Russell T. Davies reacts to ‘waves of hatred’ for recent ‘Doctor Who’ season

Russell T. Davies has questioned if he should have "done something different" with Doctor Who but is proud of what he did.

The BBC sci-fi drama series has two seasons of disappointing ratings, but the former showrunner - who was at the helm from 2005 until 2010 before returning in 2023 - wasn't "personally wounded" by the backlash.

He told The Guardian newspaper: “I’m not personally wounded by that. I thought it was a shame. And maybe I wonder if I should have done something different. Except I f**king love what I did!”

“I work really hard on my shows, and I genuinely love them. I think there are waves of hatred, and maybe in a few years it’ll be more appreciated. But it’s appreciated by ME!” he added.

With the show's future up in the air, Russell is worried there will be no one to "champion" it.

When asked what he thinks it would take to save the show, he replied, “Part of the problem is that there seem to be spasms and ruptures and cuts at the BBC. My worry is that there’s nobody there to champion it. You need a producer saying, ‘What about Doctor Who? What about Doctor Who? What about Doctor Who?’ every single day. That’s gone."

Russell continued, "In 2005, I made it exactly like a 9pm ITV drama, with a lot of the rhythms of everyday life. That concept has gone now, so maybe it’ll end up as a vertical drama [clip shows designed to be watched on a smartphone] with a cliffhanger every two minutes? When it returns, it should be part of whatever the rest of telly is doing.”

If the show does return, Russell won't say who he thinks would make a good Doctor. “I’ve made the mistake of saying so-and-so would be good, and the next thing you know, journalists are at their door.”

Currently, Russel has found love with 27-year-old model Oliver Cole and he felt the need to report their romance to Doctor Who bosses because the model - who he connected with on Instagram - is a fan of the show.

“When it became a relationship, I reported it to the bosses at Doctor Who, in case anyone tried to say I was abusing my position by going out with a fan,” he revealed.

Noting over 13 million watched the show at one point, Russel laughed and concluded the topic by saying, “And there’s not many you’d go out with. You know that’s true!”