Peter Capaldi (the Doctor) with director Rachel Talalay on the set of Heaven Sent (2017).
"We threw ourselves at Rachel
Talalay and begged her to come back,” says Russell T Davies. “Her episodes under [previous showrunner] Steven Moffat were simply brilliant. And when I was making
A
Midsummer
Night’s
Dream
at Roath Lock, I met Rachel and became good mates with her. So she was the perfect choice for a brand-new launch.”