Davison on Doctor Who: Go "Back to Basics," Be Less Effects-Focused

Posted in: BBC, TV | Tagged: doctor who

Davison on Doctor Who: Go "Back to Basics," Be Less Effects-Focused

Peter Davison (Fifth Doctor) would like to see Doctor Who worry less about effects and more on the story. But why can't the show have both?

Published Sat, 26 Sep 2026 07:37:08 -0500
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary

• Peter Davison says Doctor Who should go back to basics, putting story and character ahead of special effects.
• The Fifth Doctor points to the Hartnell and Troughton eras as proof Doctor Who can thrive with simpler ideas.
• Davison argues modern Doctor Who moves too fast, sacrificing narrative clarity for constant visual spectacle.
• His latest comments revive a long-running debate over Doctor Who’s future, tone, pacing, and creative direction.

With a week to go until the BBC's deadline for the Doctor Who tender kicks in, things have been pretty quiet when it comes to big names from "The Whoniverse" commenting on what the future might hold – and what they would like to see. Alongside Janet Fielding, Peter Davison checked in with The Whoniverse Show host Christel Dee to discuss his run as the Fifth Doctor and all things Doctor Who. When asked about what he would like to see from the new production team and from the show when it returns, the Fifth Doctor emphasized that the show shouldn't let the writing take second place to the visuals. It's not a new position for Davison (as you'll see in a second), but it always begs the question. Why can't the show have both?

"I was talking my son, who about two years ago sat down and watched every single episode of the old Doctors and new Doctors. It took him about a year to go through them. He said that it ought to have a reboot and just go back to basics. You know, there was a certain essence about the William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton era, where the focus was not on special effects and all that sort of stuff. Just start from a simple idea of the time traveler from planet Gallifrey turns up. So it's a sort of reboot, but just go back to basics. That's all I can say," Davison shared. "And I just thought that sounded like something. There's something about those old programs where you know, especially the early ones of William Hartnell – where there are virtually no special effects. If you're not careful, the special effects take over the narrative. So it's not [that] the narrative is lost. It just becomes a succession of sort of special effects extravaganzas."

"They seem terribly worried now about people's attention spans. If something isn't happening every two minutes, they think people are going to turn off, but I don't believe that's true," Davison shared about the most recent series of adventures during an interview with The Lewis Nicholls Show from last summer. "It's like watching a trailer for a 'Doctor Who' show you'd like to watch later. There are huge gaps in the narrative. They're just leaping onto the next bit and hoping your brain fills in the rest," he added. The Fifth Doctor also sees the show leaning too much into the visual effects: "As the special effects got better, there's a danger it becomes just about special effects. They're just sequences of enormously impressive effects with no real story."

During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2017, Davison and Colin Baker discussed the casting of Whittaker in the iconic role, marking the first time the show has had a female lead. Davison raised eyebrows when he said he "liked the idea" of the show having a male Doctor and felt "a bit sad" that the character would most likely not be "a role model for boys." Baker took the opposing position, noting that, "You don't have to be of a gender to be a role model. Can't you be a role model as people?" The Sixth Doctor continued, "They've had 50 years of having a role model. So sorry Peter, you're talking rubbish there – absolute rubbish." Davison would add that maybe "you need to open it up" for the series to continue and that he's "maybe an old-fashioned dinosaur."

During a 2024 interview with The Telegraph, Davison claimed he had been "misquoted" and sought to clarify his position at the time. "My point was that the Doctor is a Don Quixote-type figure who rides into situations, and the character who always puts him right is his female companion," he explained. "And if you reverse that, you've got the difficult dynamic of a man telling a woman what she can and cannot do. But I do also think the Doctor is a good role model because he is a hero who isn't beating the s**t out of everyone."

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