Russell T. Davies Reveals Doctor Who Episode To Look Out For

Doctor Who writer and showrunner, Russell T. Davies, discusses the new season as well as reveals which episode fans should look out for.

We sat down with Doctor Who writer and showrunner Russell T. Davies to discuss the new series. He reveals where he thinks new fans can jump in, as well as the best episodes to date. Russell also reveals the episode to look out for this season, which features something he has wanted to do for a long time, but now has the technology to do so.

Russell T. Davies Talks Doctor Who

Tessa Smith: I love this world. I love this this universe. Where would you suggest people go back to watch?

Russell T. Davies: I think it’s very healthy to start anywhere. Sometimes it’s a bit daunting to say, you must start 15 years ago. It’s an anthology show so every week it’s different. I say try jumping in at random and then when you find the Doctor and Companion you love more than another Doctor and Companion, seek out their whole season and see what they’re up to. But really, I would say jump on board with Ncuti. I love the fact that you’re embracing it so much. It’s a joy to hear that it is in my wheelhouse. That’s just amazing. But I don’t want it to be off putting to anyone. The whole point is Ncuti’s come along as the new doctor. Millie Gibson is the new companion, Ruby, and you can start with them. You don’t need any prior knowledge. You don’t need to bring those archives with you or those Wikipedia articles. It’s brand new. If you have a question, Ruby Sunday will ask the question for you. She will say to the Doctor, what’s the TARDIS? How can you go to an alien planet and speak English? How do we live? How do we survive? So I guarantee you the program will take you by the hand and lead you through it.

Tessa Smith: When you were working on this season, how important to you was it to make sure that it could embrace a new audience?

Russell T. Davies: I think it’s always important to me every season. In the old days, when I used to work on it, I’d always want new people too. I can’t believe there are people that don’t watch it. And I really mean that. I think those of us who do watch it have a better time. It’s a lovely life when it has Doctor Who in it and I really mean that. So it’s always open but then again, it’s strange. You can talk to people. I met people who started on the most random episode. The truth of it is, it’s an anthology series. Every week is not just a new adventure, but sometimes it’s a new genre. Sometimes it’s comedy. Sometimes it’s a horror film. Sometimes it’s the scary film. Sometimes it’s a monster movie. Sometimes it’s a thriller. And so you will simply join in with the story. Every week, you get those genres. You’ll get them within five minutes, within five seconds of watching every adventure. So join in.

Tessa Smith: I have several friends who have been Whovians forever, and they’re like, I can’t wait to get to this episode. It’s so exciting.

Russell T. Davies: They all keep saying to you Blink, right? Just you wait.

Tessa Smith: What is it about Ncuti and Millie that make them the perfect Doctor and Companion?

Russell T. Davies: It’s funny because I have to sit in interviews and describe them. And now finally I can just say, watch them. Because you’ll see. You’ll see. What I love about the show is we’ve put on screen everything that we saw in them. The joy of them, the madness, the wildness, the passion, the commitment, the integrity, the ability to swing from high emotions of absolute heartbreak to wild comedy and darkness and strangeness within that, though, big beating hearts. I mean, when they these two are sad, they’re immensely sad. When they’re happy, the screen just sings with happiness. I’m so lucky to cast those two into lead roles and they’ve paid us all back in the production team. We’re so grateful. Because you can’t always say everything we wanted, has come out. Everything we hoped we’d achieve is there. And that’s right and more. I’ve got to say who would have ever dreamt they’d be so successful together. That’s kind of rare to know, when your plans work. I couldn’t plan a picnic and make it work. It’s like going to get dinner, right? I can’t manage that. But suddenly, somehow on this show, everything pulled together. And it’s worked. And I’m delighted.

Tessa Smith: Was there anything that you had wanted to put in in the past that you weren’t able to, that you were now able to fit in in this season?

Russell T. Davies: I suppose. There’s an episode called Dot and Bubble that is set on an alien planet and a colony under the dome. It’s very much about social media. I first talked about that with my friend Steven Moffat, when he was producing the show. I’d left the show and he came for dinner in Los Angeles. And we sat there, and I came up with this idea, but it only lasted for two minutes, because it was too expensive. I don’t mean money, it’s just the technology we would have had to have created what I was discussing on screen, or it would have been an appallingly cheap version. And we both kind of sat there like, Yeah, that’s not gonna work. Here we are 15, or 14 years later, by the time the technology came along, and it was still a backbreaking episode to make because the amount of effects and the amount of detail, the amount of conversations I had about opacity, I cannot begin to describe, but I love that. Immensely proud of that. And you wait for that. That’s called Dot and Bubble. Ncuti’s performance at the end of that episode. It’s an absolute miracle of television.

Tessa Smith: I was gonna say I’m sure there’s so much more you can do this time around that you just couldn’t do in the past.

Russell T. Davies: Yeah, which the whole team has embraced and run with because we still run out of money. And we still push it further than we could go. It’s a show that’s destined to be ambitious. That’s exactly where we should be. And please, keep watching.

Tessa Smith: Oh, I will. I am all in.

“Doctor Who” premieres Friday, May 10 at 7:00 p.m. ET on Disney+ where available, and simultaneously on May 11 at midnight on BBC iPlayer in the U.K. New episodes debut weekly.

NEXT: Doctor Who Review

About Doctor Who

SEASON SYNOPSIS: The Doctor and his companion Ruby Sunday travel across time and space, with adventures all the way from the Regency era in England, to war-torn future worlds. Throughout their adventures in the TARDIS – a time-traveling ship shaped like a police box – they encounter incredible friends and dangerous foes, including a terrifying bogeyman, and the Doctor’s most powerful enemy yet.

“Doctor Who” streams Friday, May 10 at 7:00 p.m. ET on Disney+ where available, and simultaneously on May 11 at midnight on BBC iPlayer in the U.K. New episodes debut weekly.