One of the criticisms of series 11 of Doctor Who’s new series was that the episodes, for the most part, were below par in terms of quality. A possible reason for this as Ian Cullen pointed out was that with the exceptions of Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall none of season 11’s writers had sci-fi writing credits to their names. While I’m cautiously optimistic about series 12, here are 5 writers I’d like to see contribute scripts to Doctor Who

Joss Whedon

This one pretty much speaks for itself. Joss Whedon created the revolutionary ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ as well as ‘Firefly’, ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’ and many other great shows and comics, as well as directing the first two Avengers films. His ability to write dialogue and his gift for subverting the audience’s expectations would be very welcome on Doctor Who. I can just see the 13th Doctor going dark with Joss Whedon writing the script like Sylvester McCoy did in his second series, or at least being stronger and more like 12 was when facing the evils of the universe. Joss Whedon is also very good at showing the ugly side of space travel and sci-fi universes in his works, which would complement series 11’s theme of exploring the nasty parts of history well.

Samantha Shannon

This writer has a phenomenal gift for worldbuilding as well as human drama. I can see 13 and her fam traveling to spectacular alien planets and meeting civilizations and situations that really test the Doctor’s commitment to a peaceful solution with a Samantha Shannon script. I also think that like Joss Whedon we would see a grittier, darker universe with Samantha Shannon writing for the show as well as a broader representation of people, which can only be good. Her popular series of books ‘The Bone Season’ has recently been optioned to be a television series.

Corinne Duyvis

Corinne Duyvis is great at writing relationships between characters as well as creating tension and keeping the reader hooked. A neurodiverse writer, her novel ‘On The Edge of Gone’ portrays the struggles and also the heroism of an autistic girl after civilization has collapsed with real insight. I’d like to see Corinne Duyvis write a script where the 13th Doctor meets Grunya Sukhareva, and the conversation that would result from that. This writer has already written a ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ original novel for Marvel so would be at home with the conventions and tropes of sci-fi.

Noah Hawley

The showrunner of ‘Legion’ would be a hand in glove fit with Doctor Who in my opinion. I can imagine his scripts being more like the 8th Doctor novels only weirder. Noah Hawley is also very good at creating characters that feel and act like real people. It would be interesting to see a Noah Hawley script that dealt with Omega’s return from the anti-matter universe as this writer proved by his work on Legion that he can write morally conflicted characters, as well as invent strange worlds for the heroes to explore.

A. L. Kennedy

Author of the excellent Doctor Who novel ‘The Drosten’s Curse’, A. L. Kennedy has shown that she can write dark Who and give us relatable human characters. Based on her screenwriting credits for Stella Does Tricks and Dice I can see A. L. Kennedy’s scripts going into the darker and weirder side of the Whoniverse and giving us some fantastic episodes to enjoy. I’d like to see this writer create a spiritual successor to Heaven Sent and see where she goes with it.

Series 12 of Doctor Who starring Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill will return on New Years Day 2020 and will continue to air in its regular Sunday evening slot.

Which writers would you like to see write for Doctor Who? Who would be your dream Doctor/showrunner team? Leave a comment below and thanks for reading.