April 09, 2025
The Doctor Who showrunner discusses new adventures, new writers, and everything else coming up in Season 2…
A new season of Doctor Who is set to begin on 12th April, and once again leading the series is showrunner Russell T Davies. Joined in Season 2 by a host of new writers, cast and an all-new companion, RTD shares his insight on everything we can hope to expect from the Doctor and Belinda’s upcoming adventures…
What can viewers expect from Season 2, what was your vision?
The vision is to be bigger, and brighter, and bolder than ever. There are some darker swings in this season but some bolder swings as well. There’s an Interstellar Song Contest; that’s possibly the biggest and maddest thing we’ve ever done! It’s absolutely gorgeous. The joy of Doctor Who is that it’s different every single week. People keep on saying to me, “What’s different about Season 2?” And that’s the point of the show, it’s designed to be different each week, and we’re leaning into that.
There are hostile planets – more hostile than ever – The Interstellar Song Contest has got more aliens than we’ve ever had. We keep learning on this job, we keep enjoying it more and more, loving the show, and pushing it further. There’s lots more energy, lots more scares, lots more thrills and lots more laughs as well. It’s a more grandiose series, and we’re very proud of it.
In Season 1, we had the theme of finding out Ruby’s birth mother. Is there a theme in Season 2?
Yes, the theme is “Get Belinda home”! Surviving the first episode is a bit of an ordeal for her, but once that happens it’s a very unusual story in that the Doctor can’t get her home – specifically to the 24th May 2025, 7.30am in the morning... And, the reason for that is something very important that runs across the series. You can still watch every single episode, completely unencumbered by that knowledge. It doesn’t stop you enjoying every week’s episode as an anthology series but nonetheless – why can’t the Doctor get Belinda home? What is happening? What force is working against them? Is it to do with her? Is it to do with him? Is it something on that date? We are heading towards the transmission of an episode on the 24th May 2025 – that’s the exciting thing – that’s part one of the season finale.
Belinda has a mum and dad who she loves very much. Her dad is a taxman, her mum's a violinist and that's a life she wants to get back to. Of course, it has to be said, within this space of one journey to Miami, she's also loving being on board the TARDIS because I think it would be strange for her to not love what the Doctor does, and to love his character as well. So, she's very quickly enamoured by the whole setup. Nonetheless, she's got very strong reasons for getting back.
Varada is absolutely wonderful and was obviously in the show last year (Boom, written by Steven Moffat) and we loved her so much. We went to audition for Belinda and we went to a lot of people and saw some really great names and, at the same time every day, we were still working on Season 1. As I watched another edit of Boom - I must see an episode about 50 times by the time I’m finished - and every single viewing I was more and more impressed by her, and then suddenly, like a light in my head, I went, ‘oh, why don't we just bring her back?’ Doctor Who’s been doing that for many, many years - finding actors that we like and bringing them back again. So, I sent everyone an email, and everyone just said yes straight away, all the way up to the heads of the BBC and Disney+ because they all adored her. It was one of the easiest decisions we’ve ever had.
What can you tell us about the dynamic between the Doctor and Belinda?
She’s tougher with him than Ruby was. Ruby was younger, and Ruby was also looking for a family and a more exciting life. Finding the TARDIS fitted her exactly, and we're coming back to that story, because of course Ruby’s returning, but for Belinda it's more of a life interruption and “how dare he have the nerve to do this”. Seeing alien planets and vistas and travelling in history is obviously a wonderful thing, but she's very much aware of the death sentence that's put over your head whenever you step outside the TARDIS. You can't take a single step without a rock, or a laser, or an arrow being fired at you and she's very much aware of that. She knows this is deadly and it's quite surprising that companions of the Doctor in the past don't really point this out much! It's all danger and disaster from the word go, but she is very open to that.
I like the fact she works in A&E and she's always cleaning up other people's troubles. It's hard work in A&E, that really is the front line of the NHS. So, she’s very much wondering why anyone would live a dangerous life, because she sees what happens to people. She’s keenly aware of physical and mortal danger and thinks the Doctor has no right to put her there. Belinda is a bit more of an equal for him, she doesn't listen to him and she won't be charmed by him so easily. That's a nice tension on board the TARDIS. It's fun.
And speaking of the Doctor, will we see a different side to him this year? Is the character going to develop anymore?
There are always different sides to him. Again, without giving away too much, there’s a couple of episodes where he's very much out of his depth. It's always very interesting to watch an actor and work out what they're not doing, so we can push things into that area, which is difficult with Ncuti because he's got absolutely full range and he offers you everything. But nonetheless, there's some moments of real genuine comedy that I think we've never had a chance to play, and at the other end of the scale, absolute darkness... Ncuti is wonderful, that’s what these great Doctors are, and I've been lucky enough to work with many of them. It’s just limitless performance where you think they could be as angry, or as sad, or as happy, or as mad as you could possibly hope for, and they simply deliver. It's brilliant.
Ncuti gave some absolutely incredible performances last year. Is there a particular episode or moment this year that you're excited for viewers to see?
Yes, all of them! There's a living cartoon coming up, and the Doctor himself becomes a cartoon at one point in that episode and that's really fun, but also rather dark and strange. It’s a really weird, surreal situation for the Doctor to be in. And of course, I have to say the finale where he’s pushed further than ever before and saving everyone’s lives is harder than ever. It’s a really tough season finale where everything’s on the line and we discover things about the Doctor we’ve never discovered before...
And moving on just to talk about the writers, we've got four new writers on board this year. So what do each of them bring to the show? And what is it you look for when you're deciding on new writers?
Simply new voices, that's all, with a great range and a great talent. I mean, it's a very tough show to write for because all rules are off. In most dramas people sleep and get into cars. They might argue with their boss or, they pick up a gun. Picking up a gun is normally scene one for Doctor Who, there's always a laser, or a nuclear reactor being aimed at you, in some way. So, it's hard, there are various technical problems with Doctor Who that make it difficult to write. Number one being that the Doctor arrives in the most unique and powerful and invulnerable spaceship ever created in the history of the universe, the TARDIS. And so, with every episode, it's like, "Why don't you just turn around and go back to the TARDIS?" And you genuinely have to find ways around that. But that's just technical details. What you want with a writer is a great voice. And with all of these people, there's tremendous voice.
Inua (Ellams) is just so good. Inua works as a poet, he’s also a performance poet. And he has so much culture in his soul. He brings extraordinary knowledge and imagination and cultural depth to Doctor Who, The Story & the Engine is unlike any episode you’ve ever seen before.
Juno (Dawson) is very experienced, she’s a Sunday Times bestseller with her fantasy novels. Those novels are extraordinary, they’ve gone around the world. And so, to tap into that imagination and to bring that to Doctor Who, was fantastic.
Sharma (Angel-Walfall) is young and so full of ideas and energy and excitement. Apparently I met Sharma when she was at school! I gave a talk at a theatre and she was there. So just all these years later here we are working together and that's been a joy. When you work with someone that young and brilliant, I learn more of them than they could ever learn of me.
And lovely Pete McTighe! Pete lives in Cardiff. It's kind of ridiculous that we haven't got around to using him faster and sooner. He knows Doctor Who intimately, it’s literally his favourite show in the world. The great thing about him knowing Doctor Who so well is that he thinks of ideas that Doctor Who had never done before and pushes into that area. He writes the story of Ruby Sunday coming back, which is the life of a companion once the Doctor has left, which hasn’t been touched on before. We’re lucky to get Pete as he's the showrunner of his own shows, he's brilliant. So, you just count your lucky stars when you get a writer like that on board.
What can you tease about The Interstellar Song Contest, and Rylan as well? How did that all happen?
Rylan has been sending me DMs asking me to be in the show for about five years now! It took a long time to build up to this. Literally, for the past three or four years, I've been saying just wait, just wait. Because I kind of always knew we had this on the way. We had to work out whether we could do this Interstellar Song Contest and when we decided to do that, I did send out a text and that was a great day in the Clark House, I think he was leaping around the place! I also I knew he'd be brilliant. He gave us a lot of his time. He doesn’t just pop up for six lines, he's properly in the episode and it's amazing because it’s one of the hardest things you can ever have to do is to cast people to act as television presenters, or as on -screen presences because it's a real skill, he’s brilliant.
And moving on to Mrs Flood, there's a big question around her and who she is going into this season. Will viewers get their answers this year? Or is there anything you can tease about that?
There are very definite answers. It may raise more questions as well, but yes, we adore Anita. And a long time ago, it must have been a couple of years ago, I sat her down at my office and explained where we were heading, and that was a great moment, her eyes were popping out of her head, and she was so delighted to be given such a big story. So, she will be mysteriously cropping up throughout time and space, she's no longer just a neighbour watching the Doctor go to and fro. Suddenly she has that ability across planets and history. So how on Earth has that happened? I promise you reveals. By the time we get to the season finale the doors are open, and the battle is on.
And we've mentioned Rylan, we've mentioned Anita but there are some incredible, incredible guest artists this year. How does it feel to be part of this show that just attracts such a high calibre of actors?
It's just brilliant. When it comes to someone like Rose Ayling-Ellis, we all learn. We had to sort of sit down and write how would the deaf community live in the year of 400,000? How would that be different? What would be the same? Talking to Rose, and talking to her team who interpret for her, was just such a great learning experience, and you just come out of it just a bit wiser and bit better. What I didn't quite realise is that we'd be getting one of the greatest actors I've ever worked with. I kind of knew she'd be wonderful, I watched her in EastEnders. I knew she was a class actor, but actually that character goes through absolute terror and bravery and twists. Then it's fascinating to watch and its immaculately performed.
And then at the other end of the scale, you get Jonah Hauer-King coming in, who's in big Hollywood movies. He has a big relationship with Ruby (Millie Gibson) and you don't just give that to any actor. He comes in with so much love and decency and imagination, he's just lovely.
With Christopher Chung, you kind of build-up relationships among actors over the years, and hoping one day you'll find the right path for them. That was another instant offer. Kadiff (Kirwan) as well, it’s extraordinary I’ve never worked with him.
And of course, Alan Cumming, the voice of Mr Ring-a-Ding, that was gorgeous. I didn't get to meet him as his final voice work was done in New York. But that's brilliant. And he's very happy with it, apparently. We’re just so lucky.
And there are some guest stars we’re not even mentioning yet. Just keep watching, it’s very exciting...
What can you tell us about Ruby Sunday?
We’re so delighted that Millie's coming back and that was always the plan. We’re so lucky she always wants to come back because she's been so successful. We love the fact she will always give up her time and come back to Doctor Who because there's so much more to be explored. And there are moments in this season where we see the Doctor and Belinda and Ruby together that are wonderful. Plus, her mother Carla played by Michelle Greenidge, and her grandmother, Cherry, played by the amazing Angela Wynter. They’re all back. The whole team is back. Millie just grows in strength and power. I adore watching her, and there is a really extraordinary episode for Ruby, doing things Ruby's never had to do before.
And last year had quite a few hide behind the sofa moments. Is there going to be more of that this year?
Yes, I think it's scarier this year. We’re keeping quiet about episode three because there's some jumps and jolts in that one and some real horror in it. It's a very unusual episode. The Interstellar Song Contest episode isn’t what people think. It’s tough, that episode. It's much tougher than people think. And every episode has some really big thrills. I think a living cartoon is a really sinister idea. There's something so enforced about the duality of the cartoon, there's something sinister in that all on its own. So, lots of scares. And in the first episode, the enemy that Belinda ends up facing is really a tough piece of work, an amazing piece of design as well. Some of the best prosthetics I've ever seen from Neil Gorton and his prosthetics teams.
Last year saw Doctor Who launch globally for the first time ever on BBC iPlayer and Disney+ ahead of BBC One. And it was a huge success. Can you just talk us through that success?
It’s been great, we’re thrilled. Our last episode that went out at Christmas has been watched by over 7 million now, which is huge. The figures as a whole for Doctor Who on BBC iPlayer are ferocious. For the whole brand of Doctor Who, there had been over 70 million viewer hours in 2024*, and with people being able to go back and watch any episode in the Whoniverse, the episodes are all still growing. That's just extraordinary - 70 million viewer hours! It’s one of the top five brands on iPlayer and let's bear in mind that BBC iPlayer is one of the biggest and and fastest-growing streaming platforms in Great Britain. It's huge, it's huge. [*Source: BARB Data]
And if you could describe this season in one word or phrase, what would it be?
Get Belinda Home!
Doctor Who returns on Saturday 12th April on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Disney+ where available. Find out more here.
