Doctor Who writer says she "wants to be in charge" as show eyes major new era

Doctor Who writer Juno Dawson has revealed she "wants to be in charge" of the show as it looks to a new era. The direction of the iconic sci-fi series has been in a bit of a flux of late, with the series put out to competitive tender earlier this year following the exit of Russell T Davies.

One of those keen to take over the reins is Juno, who penned the 2025 episode 'The Interstellar Song Contest', and spoke about her ambitions to Attitude after winning The Culture Award at the Attitude Awards this week.

"Working on Doctor Who is such an experience on so many levels," the author recalled.

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"Working with Disney+, working with the BBC, working with the incredibly talented people based out of Cardiff. I loved working with Ben Williams, the director. We had such a shared vision."

Juno revealed that she has been asked by many people whether she would do it again, responding: "Yeah, of course. If the BBC wants me to do Doctor Who, the answer is always yes. Of course I want to do Doctor Who!

"I’ve been working on what my version of Doctor Who would be like for 10 years. As soon as I started working in TV, I had one eye on the prize, which is, ultimately, of course I want to be in charge of Doctor Who. I need to manifest."

It comes as the deadline for production companies' pitches passed last week, with some of the details of who could be in the running coming to light.

Among them are Line of Duty's Jed Mercurio, who is 'leading' the proposal by Hat Trick Mercurio and pitching to be executive producer. Line of Duty company World Productions is also leading a separate bid, as is Blue Lights' STV Studios, while the BBC itself is also likely competing as well.

Meanwhile, Davies has opened up a bit about the scrapped Christmas special this year and admitted that doing another season of Doctor Who would have been "a nightmare".

Doctor Who can be streamed on BBC iPlayer.

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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International.  Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.