Doctor Who: 10 Things To Expect From Chibnall's First Series

Fun and heartbreak in equal measure - he might surprise you more than you think.

By Baz Greenland /

Earlier this month I looked ahead to the final series of Doctor Who under Steven Moffat's tutelage and asked what we could expect to see in series 10 next year. New writers, a new companion, more Gallifrey, plenty of scares and a possible regeneration, a lot can happen when the show returns after a year long break. But what then? We know very little beyond that except that Doctor Who will be returning for at least one more series in 2018, and Chris Chibnall will be replacing Steven Moffat as showrunner. With Moffat, fans had an idea of what they might be getting with him as showrunner back in 2010, but with Chibnall things are a little less clear. His contribution to Doctor Who has not been as positive as Moffat's, and in truth he has written at least one dire episode in the Doctor Who-verse: Torchwood's Cyberwoman. But then he also wrote some great episodes of Torchwood, and much of his original murder-mystery series Broadchurch has received critical acclaim. While we have another series of Moffat's Doctor Who in 2017 before Chibnall takes the reigns, let's jump ahead a couple of years. Scrutinising Chibnall's previous contributions to Doctor Who and beyond, let's consider what his first series might look like and how different it might be to what came before.