Chris Chibnall on a return to Doctor Who: “There’s no prospect of that whatsoever”
Chris Chibnall has said he isn’t planning on returning to write on Doctor Who anytime soon after ending his tenure as showrunner of the long-running BBC sci-fi series last year.
Chibnall was in charge of Doctor Who between 2018 and 2022 for all three series of Jodie Whittaker’s tenure as the Thirteenth Doctor, bowing out, along with the star with The Power of the Doctor in October 2022, a show that coincided with the 100th birthday of the BBC.
Russell T Davies has taken over as showrunner of Doctor Who, returning to the programme after he was responsible for rebooting it for the modern era in 2005.
But once associated with Who, always associated with Who it seems, and so the question has been asked of Chris Chibnall whether he would be writing on Doctor Who again anytime soon.
“Oh my God, I’ve only just finished!” he told RadioTimes.com. “I’ve been across 31 episodes for the last five years of my life. I’ve just gone out, finished it last October. There’s no prospect of that whatsoever.”
Well, that sounds fairly decisive!
Added Chibnall: “It’s Russell’s now, I’m so happy to be a viewer. I cannot wait to see David [Tennant], I cannot wait to see Ncuti [Gatwa], the most amazing casting.”
Chibnall also revealed that he had made a deal with the Thirteenth Doctor star Jodie Whittaker that they would do three series together from the very beginning – and they’d stuck to that.
“Jodie and I made a ‘three series and out’ pact with each other at the start of this once-in-a-lifetime blast. So now our shift is done, and we’re handing back the TARDIS keys.”
Doctor Who will return in November 2023 for three special 60th anniversary episodes starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor alongside his old companion Donna Noble, played by a returning Catherine Tate. Yasmin Finney will appear as Rose in the episode and we’ll see Neil Patrick Harris’s character causing problems for the Doctor and friends.
There are also some pretty epic audio adventures happening this year with Big Finish’s Once and Future seeing a huge multi-Doctor adventure and the return of favourite characters like Georgia Tennant’s Jenny, the Doctor’s daughter.
A festive special will kick off Ncuti Gatwa’s time in the TARDIS as Fifteen and he’ll be joined by Millie Gibson as his companion Ruby Sunday for season 14 which will play out in 2024.
The 60th episodes will be the first as part of a new deal between the BBC and Disney to make Disney+ the global home of Doctor Who outside of the UK.
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