When Doctor Who marks ten years since the Russell T Davies-inspired reboot in March, there will be one person who won’t be involved in the celebrations: Russell himself.


The former showrunner has revealed that he replied with a polite ‘thanks but no thanks’ when approached by the Corporation. “Someone from the [BBC’s] branding team sent me a very lovely email saying do you want to do something”, Davies tells RadioTimes.com.

“I don’t know what they imagined: a talk or a convention perhaps. I just said no, to be honest. A programme can’t have its fiftieth and then it’s tenth. I think that’s just confusing. It’s marvellous and glorious; let it carry on.”

Davies ran Doctor Who from 2005 to 2010 and wrote Rose, the first episode of the so-called “Nu Who” era. It starred Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor combatting the Nestene Consciousness, and was broadcast on BBC1 on March 26th 2005.

Would Davies ever write another episode of the hit show? “Wouldn’t that be nice? The lovely Steven [Moffat] invites me every year to come and write one. And I love him and I love them and I love watching it, but here I am, moving on. I love Doctor Who with all my heart but nothing is more important to me than my own stuff.”

Asked whether he continues to be inspired with ideas for the series, Davies laughs: “I made 60 episodes and did 40 Torchwoods and 40 Sarah Janes and there are an awful lot of ways to destroy the world in there.”

A BBC source says that plans for the reboot anniversary were still to be decided, and that the Corporation’s primary focus was always the show’s 50th anniversary back in 2013.

Speaking at the world premiere of the last series Moffat appeared to agree, suggesting it was time for the show to “settle down and move forwards” after the 50th.

However, fans may well have other ideas and many are already talking excitedly about the anniversary.

Davies’ latest project is Cucumber, Tofu and Banana, a three-pronged project examining gay life in modern Britain.

C4 eight-parter Cucumber is a serialised drama following the life of Henry and his long-term boyfriend Lance after a disastrous sexual encounter, while E4’s Banana tells standalone stories involving characters largely drawn from the younger end of the gay scene. Channel 4 will also curate an online factual strand called Tofu about modern gay life.


Cucumber, Banana and will be shown on Channel 4, E4 and 4oD in January 2015