Russell T. Davies Has at Least 4 Seasons Planned For His Doctor Who Return

Russell T. Davies is well and truly back into the world of Doctor Who at this point, as we’re on the cusp of seeing just what the series has in store for its 60th anniversary next month. But it sounds like Davies is intending on sticking around for at least as long as he was the first time round.

Speaking at the recently-recorded Doctor Who @60: A Musical Celebration concert now broadcasting on BBC Sounds, Davies teases just how far ahead his plans were for the show at this point, jokingly discussing the idea of an all-music episode of the series. “Let me think… okay, Series four, I’m gonna write an episode that’s all music no dialogue,” Davies joked. “We plan ahead [and] there’s no room in Series 3!”

When Doctor Who returned in 2005, Davies remained showrunner until the end of 2009, leading four seasons as well as a year of one-off specials that bid farewell to David Tennant’s 10th Doctor. Should Davies’ plans for his return now come through, he’s at least staying on for something similarly equivalent—a series of specials starting this year for the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who and a return to festive-period specials, and then four series. Whether or not there’ll be more from the writer/producer remains to be seen, but even if there isn’t, that’s still a pretty sizeable chunk to add to his Doctor Who tenure, and perhaps even more so if in that time Davies also spearheads his plans for more spinoff series to transform Doctor Who into a broader multimedia universe.

Aside from Davies’ teasing, the concert also debuted three new pieces of music from Doctor Who’s rapidly-approaching future. First was similarly-returning composer Murray Gold’s new composition of the Doctor Who theme, set to debut with next month’s trio of anniversary specials, but audiences also got to hear samples of the character themes Gold has created for Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor, and his new companion Ruby Sunday. You can check out the BBC’s official release of the orchestrated version of the new Doctor Who theme below:

Doctor Who @60: A Musical Celebration is now available to stream on BBC Sounds, and will broadcast in the UK on BBC Radio 2 this Sunday, October 15.

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