Chris Chibnall on Doctor Who, Broadchurch and Agatha Christie's Seven Dials – The Radio Times Writers' Room

Welcome back to The Radio Times Writers' Room!

This time around we're welcoming Chris Chibnall, the writer best known for creating hit crime drama Broadchurch - and acting as showrunner on Doctor Who.

Chibnall started his screenwriting career by co-creating Born and Bred, a period medical drama, before working on episodes of Life on Mars and developing a version of Merlin which never got off the ground.

A lifelong fan of Doctor Who, his first work in the Whoniverse was on Torchwood, which he acted as lead writer on for both seasons one and two. He also wrote episodes of the main series for David Tennant and Matt Smith's Doctors, before taking the reins of the sci-fi behemoth in 2018, crafting his own era which introduced the first female Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker.

Whittaker was cast having previously starred in Chibnall's ITV series Broadchurch, which kept the nation guessing for three seasons and catapulted Olivia Colman to new heights of fame and acclaim.

Now, Chibnall brings us Agatha Christie's Seven Dials, his first ever adaptation which also happens to be taking on one of the works of the best-selling fiction author of all time.

The series stars Mia McKenna-Bruce as Lady Eileen ‘Bundle’ Brent, who finds herself becoming an amateur sleuth when a practical joke at a lavish country house party appears to have gone horribly, murderously wrong.

The three-part series also stars Martin Freeman and Helena Bonham Carter, and Chibnall has teased that it's a "really propulsive... cinematic thriller", one which is "quite different" from Christie's other works.

Throughout our chat, Chibnall spoke about his work on Law & Order UK, revealed the run of Torchwood he's most proud of and even teased the upcoming adaptation of his novel Death at the White Hart.

He also revealed some of his favourite scenes that he's ever written, and explained why he doesn't ever intend on returning to write more Doctor Who.

"I don't feel like I have any unfinished business, and I'm not that bothered about going back," he said. "I haven't really done it on anything, I don't like going back. There's so many new things to do, and so many opportunities. I'm interested in things I haven't done and trying out things.

"That’s why I wrote a novel this year, so it's like, I thought, ‘I want to try that’. And I've had such a good run on Doctor Who and done so many different things, it also feels it's somebody else's turn.

"That’s a very precious seat in which you're sitting, and you want to go, ‘Oh, yeah, who's the next person? What are they going to do? What are they going to do that’s new?’ So, no, I don't ever think about that."

You can watch the full video at the top of this article right now, and look out for more trips to The Radio Times Writers' Room soon.

In the meantime, you can also catch up with our previous chats with Mark Gatiss, Harry and Jack Williams, Noah Hawley, Neil Cross and Steven Knight.

Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials will launch on Netflix on 15th January 2026. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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