Despite having written nine adventures for Doctor Who on television, Mark Gatiss has revealed that he has no plans to write for the TV series again; instead, he intends to watch the series as a fan once again.
He has also said that he believes that the show’s ongoing success once again lies in not having gap years, the regularity meaning that more people will know that it’s on, not giving audiences enough time to completely forget about the show — something I had a problem with during the Chris Chibnall era.
Gatiss was recently talking to the Radio Times to promote his Christmas ghost story, Count Magnus, he revealed that he had seen Jodie’s regeneration a little in advance when he had met up with returning showrunner Russell T Davies. They saw each other again on the set of Nolly, Davies’ recent ITVX project in which Gatiss plays television personality Larry Grayson.
“Russell came to Nolly and it only took four-and-a-half-seconds before we were talking about Doctor Who again. And then he showed me the regeneration from Jodie to David and that was very exciting, so I held onto that little piece of The Key To Time for a bit.”
He was quick to say that outside of seeing Jodie’s regeneration before the rest of the world, he has no clue of what is coming up in the new series, both with the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate and then the ne-new Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa.
“But no, I know nothing. I really know nothing. I haven’t a clue. And that’s a lovely feeling, to just be watching as a viewer. I’ve no idea what the structure is, or what’s happened. Who is David? He is the Fourteenth Doctor, isn’t he? So what’s happened? Who has done that? The only clue is, he says, ‘I don’t know who I am anymore.'”
And like many other fans, he believes that Neil Patrick Harris will be playing the Celestial Toymaker, saying he thinks that something more celestial might be going on. Many fans believe that the Toymaker might have has something to do with the Doctor’s new/familiar face. And amongst the excitement he is feeling for watching the series as a fan, he reiterates that he believes Doctor Who should be on the television a lot more than it has been in previous years. The love for our show is still there, given how a couple of Instagram emojis caused headlines worldwide.
Doctor Who will return for its 60th anniversary specials in November followed by Gatwa’s first full story airing over the festive period and then his full series airing on BBC1 and Disney+ following in 2024!
