Steven Moffat has confirmed that, for the first time ever, a writer from Classic Doctor Who will be writing for the next season of the show, Series 10!
The showrunner announced the news at the New York Comic Con, after talking about Mike Bartlett, scribe of Series 10 Episode 4 – while potentially also announcing a title for that story:
“We have got some new writers. We’re not rolling them all out now. Oh, I could do one fun thing. We’ve got Mike Bartlett coming in. He’s just done The Haunted Hub, a brilliant script from Mike Bartlett. He wrote the show Doctor Foster, which was a big series in [the UK]. Has it been over here? No? Well, it’s brilliant, and he’s a brilliant playwright. And he’s been a long-time fan of Doctor Who. He put his new hit series on hold for a couple of weeks so could write an episode of Doctor Who.
“And — oh, what the hell? For the first time ever, someone who wrote for the classic series, and I’m not saying who, is going to write an episode of the new series! Deal with that!”
Doctor Foster starred Suranne Jones (The Doctor’s Wife) and Bertie Carvel (The Lazarus Experiment) and proved an immediate success, with a second series expected on BBC1 next year. Moffat says Bartlett “put his new hit series on hold for a couple of weeks” and that’s probably Press, made by BBC Cymru, about the world of newspapers. And as we’ve heard rumours of a Doctor Who episode set in some sort of haunted house, it seems likely that Series 10 Episode 4 is called The Haunted Hub, at least at this stage in production.
Okay, so who might this classic series writer be? We can only speculate, of course, but in the past, Steven’s praised Rona Munro (Survival) and Ben Aaronovitch (Remembrance of the Daleks; Battlefield), the latter of whom has been working on annual novels set in the universe he established with Rivers of London (2011).
Some have mentioned Terrance Dicks, which would be great but probably unlikely, and Andrew Cartmel, who was Script Editor, not strictly a writer, but who did naturally write for the series, including Bonnie Langford’s final scene as Mel in Dragonfire. Cartmel is also currently working with Aaronovitch on Rivers of London comic series.
Marc Platt (Ghost Light) is a possibility, as is Andrew Smith (Full Circle), both of whom have been working for Big Finish.
I’m going to put Bob Baker’s name forward: the majority of his Doctor Who credits were shared with Dave Martin, but he also wrote Nightmare in Eden; since then, he’s worked on a K9 TV series for Australia, and extensively for Aardman’s Wallace and Gromit. Plus he’s a lovely guy who I’d love to see tackle the 45-minute format.
But what do you think? Is this welcome news? Who would you like to see writing for Series 10?
