Doctor Who Series 15 Avoids an “Essential” Part of the Show, Says Russell T Davies

Rose Tyler wanted to escape her humdrum life. Martha Jones fell in love with the Doctor. Donna Noble realised that she was bigger on the inside. Amy Pond imprinted early on her Raggedy Man. Clara Oswald saved the Doctor by being everything, everywhere, all at once. Ruby Sunday had an origin mystery to solve… Every […] The post Doctor Who Series 15 Avoids an “Essential” Part of the Show, Says Russell T Davies appeared first on Den of Geek.

Mar 27, 2025 - 10:50

Doctor Who Series 15 Avoids an “Essential” Part of the Show, Says Russell T Davies

Rose Tyler wanted to escape her humdrum life. Martha Jones fell in love with the Doctor. Donna Noble realised that she was bigger on the inside. Amy Pond imprinted early on her Raggedy Man. Clara Oswald saved the Doctor by being everything, everywhere, all at once. Ruby Sunday had an origin mystery to solve…

Every Nu-Who companion has their reason for travelling on the TARDIS, but new companion Belinda Chandra’s is different from most: she’s there so that she can leave. The new series tagline “Get Her Home” is Belinda’s story arc. She doesn’t board the TARDIS excitedly to travel with the Doctor, but reluctantly, in order to get back to Earth. As she tells him in the series 15 trailer, she’s not one of the Doctor’s adventures.

Writing in the latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine, Davies likens new companion Belinda (whose surname was originally Finch before “Boom” guest star Varada Sethu was cast in the role) to the situation of some of the Doctor’s past pals: “It’s a play on Ian and Barbara and Tegan – the companion desperate to get home.”

“It gives Belinda something to spark up against the Doctor. She’s not in love with his life or with the TARDIS, but the whole thing works because of course she starts enjoying it. She thinks they’re wonderful, and eventually admits it. But it’s a different kind of buzz – it stretches different muscles. It’s a performance thing too. Janet Fielding did it brilliantly with Tegan.”

Some force beyond the universe though, is stopping the TARDIS from getting Belinda home, which means that Doctor Who, as showrunner Russell T Davies explains in DWM, has been forced to skip an “essential” element this time around.

“Of course it means keeping the TARDIS away from modern-day Earth. Normally, I think you should keep revisiting the present day – it’s essential. So it’s been a real challenge to avoid it for an entire series.”

Interesting! The series 15 trailer definitely shows modern-day Earth characters Ruby Sunday, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Mel Bush and more. So does that mean their episode will be this series’ Doctor-lite adventure? Millie Gibson handled the Doctor’s absence (due to Ncuti Gatwa’s filming commitments on Netflix’s Sex Education) with aplomb in last year’s “73 Yards”, which also featured UNIT – who are also going to have to cope without the Doctor in new spinoff The War Between the Land and the Sea.

We know that the Doctor will be on Earth for episode two “Lux”, which is set in 1950s Miami, and in the Nigerian-set episode five “The Story & The Engine”, which will presumably also will take place in the past. The series finale “The Reality War” also looks as though it’s set in London’s Hackney, but we must be talking an alternative reality to the one Belinda’s from.

Modern-day Earth episodes have been a Russell T Davies staple since Autons menaced Henriks department store in 2005 series opener “Rose”. It just goes to show with Doctor Who that there’s always something new under the sun(s).

Doctor Who series 15/season two starts on BBC One and iPlayer at 8am in the UK, and on Disney+ around the world on Saturday April 12.

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