Doctor Who's Russell T Davies reveals his "best decision" when rebooting series
The showrunner reflects on his time relaunching the show in 2005.
In his initial role as Doctor Who showrunner from 2005 to 2010, Russell T Davies oversaw plenty of iconic storylines, characters and villains but there was one in particular that turned out to be Davies's best decision.
Speaking on David Tennant Does a Podcast With…, Davies told the former Doctor actor: “That was my best decision, to stick to the Daleks. They weren’t allowed to change their proportions at all.
"People had great designs, they were big and they were brutish but they were more like droids. You know, when you get a toy Dalek that looks like a Dalek, it’s not a Dalek. When they get the measurements wrong, when you draw it, you go, ‘That doesn’t look like a Dalek.’ I just had to believe - that was just an act of faith.”
Although Davies has yet to bring the Daleks back for his new reign as showrunner, there were plenty of inclusions of the fan-favourite baddies in his original stint on the sci-fi.
Some of the most notable episodes with Daleks under Davies's tenure include 2005's Dalek, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways, 2007's Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks, and 2008's The Stolen Earth and Journey's End.
Latest Doctor Ncuti Gatwa spoke to Entertainment Weekly last year about whether his incarnation of the Time Lord will ever encounter a Dalek on screen, saying: "I’ve heard chats about me not ever facing a Dalek. I’d be so angry if that’s the case!
"By the time that I’m done with Doctor Who, I better have faced a Dalek. What on earth would be the point of me being Doctor Who without facing a Dalek!"
Davies previously said of leaving Daleks out of Gatwa's first season: "I do think we've had a lot of Daleks lately. Because, actually, lovely Chris Chibnall's Christmas specials have all been Daleks. So I think they've been done a lot, so people are expecting them every year now. So I think they need a good pause."
While we're not quite sure if Daleks will be on the immediate horizon for Doctor Who, Davies has confirmed that there are "conversations" about who the next showrunner could be.
He also told Tennant on his podcast: "I’m not getting younger, darling. But I will need to slow down at some point. That’ll come. Last time it was Steven Moffat [who replaced me], that wasn’t even a day’s work, like, 'Right, off you go!'
"There’s thinking about that, there’s conversations about that, but it’s hard. It’s a tricky one. But they better exist… imagine, I’m dead at the desk. The cliche would kill me!"
Read more:
- Former Doctor Who boss Steven Moffat denies he'd return when Russell T Davies exits
- Doctor Who needs to be "woke" - and there's a reason every sci-fi fan should agree
Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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Authors
Morgan Cormack is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering everything drama-related on TV and streaming. She previously worked at Stylist as an Entertainment Writer. Alongside her past work in content marketing and as a freelancer, she possesses a BA in English Literature.
