10 Reasons RTD's Doctor Who Return Failed
6. Making It Up As He Went Along
The idea of one of the Doctor’s old nemeses hiding in the background for two seasons is a good one. But if you think Mrs Flood didn’t exactly feel like the Rani in her early stories, there’s a reason for that.
RTD has admitted that he was "in two minds" about making Mrs Flood the Rani, and that Anita Dobson was originally down for just a single episode. He said:
"I was always in two minds. You sort of judge how things are going. From the moment we cast Anita though, I knew we would do a lot with her. She came in initially to just do one episode, but she was lovely and completely up for it. You kind of evolve it as you're going along with the actor's participation."
In other words, the core ongoing mystery of this era was essentially just decided on the spot, and RTD didn't have a clue who she was. All those theory videos we made on WhoCulture, and all those theories fans posted across the web. We all engaged in a mystery that didn't deserve our time.
Even without that admission from RTD it's plain to see that there was never a plan for Mrs Flood, even as late as the Season 1 finale. Her weird monologue to Cherry Sunday about storming the gates of gold "in her true name" is clearly not the Rani speaking. It's bizarre to picture RTD sat at his desk, typing out those words without having a clue what they actually meant.
The same goes for the Boss. RTD had no idea who the Boss was, let's be real here – he just wanted to throw in another ongoing tease that he'd maybe figure out at some point.
And chucking Billie Piper into The Reality War – no idea, no clue, no plan, just a desperate attempt to create buzz and "generate content" (more on that later).
Considering the amount of time RTD had to plan this era out (his return was announced in September 2021 but The Star Beast didn't air until November 2023) and all that talk about "needing time to get the empire in shape", it's remarkable how slapdash it was.