Letter from the Showrunner
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Letter from the Showrunner was a monthly feature in Doctor Who Magazine written by Russell T Davies from 2022 to the present, hyping and revealing production information on the ongoing production of Bad Wolf Studios's Doctor Who. It was a successor to Production Notes, a similar column Davies wrote during his previous Who tenure, and continued several traditions from its predecessor.
The title paid homage to A Letter from the Doctor, with each article accompanied by an illustration of Davies imitating the illustration of the Fourth Doctor which accompanied the Doctor's letters for a time.
Entries
| Issue | Topics | Teases | 3 Words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 584 | How Doctor Who: Lockdown! led to David Tennant and Catherine Tate returning. | The first scene of episode 7 of the new series has the setting "INT. COFFEE BAR, USA – DAY, 1947". | Special One: "westerly", "pelican", "dreams" |
| 585 | The return of Davies' Twelve Days of Christmas list. | The tenth scene of episode 2 of the new series is "INT. CANTEEN. DAY." An unannounced project with an eight-word title is hinted at. And a line of dialogue from Special One: "Oh, Nerys and her big fat mouth!" Davies also mentions he is writing 2024's Christmas Special at Christmastime. | Special Two: "wild", "Southampton", "vegetable", "Flux", "bean", "starlight" |
| 586 | The second part of the story of Tennant and Tate's return. | Cryptic talk of things that haven't yet been publicly revealed. | None |
| 587 | The creation of the 2022 Christmas Day trailer. | The identity of the guest star walking into the toyshop with his back to the camera. | None |
| 588 | The Sarah Jane Adventures becoming available on iPlayer. | None | None |
| 589 | Julie Gardner needing help finding silver glitter body spray for the BAFTAs. Davies retells an encounter between himself and a drag queen first mentioned in Production Notes DWM 349. | None | None |
| 590 | How the production team decides when to release information in advance, and the casting of Jinkx Monsoon. | The title of an episode of the upcoming series was spoken aloud in a third-season episode of Star Trek: Picard. | None |
| 591 | The creation of the teasers announcing the titles of the 2023 specials. | Clarification that the title of Episode One of the next series was the one spoken aloud on Picard. Another episode has had three titles so far without a decision, and one title contained "sixpence" until a plot involving the coin was cut. Bad Wolf's Script and Legal departments were investigating whether or not the show could use a certain title for Episode Six of the 2025 season. | None |
| 592 | The progress of production on the upcoming episodes, and a message from a fan about how the show impacted their life. | The Star Beast almost finished, Episode Eight hasn't started filming yet. Four scripts from the 2025 season are being written simultaneously. | Episode Eight: "kingdom", "gold", "Tigella"
2025 episode: "garden", "firmament", "diploma" |
