Russell T Davies answers your questions

Writer Russell T Davies has been credited as the man responsible for putting Doctor Who back at the heart of Saturday evening TV.
When he revived the popular BBC series in 2005 - after a break of 16 years - it was a commercial and critical success.
Davies was appointed lead writer and executive producer, roles he will hand on to Steven Moffat in 2010.
The 45-year-old spent much of his early career working in children's television, but it was his adult drama Queer as Folk which first put him on the map.
Davies, who was appointed an OBE by the Queen last month, answers some of your questions as the current series comes to an end.


What other Doctor Who monsters would you have brought back if you had continued to produce the programme for the next few years?
Huw Thomas, Swansea

That's a good question. I've used a lot of the classics but the Silurians were always very good.

They were a race of lizard people who were the original owners of the Earth. I always thought it was a very clever idea that there was a civilisation before us.

I'm not bringing them back but they're ripe to be returned one day.

Now that you have handed control to Steven Moffat, do you intend to leave him to it, or will you write the occasional episode in the future?
Ben Parkes, Grimsby; Mickey Bean, London; Rob Stickler, Sedgley; Adam Chamberlain, London; Steve O'Brien, Bath; David Foxen, Austria; Susan Pye, Ayr; Rhys Martin, Bankhurst (and more)


David Tennant (left) has played Doctor Who since 2005
I think Steven's more than his own man. He doesn't need me at all.

I won't write for it in the future. I'm done with it.

It's time to move on and I'd hate to be just a ghost haunting the corridors that I used to walk.

And who needs me? Because Steve's brilliant and they've got a thousand million plans. I'll just be old news and it's about time.

What are you going to miss the most after you step down as executive producer?
Zoe, Bath

To be honest, I'll miss the people. They are genuinely brilliant people, our designers and producers and the crew at BBC Wales.

They are fantastic and they're part of the reason I've stayed for so long.

What line of dialogue are you most proud to have written?
Phil Fenerty, Southport

That's tricky. I like all my dialogue!

I did love Donna, played by Catherine Tate, in a show we did two weeks ago called Turn Left.

She said: "You liar, you told me I was special," to Rose, when she feels her life has been betrayed and lied.

I think she delivers that line with such venom - I love that moment.

What was the biggest compromise you had to make in bringing the series back?
Matt, London


Comic Catherine Tate (right) plays Donna Noble in the series
Well, that's tricky because if you watch it, it's not very compromising.

I thought there'd be a lot of compromise, I thought we'd be compromised on budget.

We could have ended up with no ratings and a Sunday afternoon slot, so absolutely nothing and that really is the honest answer.

We got to make everything that I wanted to make.

How nervous were you before Rose was aired that the show would flop?
Duncan Steele, Aberfoyle

Very nervous. It's hard because I knew what we'd made was good. So I knew I could sleep at night.

I knew even if no one watched it, I could sit there and say I had done a great piece of work.

How frustrating do you find some viewers' appetite for the publication of spoilers?
Tom Murphy, London

Well, it's actually very few people, to be honest. There are some people who like spoilers, and they spoil it for themselves - and they like spoiling it.

It's when they then promote it on a bigger scale and they push those spoilers into the tabloids so the general public get to hear.

I think it's a real shame and I think it undermines all storytelling.

I think the leaking of stories undermines most British drama at the moment. Most soap operas give away their stories months in advance and every soap opera has declining ratings.


Could you please give a hint or two about next year's specials?
Mark Harrison, Middlesbrough

No. Nice try. Not at all.

When you first revived Doctor Who back in 2005 did you imagine having two spin-offs and having such a big fan base?
Rach, Birmingham

No way, none of us ever saw this much success coming.

I didn't even envisage a spin-off would be possible.

We're still getting eight million viewers a week, which is a miracle when everyone else's ratings are still going down.

I'm still gobsmacked by that. I can't even get my head round that. I'm still delighted by that every day.

The last episode in the current series of Doctor Who will be screened in the UK on BBC One at 1840 BST on Saturday, 5 July.

Russell T Davies was talking to BBC News entertainment reporter Fiona Pryor.