8 essential changes Russell T Davies made when rebooting Doctor Who

So, with that huge question mark hanging over it, it was down to the showrunners (or showrunner) to update it for the modern audience. Enter Russell T Davies.

When the Queer as Folk writer took over, he made plenty of tweaks to the show’s format and style. From changing the basic episode structure to having the first Doctor without an RP accent, the series received a shake-up from top to bottom, while still remaining Doctor Who of course.

There’s sure to be plenty more changes to come in RTD’s second reign, but today – the writer’s 61st birthday, in fact – it’s time to look at those that made his original relaunch work so well.

It was pretty hard to narrow down, but here’s eight essential changes Russell T Davies made when bringing back Doctor Who.

1. The Time War

Kicking things off with the writer’s biggest and boldest move of them all: killing off The Doctor’s entire species, and not just that, killing them off-screen.

In just the second episode of RTD’s tenure, we get our first introduction to the Time War – at that time, a great unknown event that resulted in the destruction of Gallifrey and every single Time Lord – now of course, we know differently.

In the classic series, the Time Lords had been a constant presence in The Doctor’s life, as friend and, more often, foe. To many, the axing of such an essential part of the lore must have seemed insane, but thankfully, not to Russell T Davies. It has to be said that Doctor Who just thrived without the weight of these stuffy senators; the status of last-of-his-kind gave The Doctor new and exciting emotional depths that were beautifully played out by Eccleston, Tennant and Smith. It elevated the character into something huge and mythic and well, alien, in a way we’d never seen before.

2. One word: "ELE-VATE"

There’s no denying that the Daleks, while iconic, had become slightly ludicrous over the final years of the classic series. No disrespect to Ace, but the moment you see one getting battered with a baseball bat, all credibility flies out the window. Worst of all, however, was seeing these great masters of time and space be foiled time and again, not by the Doctor, but by stairs.

Thankfully, Robert Shearman’s Dalek changed that all in a single, blood-curdling moment. From the second that Dalek started to "ELE-VATE" towards Rose and Adam in Van Statten’s museum, we knew these villains were back in a big way, and it was terrifying.

3. The Psychic Paper

Another shall we say… quirk, of the classic series was that the Doctor frequently found himself having or break his way out of prison cells thanks to suspicious humans or silly misunderstandings. The stories would always seem to start the same way: he lands, people get angry, the Doctor ends up in prison or sentenced to death until the real baddie turns up and they let him out.

So with a shorter time spend on each story, we really needed something like the Psychic Paper to move past all that. This handy, ever-changing ID card was the perfect McGuffin to get The Doctor into stories quickly and easily. No more wasting time on executioners blocks, just show the psychic, have a quick laugh about what it says and on you go.

4. Bringing back the greatest companion

It’s fair to say that the first few seasons of the RTD reboot tended to shy away from making too many classic era references. In-jokes were rare and flash backs were seemingly banned. In fact, we didn’t actually get a glimpse at any of the Doctor’s previous faces until The Next Doctor in 2008.

But the one, frankly glorious, exception was bringing back Sarah Jane Smith. When Elisabeth Sladen appeared in School Reunion, it was everything. For older viewers, it was the chance to do what so many fans wish they could: to reconnect with their favourite character. For children, it was the chance to bring this incredibly special person to a whole new generation.

5. Family drama

The introduction of the companions’ families marked another major shift. Suddenly the previously insular dynamic of Doctor and friends opened up to include mums, siblings, boyfriends, and even parallel universe fathers. With this change, the series became that little bit more real and grounded and gave us a much-needed human dynamic.

Plus, and this cannot be overstated, it gave us some of the best performances in the entire show, thanks to Camille Coduri, Jacqueline King and, of course, Bernard Cribbins. And really, who wouldn’t want to try Sylvia Noble’s tuna madras?

6. The five billion trilogy

Perhaps a controversial choice, but if you ever wanted to give a Doctor Who novice a summary of the show, I’d suggest showing them the five billion trilogy: End of the World, New Earth and Gridlock.

On one side, you’d really be throwing the new viewer in at the deep end, so at least they’d know if they liked it, on the other, they would get an instant idea of what the essence of the show is: a camp, crazy, sci-fi romp with nurse cat nuns and Zoe Wanamaker’s moisturiser.

But seriously, when you look past all the insanity, these episodes have real human stories at their core. Think about Gridlock, it may have cartoon crabs and Aardal O’Hanlon’s cat babies, but it’s also got a hymn slap bang in the middle of it and some pretty serious character beats for the Doctor and Martha.

7. Christmas specials

We take it for granted now that Doctor Who has a Christmas (or New Year’s) special, but getting one in the first place can’t have been an easy task.

Giving that mad man and his box (The Doctor, not RTD) the prime slot on BBC One on Christmas Day, turned the series from Saturday night sci-fi to full-on family event. It also gave the showrunners the chance to tell bolder and downright whackier stories than ever before. By the fourth special we’d had robot Santas, Kylie Minogue and evil Christmas trees… and it only got stranger during the Moffat era.

8. Murray Gold

Lastly, Murray Gold why do you hurt us?

While the composer’s indelible presence on the show is a credit to no one but himself, we have to thank RTD and co for putting the composer there in the first place.

Without him, we would never have got tracks like Doomsday, Martha’s Theme, or I Am The Doctor. We would never have felt that sucker-punch when Rose and the Doctor said goodbye or when David Tennant uttered “I don’t want to go,” or at least, not in the same way.

What sets Murray Gold’s music apart is the energy and life he brings to even the quietest moments, the way he lets us fall in love with characters before they speak and the way he makes us feel danger before we even know why. Without him, well, let’s be honest, I definitely wouldn’t have spent as much money on tissues, but also it simply wouldn’t have worked the same.

Doctor Who will return on Saturday 11th May on BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Previous seasons are available to stream on BBC iPlayer with episodes of the classic series also available on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here.

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