Former Doctor Who writer, Mark Gatiss, has suggested it might be the right time for the programme to have “another rest”, just as it did between 1989 and 2005 (with a brief resurgence in 1996).
Gatiss has written numerous episodes of the show, including The Unquiet Dead, The Idiot’s Lantern, and Cold War, and, when asked what he thinks of the current state of the franchise, he replied:
“It’s been back for 20 years, which is an awfully long time. Almost as long as its original run. That’s pretty spectacular. So maybe it’s time for another rest. I really don’t know. I only know that I still love the show with all my heart.”
And it does look like the show is having a rest — certainly there’s no news from the BBC or Disney+, the former apparently waiting for the latter to decide whether to recommission it or not. “Or not” is reportedly the likeliest outcome, which means that the BBC might be in search for a new streaming partner… although the BBC could fund it itself without another company involved — it just doesn’t seem to want to.
Even showrunner, Russell T Davies, has admitted that the series is “on pause”.
Gatiss is publicising his latest series, Bookish, a murder mystery set in post-war Britain, and he explains:
“As an obsessed student of the genre, I always wanted to play a detective, and every detective needs a thing. Book’s is the notion that his shop (and its seemingly limitless contents) act as a sort of analogue computer, that all the solutions to the most baffling mysteries might be found in the pages of all the world’s learning.”
It sounds great. I’ve recorded the first two episodes and am looking forward to digging in.
Bookish airs on U&Alibi.
