Doctor Who: 10 Writers We Want To See Return

Another year, another new series of Doctor Who. Yeah, we're surprised as well. But as well as new Companion Bill (Pearl Mackie) and the swansong for both Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat, one of the big draws for this year is the return of Rona Munro, writer of the final Classic Series story Survival. Well, along with the original Cybermen coming back. And the Ice Warriors. And John Simm as the Master. Actually, let's stop there. This could take a while.

The behind the scenes of Old and New Who first came together back in 2006 with the return of director Graeme Harper (The Caves Of Androzani) for four episodes of Series 2, but this is the first time that one of Doctor Who’s veteran writers has come back for the new era. And again, we're surprised as well.

Doctor Who is constantly adding to its stable of writers, with Jamie Mathieson (Flatline) becoming a regular presence after his Series 8 debut and Doctor Foster scribe Mike Bartlett writing Series 10’s fourth episode Knock Knock, but a lot of writers often fall away from Doctor Who after one or two episodes. And this isn’t a call to arms so put the torches and the Meson Guns down.

With Rona Munro’s return showing us that there’s no real expiry date on writing Doctor Who, these are some of the veteran or lesser seen writers that should make a comeback...

After making his mark on BBC One drama with Luther, dyed-in-the-wool Whovian Neil Cross’s strategy to get a gig writing for Doctor Who by mentioning it at every meeting possible paid off. But after contributing The Rings Of Akhaten and Hide to Series 7, Cross dropped off the Doctor Who map.

Contributing two very diverse episodes on his first shot shows great promise for a Doctor Who writer in the long run. And while Cross’s specialty is in more adult-oriented content, he manages to pitch drama very well at a family audience. Elsewhere, he has shown his strength in period works, creating and writing piracy drama Crossbones for NBC. But most of all: he’s a fan.

As someone with a genuine appreciation for Doctor Who, he has his own sense of what it should be, as we saw with The Rings Of Akhaten, a bright and fun large scale space opera with real imagination, and some emotional heft thrown in. Which is exactly what Doctor Who should be shooting for.

And if something like Akhaten (especially that final speech) is what Cross can pull off on his better days, it would only be a good idea to bring him back into the fold for an episode or two.