The New Head Writer of Doctor Who?

Well here we are, 50 years since ‘The Doctor’ was conceived by a think tank of people who started what today has become British cultural chic geek icon. And this inception of Doctor Who called ‘An Adventure in Time and Space’ was beautifully brought to our TV screen in Britain yesterday and will show in America tonight.

Since it’s beginnings it has had many writers whose clever ideas and story telling abilities have been the foundation of what has made Dr Who so quirky, fascinating and just generally amazing. There have been to date 90 credited writers on Dr Who. But there are many more that have contributed to it than that. For one the writer David Agnew was a pen name used when the production staff had heavily contributed to the script.

Of those 90 you break through talent mixed up with talented famous names such as Douglas Adams, Richard Curtis and Neil Gaiman. You had you legendary heavy contributors such as Bob Barker, Russel T Davis, Terrance Dicks, Robert Holmes, Malcolm Hulke, David Whitaker and of course Terry Nation.

Today we have the great Steven Moffat, who has treated us to some of best stories I have seen on Dr Who. There are rumours of his departure after the up coming series 8 with our new Doctor ‘Peter Capaldi’ (Looking forward to that combination of writer and actor).  But even if the rumours are not true, there will come a time when he needs to move on. So who will be next?

During Russel T Davis tenure, Steven Moffat wrote some of the most outstanding episodes and was the obvious choice when Davis moved on. But now I feel the choice is not so obvious. I think it likely they will get someone in who is proven writer for the series, for the nature of the show is very unique and may not suit even an experienced writer of a different genre.

So it’s a few names that spring to mind for me:

Mark Gattis – Seems like the obvious choice, given he wrote the ‘Adventure in time and space’ and is buddies with Moffat, co-writing the brilliant Sherlock as they do. I haven’t been blown away by his Dr Who episodes.

The Unquiet Dead

The Idiots Lantern

Victory of the Daleks

Night Terrors

Cold War

The Crimson Horror

Meh, they were alright, but in my opinion some of the weaker of the series’ they were in.

Neil Gaiman – This would be an amazing choice, but unless he’s after more of a career move away from his other writing, this probably won’t happen. But who knows?

Paul Cornell – He wrote during Russel T Davis’ reign. He penned Father’s Day and the double header ‘Human Nature & The family of blood’. He doesn’t seem to have been asked back, unless he was committed to other things that is. But his writing seems to me to have the right edge to work.

From the ones who were asked back from the Davis to the Moffat era, Tom MacRae and Toby Whithouse also stand out for me. There are some that have only done one episode who may well do another next season. But for that we will have to wait and see.

Please comment on who you think might be a good contender too.