Twelfth Doctor actor, Peter Capaldi, suggests that the next iteration of Doctor Who will need someone behind the scenes who loves it in a similar way to former showrunner, Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat.

Talking on the Half the Picture podcast, Capaldi said that BBC executives don’t really get Doctor Who:

“It needs love. I sometimes think people in the BBC don’t really understand it. I think that’s kind of a problem. People don’t really know what it’s supposed to be. That’s why the show is made by Russell and Steven and all that, because they love it, and they loved it from when they were little, and when it was not on, they loved it. So they knew what it was [and] they knew what to bring to it.

“I don’t think there were any executives in the BBC [who] had a checklist of things that should be in it. It had to be left to Russell to do that. And there’ll be someone like that now.”

And though we might be sceptical about showrunners sometimes, taking on the role is hugely intensive so you’ve really got to have someone there who adores the series in order to want to put in that time.

All three 21st Century showrunners, including Christ Chibnall (lead writer during the Thirteenth Doctor era), are long-time fans of the franchise and gave it their all.

Now, with the show out on tender, the tough part is finding someone else who’s so willing to put a lot of hours and a lot of love into it…