Doctor Who is back! Last Saturday, we got the first new episode in absolute yoinks, and there’s tons more to come. Returning showrunner Russell T. Davies has said that one of his goals is to make more Who spinoffs, the same way RTD’s previous stint was accompanied by Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. (Full disclosure: RTD gave a very generous cover blurb to my novel Victories Greater Than Death.)
As someone who thinks about Doctor Who all the time (it’s true!) I’ve been musing about spin-offs I’d like to see. Here’s a bunch. (Warning: Spoilers for old Doctor Who stories ahead…)
U.N.I.T.
There have been lots of reports that this is the most likely new spin-off, including a Deadline report from last March that cited official BBC sources. And I’m so on board. Jemma Redgrave is great as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and the groundwork has already been laid for former companions like Tegan or Ace to work as field agents. The concept sells itself: a paramilitary science organization deals with threats to Earth when the Doctor is off doing stuff elsewhere.
Note: I’m not including a Torchwood revival on this list, because it sounds like a U.N.I.T. spinoff is a done deal, and Torchwood and U.N.I.T. would cover a lot of the same territory—and Torchwood could easily appear on a U.N.I.T. show as a rival organization.
The Eighth Doctor
This is one that’s been bandied about—basically, since Paul McGann only got to play the Doctor in one TV movie and one minisode, why not give him a show of his own? After all, he’s been incredible in all the Big Finish audios. I have to admit, I don’t quite see this one, because having two actors playing the Doctor on screen at the same time could be a mite confusing for casual viewers. And if any past Doctor could get their own show, I’d vote for the Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin). But this is one that people keep talking about, so I thought I’d mention it here.
The Paternoster Gang
Apparently this one has been a possibility at various times. For those who missed it, past showrunner Steven Moffat introduced a lady Silurian (Madame Vastra) and her human assistant/lover Jenny, living in Victorian England. They were eventually joined by Strax, an oddly peace-loving Sontaran warrior, and made several appearances during the Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi eras, as well as some Big Finish audios. A lesbian dinosaur lady solving mysteries with her friends in Victorian England honestly just feels like a no-brainer. Why doesn’t this exist already?
Clara and Lady Me: The Immortals
Another hold-over from the Moffat era. The Doctor’s longtime companion Clara became immortal, teamed up with another immortal named Lady Me, and stole a TARDIS. And then… they were never seen again. I would give a few teeth (someone else’s, natch) to see what happened to these two unkillable ladies who used to be human. How much trouble can they get up to? (How much you got?) The main question is whether the quite-busy Jenna Coleman would come back to play Clara again.
(Side note: Borusa’s scheme in “The Five Doctors” seems increasingly silly, considering how easy it was for these two characters, along with Captain Jack Harkness, to become immortal. Five out of ten, Borusa!)
Porridge the Emperor
Neil Gaiman’s second Doctor Who story introduced a genuinely fascinating character: a galactic emperor who decided to quit and go work at a circus, Hedgewick’s World of Wonders, under the name Porridge. I stan a reluctant ruler! And watching this guy try to defend all the civilized worlds against alien armadas, when he’d really rather be sleeping in a barn and playing chess, would be super fun. Mostly, though, after falling in love with the TV show Willow and being supremely bummed that there’s no second season, I want more of Warwick Davis as a tired, burned-out warrior who’s still doing his best.
Clyde and Rani
I miss The Sarah Jane Adventures. So, so much. I’m still mourning the incredible Elisabeth Sladen, who meant so much to me as a child, too. My favorite characters in the show, apart from Sarah Jane herself, were the wise-cracking Clyde and the resourceful Rani. And the recent Tales of the Tardis episode with Clyde and Jo Grant made it clear that Clyde is in love with Rani. So now I want a TV show about Clyde and Rani as a couple who try to carry on Sarah Jane’s work while also trying to figure out who they are to each other. Also, Rani could meet the latest incarnation of the Master, and sparks would fly! (Rani is played by Anjli Mohindra, whose romantic partner is current Master actor Sacha Dhawan.)
The Masters
Speaking of the Master… Big Finish has already shown how fun it is to have different Masters team up/fight each other, plus there was that John Simm/Michelle Gomez crossover in Peter Capaldi’s penultimate story. A TV series, or at least a miniseries, would be so fun! Basically, take the Simm/Gomez dynamic, and throw Sacha Dhawan into the mix, and you’ve got wonderful chaos. I would watch each episode five times.
Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer!
Saturday’s Doctor Who episode was a loose retelling of the comic strip “The Star Beast” from Doctor Who Monthly. So on that subject, there’s another Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly comic that I’d like to see adapted for the screen: Abslom Daak. Basically, Abslom Daak is a criminal who gets a choice between execution and being sent to kill Daleks. (Guess which he chooses.) He just goes around cutting up Daleks with a big chainsaw, and occasionally tangles with Draconians and other aliens. He eventually gathers a crew of rascals who become a kind of chosen family, including an Ice Warrior. It is SO FUN. (Though I would leave out the girlfriend in the refrigerator, please.)
Class
Besides Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures, there was one other Doctor Who spinoff: this lovely show about high-school students who have to clean up some messes the Doctor left behind. One of the students and one of the teachers are both refugees from the same genocide, and it gets intense for various reasons. (Mostly because the Twelfth Doctor does not clean up after himself very well.) I really loved this show, and I’m still not over the fact that it only got one season. It ended on one hell of a cliffhanger, plus I need to see what happened to these characters. Okay, so they wouldn’t be teenagers anymore, but we could get a sequel with some new characters in the mix. Call it Class 2.0.
Martha and Mickey, Defenders of the Earth
And finally… this could just be part of a U.N.I.T. show, but I’d really love to see Martha Jones and Mickey Smith teaming up to save the Earth. They’re both really fun characters, and we never got to see enough of their relationship. And I would watch Freema Agyeman do literally anything. She could boil eggs for an hour and I’d be into it.
This article was originally published at Happy Dancing, Charlie Jane Anders’ newsletter, available on Buttondown.
Charlie Jane Anders is the author of the young-adult trilogy Victories Greater Than Death, Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, and Promises Stronger Than Darkness, along with the short story collection Even Greater Mistakes. She’s also the author of Never Say You Can’t Survive (August 2021), a book about how to use creative writing to get through hard times. Her other books include The City in the Middle of the Night and All the Birds in the Sky. She co-created Escapade, a trans superhero, for Marvel Comics, and featured her in New Mutants Vol. 4 and the miniseries New Mutants: Lethal Legion. She reviews science fiction and fantasy books for The Washington Post. Her TED Talk, “Go Ahead, Dream About the Future” got 700,000 views in its first week. With Annalee Newitz, she co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct.
