be going around that they can't find a successor to Moffat. Only considering two people as has been suggested seems incredibly small-minded. And what if Moffat has declined to stay on? That leaves the show in limbo. Either it's the case that Moffat has genuinely wanted to stay on for this long (against the better judgement of very many people, even those who like his direction) or the BBC are putting Doctor Who in a very risky position by making it dependent on the involvement of a select few.

You should be flattered that the BBC think so highly of Doctor Who that there are apparently only two other people suitable for the role.

I know it's popular belief amongst these forums that any Tom, Dick or Harry could do a better job without any experience, training, skills or qualifications I would imagine that show runners of the same caliber as RTD and Moffat don't exactly grow on trees.

They don't grow on trees, no. And it's an understandably very tough job to do. But if there's any credibility to these suggestions anyway, flattery gets you nowhere in business and having only two names lined up does seem very risky - were Moffat to decline returning to a role they couldn't fill they'd be obligated to draft in someone to keep the show on-air, rush to find someone else who they'd have otherwise have declined, or worst-case scenario for both us and them which is to take the show off air altogether.
There are more than two people out there that could do the job, and do it well. The fact that at least one of those people considered, quite probably both of them, are writers previously/currently affiliated with the show doesn't necessarily suggest inspired confidence in the brand. Whilst familiarity with the show would be good for the next showrunner, they need to remember that RTD was wholly new to Doctor Who at the time he assumed the post and he did sensationally well.

This is of course, all conjecture on the basis that he didn't simply just want to simply sign up to Series 10 because he enjoys his job.

Steven Moffat was a successful scriptwriter before he got involved with Doctor Who, JN-T was not. Arguably, what Steven Moffat has been doing recently is just as good as what he was doing in 2010, and that the people he got to write for Series 8 were all excellent writers who did brilliant work. I think people were fed up with JN-T after 5 years because he wasn't doing his best work by then and had never really been all that good at the job in the first place.

That's very, very highly debatable.

That is why I said "arguably."

I really find it hard to believe that amongst the vast wealth of British writing talent in the country that there is only one man willing and able to do the job. Saying 'who exactly?' dosen't really prove a point either', I may not be able to name the show runners of half of my favourite shows but that dosen't mean they don't exist. There is so much good british tv, and of that there's an abundance of sci fi these days, obviously someone is writing them.

I think the real reason for the struggle with a replacement is two main problems -

The first being that it sounds like the bbc aren't really casting the net wide enough so to speak, as in, they are relying on people who have been involved with the show previously in some way, rather than considering that there are probably many good writers out there who could do just as good a job despite not having guest written for the show before (lets not forget RTD hadn't written for the show before it came back after all).

The second I think is that out of the people they may be potentially asking, I'm sure that in theory they probably like the idea of being the boss of the show, but don't want to take on such a big commitment as it is to actually do the job. I haven't heard of many tv jobs which take up so much of the year to produce, so I suppose it is hard to find someone willing to give that level of commitment.

I am in no way a fan of Moffat. The 'Matt Smith' years remain, for me, a barren time of poor story telling and little character.

And I think Moffat continues to make poor decisions, such as keeping Clara on as companion when her story has well and truly been told already.

I also worry about his time commitment to the show. We've had years of on-off production and no spin-off shows. The Doctor Who franchise shrunk significantly under Moffat and I think that's an enormous shame.

But I did notice an improvement with Season 8, which I think had a lot to do with Brian Minchin being back on board. The story telling improved and although there were a few wrong-turns (the Clara/Danny story didn't work) I think overall I enjoyed Capaldi's first season more than any of Matt Smith's

So whilst I continue to have concerns about Moffat being in charge, the show did feel a little more on track last year so I guess I'm open minded.