Former Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall reacts to Jodie Whittaker’s return and references: "Oh, I exist!"

We're now two years into Russell T Davies's second era of Doctor Who, with the showrunner, who previously ran the series between 2005 and 2010, having returned for the 60th anniversary in 2023.

He took over from Chris Chibnall, who was in charge of the series during Jodie Whittaker's time as the Doctor, between 2018 and 2022.

Since Chibnall left the show, Davies's new episodes have made numerous references to his predecessor's era, including to the Flux and controversial revelations about the Doctor's origin. Whittaker herself even made a return, popping up for a cameo during Ncuti Gatwa's swansong, The Reality War.

Speaking with us exclusively for our video interview series The Radio Times Writers' Room, in which we get to know what makes screenwriters tick, Chibnall was asked for his reaction to Whittaker's return, and to the multiple references that have been made to his era since his departure.

He called the references "lovely", before adding: "I think there was a line I put in Jodie's era about something from Steven's era - maybe it was about the sonic not doing wood? - but I remember him messaging going, 'Oh, I've contributed something to Doctor Who, I exist!' I think everybody feels like that.

"It's like, you don't realise you've contributed to it while you're doing it, because you're just doing the job and it's within your control. But then if you get a callback, or if somebody mentions Karvinista or Flux, let alone Jodie popping up, it's really like, 'Oh, that was a thing!'"

"Yeah, it's quite unusual," he continued. "There isn't an equivalent experience anywhere else. So, it's lovely and surprising. Because you're doing that from previous series, you're sort of laying a fire almost, you're putting your sticks on top of the sticks that are already there.

"And you're very conscious of doing that. I'm very conscious of ‘I'm making a reference back to The Deadly Assassin or The Brain of Morbius, or something like that. But when somebody does it to you, it's like, 'Oh! That's a real surprise and a delight.'"

Chibnall was speaking with The Radio Times Writers' Room about his career thus far, and revealed details about working on previous projects including Torchwood, Law & Order: UK and Broadchurch.

The screenwriter also spoke about working on his new series Agatha Christie's Seven Dials, which is coming to Netflix soon and stars Mia McKenna-Bruce, Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman.

Chris Chibnall's interview for The Radio Times Writers' Room will be available to watch in full on Thursday 15th January.

Doctor Who is available to watch on BBC iPlayer. 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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