Russell T Davies Officially Breaks Silence on Those AI 'Doctor Who' Claims

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies on the red carpet

Published Oct 9, 2026, 7:30 AM EDT

In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 3000 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Harlan Coben, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom. You can also hear Jake every week as the resident film and TV journalist on Track Radio.

Doctor Who fans just can't catch a break. It wasn't long ago that the return of showrunner Russell T Davies, fan-favorite faces like David Tennant and Catherine Tate, and the promise of a partnership with Disney made Whovians feel as if the show was about to get back to its best. Alas, Davies found himself quickly under fire for numerous issues; the Disney partnership proved a spectacular failure, and new Time Lord Ncuti Gatwa exited the series under strange circumstances that are still yet to be fully revealed.

Although it had been reported that a Christmas special in 2026 was eyed as the return for the series, it was then announced earlier this year that Doctor Who had been put out to competitive tender, with now-former showrunner Davies leaving. It's now expected that the timey-wimey series won't return until either 2028 or 2029, marking the longest period off-screen since it was first cancelled in December 1989. Just when things felt like they couldn't get much worse, up stepped the new BBC director-general, Matt Brittin, to upset even more fans.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society’s London convention, Brittin opened up the possibility of Doctor Who using artificial intelligence in its future series, a topic that has unsurprisingly caused outrage from an already disillusioned fanbase. "Somebody sent me a 50-minute episode of Doctor Who that was AI-generated the other day. It's pretty good," Brittin remarked. Now, Davies has broken his silence on the subject in an interview on BBC Breakfast, using few words to showcase his disapproval. "Don’t start me on that. If you lead me into an opinion on artificial intelligence, it’ll chase me for the rest of my life and get quoted at me," he said. Davies continued:

"I think it’s a very interesting time. I think fans are now making their own episodes on AI which are broadcast quality — almost. When I was young, I used to sit and draw episodes. No-one was stopping me doing that. It’s a very complicated discussion, but I think we’re essentially looking at the end of copyright."

Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Iconic Fandom Should You Join? Harry Potter · Lord of the Rings · Star Wars · Star Trek

Eight honest questions about how you actually are: what you put on when you need cheering up, how deep you go into the things you love, what you argue about, what you keep on your shelf. Answer them and we will tell you where you belong. Four of the biggest fandoms on earth are taking new members, and they could not be more different from one another.

⚡Harry Potter(Wizarding World)

💍Lord of the Rings(Middle-earth)

⚔️Star Wars(A Galaxy Far Away)

🖖Star Trek(The Final Frontier)

FIND YOUR PEOPLE →

What do you put on when you need cheering up? Nobody is brave about this one.

AThe same thing I have watched a hundred times. BSomething long, slow and beautiful. CSomething big and loud with a great score. DOne clever episode of something hopeful.

NEXT QUESTION →

How deep do you go into something you love? There is no shallow end here, only different deep ends.

AI know every character and all the gossip. BI have read the appendices and studied the maps. CI have a ranked opinion on every instalment. DI want to know how the world actually works.

NEXT QUESTION →

What do you and your friends actually argue about? Every fandom has one argument it has been having for years.

AWhich one of us is which type. BWhether the adaptation got it right. CWhether the new stuff ruined the old stuff. DWhether the right thing was actually done.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you feel about a room full of strangers? Every one of these comes with a very big room.

AGreat, and I will know everybody by the end. BFine, as long as they take it seriously. CBrilliant, especially if there is something to dress up for. DHappy, provided the conversation is interesting.

NEXT QUESTION →

Where would you rather spend a week? Pick on instinct rather than on budget.

AAn old castle somewhere rainy. BMountains, long walks, no phone signal. CA desert with an unbelievable night sky. DA city built around a university.

NEXT QUESTION →

What do you believe about people, mostly? All four of these stories have an answer, and they disagree.

AMost of them turn out better than expected. BThe smallest ones decide the biggest things. CAnybody can change, even very late on. DWe work it out if we keep talking.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is actually on your shelf? Look over at it before you answer.

AEverything I owned when I was twelve. BHardbacks, in order, read more than once. CFigures, posters, and a few things still boxed. DBooks about how things work, plus a model or two.

NEXT QUESTION →

What do you actually want from a story? Eight questions in, this is the one that picks your fandom.

AA place I can go back to whenever I need it. BA world complete enough to get lost in. CSomething huge I can share with everybody. DAn idea that changes how I think.

REVEAL MY FANDOM →

Membership Confirmed Your Fandom Is…

Four of the largest communities on the planet, and four completely different reasons to belong to one. Here is yours, what it would give you, and the argument you would be having within a week.

Harry Potter

You belong to the fandom that is really about comfort. Hogwarts works on people because it is a place rather than a plot, and the pull is not the wizard war so much as the corridors, the food, the weather and the sense that somebody is expecting you.

You are drawn to belonging, which is why this fandom sorted itself into houses within about five minutes and has never stopped.
This is the most social of the four, and the one most likely to know which type every single person in your life would be.
The books are built to be reread rather than analysed, and rereading is exactly what you do with things you love.
The new HBO series is bringing the whole thing back one book at a time, which means the arguments are about to start all over again.

Lord of the Rings

You belong to the deepest fandom on this list, the one where somebody has always read further than you and is quietly delighted to say so. Middle-earth rewards patience more than any other world in popular culture.

You like the sense that the story you are reading is only the visible part of something enormous, which is precisely how Tolkien built it.
This fandom takes adaptation seriously to a degree that other fandoms find slightly alarming, and it has good reasons for that.
Your favourite thing about the books is probably the bit that is not action at all, which is the walking, the songs and the long goodbyes.
Nobody here thinks heroism belongs to the powerful, and the whole story exists to make that argument.

Star Wars

You belong to the loudest and largest tent of the four, the one where three generations are all watching the same thing and none of them agree about any of it. That disagreement is not a flaw in this fandom, it is the main activity.

You want something you can share with absolutely everybody, from a six year old to a grandparent, and this is the only one on the list that really does that.
Nobody argues like Star Wars fans argue, and the argument has been running since roughly 1980 with no sign of resolution.
The pull here is sensory before it is narrative, since it is the sound design, the score and the look of a used and dented galaxy.
You would be first in the queue, in costume, with strong opinions and a genuinely good time.

Star Trek

You belong to the thinking fandom, the one that turns up for the argument rather than the explosion. Trek has always been a series of ethical problems in space, and the people who love it love being asked what they would have done.

You are an optimist in a way that is currently unfashionable, and this is the only major franchise still willing to say the future might be better.
The best episodes are the ones where nobody fires anything, which is a sentence that makes perfect sense to this fandom and to nobody else.
Starfleet Academy brought the franchise back to a classroom in 2026, which is appropriate, because Trek has always been a bit of a seminar.
You would want the conversation afterwards more than the episode itself, and here you will always find somebody willing to have it.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

What Could the Future of 'Doctor Who' Look Like?

A recent report has outlined what the future of Doctor Who might look like as it hopes to regenerate for a new era of television. Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, through his production company, Hat Trick Mercurio, has reportedly submitted a proposal to take over the series. This wouldn't be Mercurio's first sci-fi gig for the BBC, having created the 1998 series Invasion: Earth. Other bids have been made, but it seems as if Mercurio is the current frontrunner to earn a key to the TARDIS.

Stay tuned to Collider for all the latest updates.