Davies was a guest on Graham Norton‘s Saturday-morning BBC Radio 2 programme, being interviewed about his long-awaited gay-themed series for Channel 4.
During the interview, Norton read out a question from one of his listeners. Referring to Davies’s repeated insistence that he would not return to writing for Doctor Who, the listener asked whether he’d change his mind if he was approached to write the screenplay for a Doctor Who movie.
In Davies’s initial response, he enthused that Doctor Who belonged in the cinema, adding that he’s be the first person camped out in his sleeping bag, waiting for the doors to open.
Pressed by Norton as to whether he himself would be up for scripting the screenplay, Davies replied that he definitely would.
However, realising he was saying this publicly on the national airwaves, he quickly told himself to “shut up,” saying that people at the BBC would already be holding their heads in their hands.
Russell T Davies was responsible for reviving Doctor Who, returning it to television screens in 2005; the show having initially been cancelled by the BBC in 1989.
Since its triumphant return, Doctor Who has gone from being a cult classic to become a global success, as demonstrated by the Doctor Who World Tour that preceded the 2014 season of the show.
A Doctor Who movie has been talked about for many years and has received the backing of both Davies when he was showrunner and his successor Steven Moffat. However, Moffat has insisted that any future movie must not be at the expense of the continuing television series and must star the incumbent Doctor.
Currently, that is Peter Capaldi, who has just commenced filming of his second season in the role.
In 2012, Moffat enetered a tit-for-tat with Harry Potter director David Yates. Yates claimed to be working on a Doctor Who movie; a claim dismissed by Moffat as untrue.
Doctor Who, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013, returns to television screens later this year. Once again, Jenna Coleman will be joining Capaldi as his assistant Clara Oswald, a part she’s played since 2012.
Capaldi is the thirteenth actor to portray the Doctor on television and the fifth since it returned ten years ago.
Meanwhile, Davies’s gay-themed trilogy — Cucumber, Banana and Tofu — begins an eight-episode run in the UK on Channel 4, E4 and 4OD, respectively, on Thursday, 22 January 2015.
