10 Ways Russell T Davies Will Save Doctor Who

9. High Emotional Stakes

Doctor Who David Tennant Ncuti Gatwa
BBC Studios

If there was one thing that Davies knew how to do, it was how to elicit an emotional response from viewers.

The crowd reactions to the return of Bad Wolf - or ruining every single piece of joy we've ever felt as we all realised why there had never been a human/Time Lord metacrisis before - are enough to confirm that Davies knew how to get people invested.

Now, while we're not asking for him to carve out our hearts with a butcher's knife every week, it's clear that Davies knows how to find the balance between humour and comedy, tragedy and ecstasy, but this is something that has been lacking with the show for a few years now.

During the Chibnall era, the balance was off. Many of the Thirteenth Doctor's stories either relied too heavily on one aspect, or barely offered enough - other than a twist ending. Davies has the receipts to prove he's more than adept at working high emotional stakes into his writing - and as the saying goes, if you can't make 'em laugh, then break their little hearts into tiny pieces, stomp on the pieces, and set fire to the remains.

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Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick