Love him or hate him, RTD is one of Doctor Who’s most important figures, having brought the show back after a 16 year hiatus and served as showrunner on two separate occasions (from 2005 to 2010 and 2023 to 2025).

Is he NuWho’s most prolific writer? Technically speaking no – his name is only on thirty-eight stories (forty-six individual episodes) whereas Steven Moffat’s is on forty-two (fifty eps).

But he also rewrote countless stories by other writers (The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit being the best-known example) and wrote, or co-wrote, another ten scripts for Doctor Who spin-offs. So who really knows.

With the end of the Disney deal and the cancellation of this year’s Christmas special, RTD has left Doctor Who (again) and gone back to writing his own stuff. So there’s never been a better time to review his back catalogue.

Is Midnight really that good? Is Space Babies really that bad? And is RTD’s second era really that much worse than his first? Let’s find out…

In addition to Doctor Who, RTD oversaw Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and The War Between the Land and the Sea, and also contributing the occasional episode.

He wrote, or co-wrote, the launch episodes for all three: Everything Changes, Invasion of the Bane and Homo Aqua. Like Rose, each follows an ordinary character as they discover a world way beyond their imagination.

RTD also scripted one of SJA’s best-remembered stories, Death of the Doctor, which gave him the opportunity to write for Matt Smith. (Indeed, he has now written for all the numbered NuWho Doctors save for Capaldi.)

Elsewhere he was responsible for the key instalments of Torchwood’s best and worst-regarded series, Children of Earth and Miracle Day. For the former he wrote the opener and finale and co-wrote episode three; for the latter he wrote the opener and co-wrote the finale.

And he wrote War Between finale The End of the War, which wasn’t perfect, but was much more palatable than his recent Who finales.

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Richard Lloyd

Contributor

Doctor Who fan/YouTuber and writer of GO FIGURE, the unofficial guide to Character Options' 5.5" Doctor Who action figures!

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