Line of Duty boss Jed Mercurio 'leads bid to take over Doctor Who'

Last June, it was announced that Doctor Who's previously announced Christmas special was being scrapped and that the show would be put out to competitive tender.

Production companies had until 2 October to submit an application to take over creating the show for the broadcaster, and now that the deadline has passed, some details have started to emerge.

Deadline is reporting that Jed Mercurio is 'leading' the proposal submitted by production company Hat Trick Mercurio, with one key part of the pitch being that he will serve as executive producer for the show (or a showrunner, as it's often called).

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Although he's best known for gritty crime dramas Line of Duty and Bodyguard, Mercurio is said to be a big fan of Who and science-fiction in general, having previously created the '90s show Invasion: Earth.

Interestingly, another company that has pitched for the show is World Productions, the company behind Line of Duty and Bodyguard. It's also a company that owned by ITV Studios.

STV Studios, the company behind Blue Lights and Criminal Record, have also put in a pitch. That doesn't necessarily mean that production could move to Scotland, as the BBC has said that it would like to keep Doctor Who in Wales, and Blue Lights is made in Northern Ireland.

The BBC itself is also almost certainly competing for the show, similarly to how the broadcaster's own production arm BBC Studios (re-)won the tender for Casualty.

Related: Doctor Who's Russell T Davies admits it would have been "a nightmare" to do another season

Meanwhile, Russell T Davies recently revealed who was behind the Christmas special's cancellation in a new interview.

He also revealed some of the plot details, both from when it was a Christmas special and when it was being considered as an Easter special.

Doctor Who can be streamed on BBC iPlayer.

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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.