A thread that does what it says on the tin. Following Moffat's trend of alternating between seven and eight fellow writers each year, can you pick seven writers who you would like to see join him for his swansong year?

It's not as easy as I thought it'd be, especially trying to factor in at least one newbie! But my personal list ended up being...

Steven Moffat - obviously
Toby Whithouse - a personal favourite
Sarah Dollard - give her something less arc heavy
Neil Gaiman - get him the Capaldi script he wants
Peter Harness - great character writer, one to watch for me
Jamie Mathieson - a fun variety of episodes so far
Samantha Morton - newbie, highly acclaimed, good track record
Russell T Davies - brief one-off reprisal for Moffat's swansong

Those who I wouldn't mind having a spot, though didn't make my list this time would include Chris Chibnall so he could test the waters ahead of his own Series 11, Patrick Ness so we could tie in with Class a little bit to make the spin-off feel more relevant, Catherine Tregenna who is a superb writer but left me feeling disappointed with her Series 9 effort, Gareth Roberts who I tend to enjoy but who hasn't been given anything taxing in Doctor Who in a long time, Helen Raynor who I actually really like as a writer and enjoyed her contributions to both Who and Primeval, Adrian Hodges for his great track record on Primeval, Phillip Pullman who simply feels a bit too out-of-the-league, and I could go on but I won't

I guess Mark Gatiss may well get his obligatory spot but he's had enough chances from me, and I just find his Who too inoffensive to ever warrant any remote sense of excitement.

But yes, who would you want to write for Moffat's final year?

Steven Moffat- He is the showrunner
Mark Gatiss- Will be writing a story regardless, and please don't be sleep no more part 2
Chris Chibnall- Lets see what he has got
James Mathieson- Written some very good stories thus far
Joss Whedon- Completely unrealistic, but one can hope
Toby Whithouse- Good writer
Peter Harness- Has the potential to write a knockout script

I think the spirit of this thread is to say what we would like to happen, not what we think will happen so my list would be:

Moffat. It's his final season so work him to death and have him fully script a minimum 5 episodes. I've felt cheated out of a fifth Moffat episode since the reduction to 12 episodes.

Chibnall must have at least 2 episodes to (re)acquaint himself with Doctor Who fans / viewers and begin to introduce his ideas prior to his first season.

Gareth Roberts is always good for a well-written 'light' episode. I missed him this year.

I don't think it's realistic but this is a fantasy list so I would like to see Russell Davies contribute a totally standalone episode. Give him no requirements to tie it in with the 'arc' or sub-plots, maybe not even using the companion if he doesn't want to. Just let him do whatever story he wants to write involving the Doctor (as long as it doesn't contradict Moffat's plans of course). I'd like to see this kind of 'guest writer' concept once a season in Doctor Who. Just let a writer do their thing rather than write on spec. Doctor Who is robust enough to do that for the occasional episode.

Beyond that there's honestly no writers I particularly want to see. None of them really stand out. Each one tends to be hit and miss. In truth I always get most excited to see new writers and so I would give the remaining slots to new talent. They HAVE to find some. Nothing against Chibnall, and I intend to be supportive of him, but his appointment does speak to the fact that there are no standout writers on the show besides Moffat. They have to find that superstar talent and he / she hasn't turned up yet so they need to keep trying people out.

(I honestly think Robert Shearman could have been that talent had they groomed him for the role back in the day. He is a properly talented writer (not just capable but in Moffat and RTD's league) and has the same fan qualifications as Moffat and RTD. Alas, I'm sure it's far too late for that now)

Gaiman
Armando Iannucci
Harness
Matthisson
Jk Rowling