Doctor Who season 10: Mark Gatiss never wanted showrunner job

Mark Gatiss is one of the best writers out there working today, but there’s one job he never wanted to be elevated to: Doctor Who showrunner. It’s an ambitious, difficult position in so many ways to have, given that you have enormous expectations from every fan and endless criticism in the event you do one thing wrong. It’s probably a thankless job if there ever was one.

Even though Gatiss is an occasional writer on the show and has played a part in many different showrunners’ tenure with the show, he’s just not interested in taking on more. Speaking in a new Oxford Union chat (per the Radio Times), he makes it clear just why he wouldn’t want to do it — unsurprisingly, it has to do greatly with the amount of time that it takes:

“To be honest, the job of showrunning Doctor Who I think is probably the hardest job in television … Honestly, it has an obvious huge appeal, but equally it’s just so completely all-consuming. I act and I write and I couldn’t do both. I couldn’t do it if I did that.

I wasn’t offered it. But it’s a sort of a… it’s such a poisoned chalice. It’s like the England managership, I imagine, knowing nothing about football. There’s so much expectation, such a weight of expectation, millions of people who think they can do it better than you. It’s a sort of relief not to be asked, to be honest. But if I had been in charge, I would have cancelled it immediately. Just out of spite! No, I don’t know. I would never have any huge plans.”

Ultimately, the great thing about Gatiss is that we wouldn’t want him to be anywhere else than the gig that he has now, given that he’s so great at bouncing between this show, Sherlock, playing Mycroft in Sherlock, and then doing roles on shows like Game of Thrones. (It’s such a shame that there hasn’t been more room for him over on that show — alas, the Iron Bank is not the most exciting of venues for a storyline.)

Do we think that Gatiss would be a fantastic Doctor Who showrunner? Certainly, but you don’t want to run the risk of taking him away from something that he is actually great at just so that he could take the risk.

What do you think: Would Gatiss could’ve been a great showrunner? Share in the comments below!

Meanwhile, head over here to get some additional news now when it comes to Doctor Who. There will be further news coming your way tomorrow. (Photo: BBC.)