Torchwood’s Catherine Tregenna For Doctor Who Series 9?

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Ah, now here’s some welcome news! Torchwood scribe, Catherine Tregenna will, according to her online CV, be writing for Series 9 of Doctor Who!

Tregenna will be the first female writer since Helen Raynor, who wrote the slightly-wonky Daleks in Manhattan/ Evolution of the Daleks (2007), and the far-more-enjoyable The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky (2008). People have been giving showrunner, Steven Moffat some flack because hey, people are always giving those in charge grief there’s only been one female writer since the show returned in 2005. Even Neil Gaiman (The Doctor’s Wife; Nightmare in Silver) seemed to have a go, before backing down a bit and conceding that it’s not for lack of trying on the Moff’s behalf. Maybe this possible news will quieten them down for… ooh, about three minutes?

This hasn’t been confirmed, but it slipped through the net (well, the Internet) on her CV. That seems like a confirmation, but in the past, writers’ online credits have included Doctor Who – then that episode doesn’t actually appear. Doc Martin‘s Jack Lothian is a prime example of this.

Catherine Tregenna does have a history with the Whoniverse, having written four episodes of Torchwood. Season 1’s Out of Time was one of the highlights of the run, while Captain Jack Harkness was nominated for the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. It lost out to an episode of Doctor Who called Blink. I doubt you’d have heard of it. Meanwhile, her Season 2 episodes, Meat and Adam were grim, gritty, and surreal. Actually, all her serials were pretty brilliant, so this is definitely good news for us Whovians and of course, the Twelfth Doctor!

So who else is writing for Doctor Who Series 9? Both Tom MacRae (The Girl Who Waited) and Neil Cross (Hide) have said they’ve worked on idea for Peter Capaldi’s Time Lord, the former with an idea for the Weeping Angels. I’d definitely be up for both of them returning! Given his chumminess with a certain Mr. Moff, Mark Gatiss will likely be back too (a man whose episodes are polarising, but what the heck, I liked them all, bar Robot of Sherwood). Might we assume Steve Thompson, too, will be back? We’ve not had anything from Broadchurch‘s Chris Chibnall in a couple of years either…

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Oh, and please, please, please: Jamie Mathieson! He’s absolutely fantastic. In fact, his two episodes for Series 8 helped redeem the 12-episode run for me. There, I said it!

Moffat has also stated that we’ve not seen the last of Kill The Moon‘s Peter Harness, so perhaps he’ll be involved somewhere.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Moffat writes more episodes than usual next series, purely because (by his own admission) he’s nearer the end of his reign than the beginning. So how many slots will that leave?

Which other writers would you like to see? I’m throwing Sally Wainwright’s name into the mix: Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley are magnificent, and a further female writer would be great – not to pander to the PC Squad but because she’s talented. I’d love an episode by Who-loving mega-screenwriter J Michael Straczynski. How about bringing some of the Seventh Doctor clan back?! Andrew Cartmel and Ben Aaronovitch are more than capable of delivering quality Who!

Oh! I know! Nick Briggs! Get him to write a Dalek story! C’mon, people!!

Tell you what. Let’s make a deal. How about you vote in our poll and perhaps comment below, and in return, we’ll keep you up-to-date when names are announced for Doctor Who Series 9? Yeah? Okay, let’s do that.

You’re all so agreeable. It’s a pleasure writing for you.

The post Torchwood’s Catherine Tregenna For Doctor Who Series 9? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.