Just as this issue was going to press, we received official confirmation about the future of Doctor Who. You can read all the details in Gallifrey Guardian on page 5, but it’s testamant to how important Doctor Who is viewed by the BBC these days that the show is not only guaranteed a future until 2018 (and I’m sure it will be around long beyond that), but that a change of executive producer is afforded a press release of such importance.
As Doctor Who fans, we know how lucky we’ve been since 2005, with first Russell T Davies and then Steven Moffat taking charge of our favourite show, driving it to new heights of success. We’ve been lucky not just because they’re award-winning writers at the top of their game, but because they’re like us – Doctor Who fans who have loved the show as long as they can remember, and have grown up reading DWM. It’s a very special sort of club – one that we’re all a member of.
The news that Chris Chibnall will take over from Steven Moffat (albeit not for a while yet) is proof that lightning really can strike three times in a row. Like Russell and Steven, Chris is an award-winning TV writer, who has Doctor Who – and DWM – in his blood. If you want proof of his writing credentials, look no further than the amazing Broadchurch. If you want proof of how much he loves Doctor Who, just look at his previous work for the show – most recently the brilliant Dinosaurs ona Spaceship and The Power of Three. And if you want proof of how he’s one of us... well, I point to issue 106 of this very magazine, published in 1985, in which reader Chris Chibnall of Formby won our Doctor Who Song Competition. (Sorry Chris. But it had to be mentioned.)