Doctor Who: Russell T Davies Rules Out 10th Anniversary Return

By TGT | 7th January 2015

Former Doctor Who executive producer Russell T Davies has turned down an offer from the BBC to return for the tenth anniversary of the show’s revival.

Davies was responsible for bringing Doctor Who back to television screens in March 2005, and both produced and wrote for the series until handing over the reins to current showrunner Steven Moffat in 2010.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Davies revealed that he was approached by the BBC regarding the upcoming anniversary, but replied with a polite ‘thanks but no thanks’:

“Someone from the [BBC’s] branding team sent me a very lovely email saying do you want to do something. I don’t know what they imagined: a talk or a convention perhaps. I just said no, to be honest. A programme can’t have its fiftieth and then its tenth. I think that’s just confusing. It’s marvellous and glorious; let it carry on.”

Nor is this the first time Davies has declined a return to the show since his departure:

“The lovely Steven [Moffat] invites me every year to come and write one. And I love him and I love them and I love watching it, but here I am, moving on. I love Doctor Who with all my heart but nothing is more important to me than my own stuff.”

Davies’ views on the 10th anniversary of New Who seem to chime with those of Moffat’s, who gave a characteristically enigmatic response at the Series 8 premiere in Cardiff last year when asked if there were any plans in the pipeline:

“We’ve only just done the 50th! After the huge fuss over 50 years of Doctor Who, I think it’s time to settle down and move forwards. So we’re not planning that…unless I’m lying.”

Despite Davies’ refusal to return, however, he also revealed that he still watches Doctor Who ‘absolutely religiously’, describing Peter Capaldi’s portrayal of the Doctor as ‘glorious’:

“I know Peter Capaldi. He did a Doctor Who with us [Series 4’s The Fires of Pompeii] and he did a brilliant Torchwood and when they cast him I was just envious. I just thought: so brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that? Brilliant.”

Since leaving Doctor Who Davies continued to produce and write for spin-offs The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood before co-creating the CBBC series Wizards vs Aliens. His latest project Cucumber, Banana and Tofu, a three-fold examination of gay life in modern Britain, will begin airing later this month.

Would you like to see Russell T Davies return to write for Doctor Who in the future? Let us know in the comments below!

[Source: Radio Times]