Russell T. Davies on casting David Tennant, his return to Doctor Who and writing Torchwood | BAFTA

[@Phrancq]

If the Baftas had any courage, Christopher Eccleston would have been on that die.

[@ljamesfan96]

Was kinda hoping he was on the dice😂

[@stevencgr]

and RTD as always would have been diplomatic, said nice things and that would have been it. RTD has always been complimentary about Christopher Eccleston despite the fallout around his departure and despite Christopher not doing the same to him. you will not find a quote of Russell bad mouthing him, nothing in 19 years.

[@Phrancq]

@stevencgr Diplomatic, sure. But he hasn't really made any attempt to apologise as far as we know, which is pretty poor form.

[@frasierfreak92]

@@PhrancqIt’s not RTD that actually did anything wrong, nor Julie. But Chris thinks as Executive Producers it was their job to apologise on behalf of the person who did, and their stance was they couldn’t do much more than fire them (which they did). Considering nobody else has bad things to say about working with them, whereas Chris is known to have had issues on other shows, it’s probably just a different point of view.

[@Phrancq]

@frasierfreak92 They also participated in a situation that led to him being blacklisted for years in the UK. Eccleston is pretty vocal, and if they'd made any kind of effort to repair a relationship, we'd have heard about it. RTD not being the direct person who did a bad thing is NOT an excuse for his actions.

[@REFLEXiw]

"I'm going to work with Eve Myles again soon" 👀👀👀👀

[@zocialix]

Ooooooooohh!!!

[@ryanhasproblems]

What else could it be? He surely doesn’t have time for projects outside of the DW universe atm.

[@OliviaLovesArt_]

AHHH

[@G0d_Ginrai]

Note he shows Ncuti’s face to the camera when he says this.

[@saqibshabir9755]

​@@G0d_Ginraiooh he actually does! It would be cool to see Gwen Cooper again

[@amyk202]

"I'm going to work with Eve Miles again soon" *holds up Ncuti Gatwa's face* You know what you're doing

[@friendlyotaku9525]

Fifteen meeting Gwen?! Oh that would be amazing!

[@Arcadi4.44]

​@@friendlyotaku9525Hate Gwen, bring back everyone else😂

[@wanderingshadow1372]

@@Arcadi4.44 Everyone else is dead. Cope.

[@lrrroftheplanetomicronpersei8]

"I love him" "I love her" "I love them" This guy loves everyone!

[@benxviv]

GWENS RETURN? ❤️❤️

[@joshuathompson2404]

RTD committing to work with Eve Myles again soon? Colour me intrigued.

[@Qwertycsm]

I refuse to believe RTD is 61. He has access to a real TARDIS, it seems

[@SceneSurgeSnippets]

That's insane. I thought he was in his late 40s

[@DigiRangerScott]

@@SceneSurgeSnippetsYeah but he’s been in the business at least 25 years already. Not everyone is so lucky to break out in their early 20s

[@cosmicreciever]

Dude has looked 40 for 20 years

[@whereami2477]

TORCHWOOD RETURN?

[@jellybabiesarecool4657]

It's gonna be a Unit spinoff featuring sea devils and Martha

[@ZarbiDW]

I really want to meet RTD at some point

[@malak900]

No Chris Ecclestone I’m assuming 😬

[@zoezebra1]

The Unquiet Dead wasn't set in 1817, I think you have Bridgerton on the brain

[@sheridan5175]

that was 1813

[@KitchenSinkSoup]

@@sheridan5175 It's set in 1869, during the Victorian Era . Charles Dickens would've been just barely 1 if the story was set in 1813

[@KitchenSinkSoup]

oh wait, you mean Bridgerton don't you? 😆

[@Mrriddiford]

I bloody love Russel. Growing up watching doctor who in the valleys, knowing that this beautiful human was producing that incredible TV show made me such a hopeful 10 year old 💝

[@Woke_Invaders]

🤮.

[@user-lo4tm3xw9q]

A Star Is born"⚡ David Tennant is really fabulous, brilliant, amazing, extraordinary actor❤ Always energetic and full of power❤

[@OliviaLovesArt_]

Work with Eve Myles soon again WHATTT

[@jessica23claire]

If I don’t see Gwen kicking a baddie into the rift with a baseball bat or something I swear -

[@MattyRobsonTV]

I love this man, I’d love to meet him one day 🙏

[@dilzaaaa]

Bloody love this man.

[@Synthpopper]

That bit at the start about handing in a new script? Yeah that soft confirms a series 16 commision as series 15 is already complete.

[@djedg10]

Or a spin-off series

[@RRR3000gaming]

He's already mentioned writing for his 4th series back in an interview, even when only two series were greenlit. I wouldn't take it as any indication of commission status but also it's very clear he's planning to do more, Disney commission or not.

[@andrewraphael3800]

@@RRR3000gaming Series 14 and 15 were filmed almost back-to-back, I wonder whether it will be similar for series 16 and 17? I just wish the series were longer (even 10 episodes), as this series has felt very abbreviated.

[@thekandyman.]

Please bring soldeed back

[@vintagescifipodcast]

Sadly, Graham Crowden died in 2010. Otherwise. Yes! If only to hear him say 'doomed' again while the set falls to pieces around him.

[@wanderingshadow1372]

Oh my God if Russell brings back Gwen Cooper I will be the happiest man alive.

[@theprofessor5253]

National treasure. We're very lucky to have him.

[@TJKlimoski]

A DW script due in a month?? Russell writing the season 2 to 3 Christmas special confirmed?

[@ZDProds-c8p]

We know he's written 4 scripts for series 3, he's mentioned it in other interviews so it could be any of them

[@jesshood4813]

Torchwood is so back

[@user-ms1pg2ok4i]

Russell Ncuti Gatwa? He is inspired casting. Ncuti is so young,fresh and so GOOD as the 15th. Thank you so Much for casting him. 🌟 🌟 Btw-- I thought Chucklevision was a show you made up in your mind. Real show!

[@LibertyBridgeProductions]

Russell is the GOAT

[@Dynamick65]

Christopher Eccleston needs some attention fr

[@shuncucker]

tbf i don’t think the man would appreciate this kind of attention himself

[@Dynamick65]

@@shuncucker I just meant he was so brilliant it's ashame all the others over shadow him so often. Very rough to see. Father's day is better than the entity of series 2 in my eyes

[@crystaldwfan]

If he said Gwen and Jack's return then I be excited 😊

[@DeimosParadigm]

What a lovely, lovely man ❤

[@MichaelM28]

So long as you don't talk to him about politics

[@wispa1a]

Colin reminds me of Ozzie from Cardiff in the 80s. Who frequently visited and worked in my dads gay bar 87-92

[@ben-tendo]

I don't see why Gwen can't re-enter the Whoniverse any time soon Russell. ;)

[@mrb3991]

HI Russel; Please give Evelyn Miles a Position in UNiT in Doctor Who

[@grump9001]

I have to say for as much as I love Christopher Eccleston, I think he's someone who had a bad experience with Russell and continues to hold onto it like a hardcore grudge. I'm not saying mistakes weren't made by RTD, I think it sounds like definitely he didn't handle it well at the time. But he's worked with so many others who have had great experience with him, he's apologized, he's doing his thing- part of me wonders if its just that Chris didn't gel with RTD's campy gay humor, which can be pretty biting and rude, maybe Chris took the wrong way as the not neurotypical person that he is. Nothing wrong with any of these things, in fact I'm all of them too actually, lol. So it looks like.. unfortunately, just a sad thing of personality clash. I hope Chris doesn't continue going around publicly bashing RTD. At this point its making *him* look like the unprofessional one. People change, and not everyone gets along. Thats okay. I don't think RTD is a bad guy. He's a great writer, and I think a very fun creative mind. Not everyone is perfect. I hope someday that the two of them will repair and heal things between them.

[@sadomensgaudaprime8142]

From Caerphilly originally ( ie Dr Who central ) and I can confirm the cast and crew are lovely. However I cannot rationalize the drop in quality from modern Dr Who to Davies original run,,😢

[@donpowers7478]

As someone else commented, John Barrowman was the lead of Torchwood with Eve Myles as the co-star of the show. The first season was hit or miss, the second season had more character development of the Torchwood cast and Children of Earth was perfect and a great way to close out on the series. But RTD had to squeeze more profit out of the series by Americanizing it by joining forces with Starz (the great streaming service that tried to ruin the Ash vs. Evil Dead series by changing times lots and slashing budgets for 3 years) Torchwood: Miracle Day retconned Captain Jack Harkness immortality origin. Since RTD won't ever employ John Barrowman again because of Barrowman's supposed unforgivable sexist humor on Torchwood (which he apologized for in 2007!) The woke brigade won't allow his return to any RTD series. RTD seems to have become a hypocrit with an agenda after the passing of his life partner. Even when David Tennant appeared as Dr. Who in the 60th anniversary specials, I decided that RTD and Disney can destroy the Dr. Who series with their personal agendas without my or my friends support. The ratings for Dr. Who on the BBC and Disney services are at an all time low. ( Jody Whittaker did the best she could with the role considering the scripts were uneven in quality and the Canon of Dr. Who was once again retconned) it's a sad series of events that the man who brought Dr. Who back to worldwide popularity will end of placing it back in the graveyard of dead series.

[@BarbusCraft]

He said last week that season 3 has not been greenlit yet, but he's still writing episodes for it and is on the 4th episode. If its not greenlit, then why is the script due soon?

[@hiddeheikoop]

Maybe they want to read a few new episodes before starting the new series.

[@Elwaves2925]

Maybe he knows that it definitely will be greenlit but it hasn't been made official yet.

[@BarbusCraft]

@@Elwaves2925 He did say he was hopeful for another season, so maybe.

[@Elwaves2925]

@@BarbusCraft Chinball's era kept getting new seasons and the current one has been better received than his (ignoring that certain portion of the fanbase), so it would seem very likely.

[@BarbusCraft]

@@Elwaves2925 BBC cancelled Doctor Who after The Flux, it was supposed to end until RTD showed interest in returning for a special. The main factor now is Disney, Doctor Who has such a big budget now that BBC can't fund the show on its own without the Disney partnership. If Disney pulls out the show will most likely be canned.

[@Electrox3d]

He has not brought his A game to this doctor. “Just another doctor who no surprise there” that’s basically the description of this season.

[@MegaZayd1]

I love his work, but i re watched torchwood recebtly and it was painfull

[@Face2East]

Torchwood was dire. It had an interesting premise, but it was one which wore thin halfway through S1.

[@evie._.lake20]

Jack is the lead of Torchwood

[@SadBnnuy]

He really is

[@stevencgr]

watch it again, he may be your favourite character, and the one that existed before the show, but he isn't the only lead. Torchwood is so the story of Gwen Cooper, it's about this mad job she stumbles into and this strange man she meets. Even in the team lite episode, it's Gwen who features more than Jack.

[@Qwertycsm]

You're correcting the man who CREATED the show? That's next level arrogance...

[@rares-andreidinu2279]

Gwen is the main character and the audience surrogate. Jack is the strange central character that's there to lead her into that mad world, much like Jack Sparrow in the first films. The show also begins and ends with Gwen and doesn't follow Jack further in his adventures.

[@Deathlygunn]

​@@stevencgr This, it's similar to how Rose is the main character in Doctor Who Series 1 even though the show is named after The Doctor, it's about her journey.

[@PaulRichards-vz4pl]

Russell… The Doctor is supposed to be an unusual looking eccentric. A stoic resilient character but you’ve completely destroyed what made him work by humanising him and now sexualising him. Shame on you.

[@MichaelM28]

R.I.P Doctor Who 1963 - 2017

[@perplexingpantheon]

He's doing fine enough work for the show.

[@amyk202]

2017 is 7 years ago now and the show is still going strong. Cope.

[@AlmightyBruce]

I remember when Capaldi was announced as the 12th Doctor and people were saying RIP Doctor Who 1963-2013. Times never change.

[@Elwaves2925]

@@AlmightyBruce I seem to recall it being said when Tennant left too, although that was likely from Tennant fans, not DW fans. Michael McGrath doesn't change either. They only ever post the exact same thing, whenever they pop their head out of the sewer, even though it's been provably wrong for years.

[@camone4365]

@@amyk202 awaiting cancellation

[@jamesleighton85872]

Destroying an iconic show and refuses to see the damage he is guilty of

[@MatthewCYN15]

If it is destroyed, why is it still here???

[@michaelford5218]

How does it feel to make the worst ever Dr Who series?

[@shuncucker]

maybe ask moffat when he does a video here on the process of making series 7?

[@MatthewCYN15]

How does it feel to be a hater

[@michaelford5218]

@@MatthewCYN15 well, Who went from quality metaphor and lite horror/sci-fi to worse than CW shows.

[@michaelford5218]

@@shuncucker Seems like he's said, let's go the super Disney route rather than the high quality of what we expect.

[@Naren25]

Ask Chibnall

[@oooo6180]

ruined doctor who

[@ZDProds-c8p]

60th was just an RTD celebration. Guy has an ego

[@Ragnorok657]

This guy is a hack.

[@walterkeating6262]

The Doctor Who franchise is just what RTD needed to fulfil his dream of writing Queer As Folk in Space at Hogwart's. Where is the audience for this crap?

[@lrrroftheplanetomicronpersei8]

Well, me for one

[@MatthewCYN15]

And me

[@lanceuppercut3498]

Not me, sorry to say and also the near 3 million who have bailed since Christmas. Such high hopes with RTD after Chibnall's near total destruction of the show. But after this series, wow talk about careful what you wish for. Now I wish he had never returned. Not watching. Stopped after episode 2, like many have week on week. I'm still shocked bad its gotten and lower numbers its had after Chibnall/Jodie low numbers and bad episodes. So enjoy whoever is left not sure for how long after 3 series it may get. And yeah I did stop after the dreadful second musical episode. And what I have seen many bailed after that travesty look at the ratings it never got higher for the rest of the series.

[@MatthewCYN15]

@@lanceuppercut3498 dont watch dude. Simple as that. Save your breath.

[@altinaykor364]

just like how Moffat era was his own heaven, with all ladies being his own fantasies and his own ideals of what women should be and made one of them cling to the Doctor.

[@camone4365]

If we are all irrelevant, and therefore unimportant, who are you writing your script for? Just a question.

[@amyk202]

Me

[@kashiichan]

Media literacy is so important

[@lrrroftheplanetomicronpersei8]

He was very very clearly joking. He's essentially saying everything is irrelevant to him at that time because his script is due and that's what's occupying most of his brain.

[@lanceuppercut3498]

His aimed for the teens to 30 years olds. He may have got exactly what he wanted. Shame its come at a heavy price of losing many of the hard core fans and the casual watching public due to poorly written stories and poor choice of leading man.

[@Face2East]

@@lanceuppercut3498 Teens couldn't care less about it. He aimed it square at gen-z and that particular audience bracket has not returned much reward for Disney or Amazon in recent years. And you are right about his poor choices. Also his over reliance on deux ex machina this season was just embarrassing.

[@anon5263]

Russell is a complete hack writer who's gone completely off the Deep end. He's incapable of writing a good episode anymore, or maybe he's always had other better writers reining him in?

[@lesigh1749]

Seldom do we see a man more smug and glowing with his own ego and with less reason.

[@Nimoot]

Just a shame what he's done with Doctor Who ... the character truly did die with Capaldi... anything after has gone off the rails, into Wokeness for zero reason, and every single episode The Doctor has been seen crying ... nothing about the man could potentially strike fear into me like Tennant's expressions or Smsith's cold dead stare when you knew the villain had crossed a line. Bring up a character is a She instead of a He? That should be that ... but it's obsessed over 5 more times in a singular episode, and again in the finale of David and Donna. That's how you kill a series, make it all about the 'woke' nonsense (Which it obviously sounds like I'm against it ... I'm ALL FOR someone identifying as something... just when you obsessively remind someone throughout a show? ... I'm Gay, and I felt offended with how abrupt it kept coming up) and the storywriting is completely lacking in the Wonder that all prior writing had ... I'm even missing Jodie at this point...

[@Sir-Cuntington]

*Disney Doctor Who has been a failure, it failed because it went full RTD, NEVER go full RTD!!!* 😮

[@stevencgr]

lol, no one at the BBC or Disney is thinking a show with millions of viewers is failure, only people who have ZERO understanding of how tv works in 2024 and just keep comparing it to 15 years ago are calling it a failure. people who think they are experts on ratings, yet have never worked a day in tv in their life and have no clue on how the industry works, It's still one of the most watched shows in the UK, that's not a failure by any measurement.

[@benlowe2032]

I think this current season has been really good

[@user-sy6tg1ol9e]

I agree with your replies and not you, my job was already down for me

[@MichaelM28]

@@stevencgr2 million viewers 😂😂😂😂

[@AlbertSquareAfterDark]

@@MichaelM28the first episode of the series is now at 5.6m after catchup and all the different streamers so it’s doing fine. Overnights, as all the tv producers and channel heads will tell you, mean very little these days.

[@erosion271]

Russell in 2005 a trendy, fresh 30 something writer in touch with the modern audience desire for hard sci-fi. Russell in 2023 an out of touch, slightly stale 50 something who ironically can't tell the difference between trans and non-binary women.

[@Face2East]

He's actually 61. (Ian McKellen was younger when he first played Gandalf). He's taking it back to the 1950s when it was old men running the shows telling everybody what they think young audiences want. His scripts this time round were the worse he's done, in any format.

[@erosion271]

@@Face2East Fair play he looks good for his age. But you're right. Spot on. As soon as he said in an interview "Can't let kids decide the morals anymore have to TELL them" i was like "Whoah I don't like that."

[@stephennield6201]

Dr who has lost the scare factor like when you saw the daleks you hid behind the sofa.

[@Woke_Invaders]

RTD, what about writing good scripts instead of preaching the woke gospel?

[@AnUnearthlyGay]

TORCHWOOD 5 PLEASE RUSSELL