It's now official that Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker will be leaving Doctor Who in 2022, and a new showrunner should be appointed by then, in order to be consulted about the transition between one Doctor and the next.
What assets should the showrunner have?
- The ability to write good stories. The showrunner is the head writer, who writes the most important stories, and hires and supervises the other writers.
- The ability to run a major television series.
- A background of reading sf. Time travel is fairly fundamental to Doctor Who, and it's a complex subject, which has been explored in depth in sf. If you try to write about it without that background, you're likely to seem clumsy and ignorant. There was a time in the history of the show when the TARDIS was disabled for three seasons, but fans are likely to complain if that happens again.
- Some basic understanding of science and technology. If you write about the future, you probably need to speculate about future technology, and it's hard to do that plausibly if you have no understanding of it.
- A deep knowledge of the history of Doctor Who. Is this really necessary, or even helpful? Davies, Moffat, and Chibnall all had it, but it's done Chibnall no good, and I'm not sure how much it really helped Davies and Moffat. It seems to me that an obsession with the history of the show could lead to writing stories similar to past stories, most of which weren't good, to be honest. It may actually be better to come in with an uncluttered mind, and hire a continuity advisor to avoid gross conflicts with the show's history.
There's a current unconfirmed rumour that Sally Wainwright will be appointed as the new showrunner. I don't know her work, but it seems that she has assets 1 and 2, which are the most important. It's unclear whether she has any of the others.
