Franchise Executive

The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective.

The Franchise Executive or the Senior Executive Producer is a job-title, which has been given, officially, to a leading member of the Doctor Who Production Staff, since it's creation in 2011. Until 2020, the title was uncredited on-screen, the holder was given the credit of an executive producer instead.

The job itself, involved overlooking the Doctor Who franchise, in general, not just the main show, but also spinoffs and movies, as well as any other licensed content or merchandise.

History

The reason the position became official in 2011, was due to the fact that Doctor Who would be taking a break, itself, in 2012 and 2013, and between two production teams. Ira Steven Behr was selected by the BBC and CBS as the first Franchise Executive, to guide the franchise between the transition from Chapters 3 and 4, including supervising Panopticon seasons 5-7, the entirety of Cold Front, as well as both Doctor Who: Endgame and Doctor Who: Genesis. When the new Chapter Four production team began work in 2013, Ira Steven Behr was asked to stay on, although he only remained in the job until 2015. The position was then filled by Moore himself, officially, supervising Doctor Who, the Elysium and any other projects in development. Moore remained in the role until 2017, When he was fired due to his work on Doctor Who, Jane Espenson was appointed by the BBC to replace him in which she oversaw the majority of Season 52, as well as Season 53, and the first four episodes of Season 54, while also overseeing the final two seasons of The Elysium, Doctor Who: Until the World Ends, and the first seasons of Doctor Misterio, Doctor Who: Through Time and Space, Mysteriet Doktorn, as well as the first two seasons of Dokter Wie. Espenson was then demoted from the position of Franchise Executive to the Executive Supervisor of Television by now ViacomCBS and the BBC; Mal Young replaced her in the role of the Franchise Executive in mid 2020.

List of Franchise Executives

#	Franchise Executive		Tenure		Appointed by
Responsibilities previously unofficially held by Ira Steven Behr
1		Ira Steven Behr (born 1953)	11 July 2011	31 December 2014	Kate Harwood
			3 years, 5 months, 20 days
2		Ronald D. Moore (born 1964)	1 January 2015	19 December 2017	Ira Steven Behr
			2 years, 11 months, 18 days
3		Jane Espenson (born 1964)	19 December 2017	20 July 2020	Les Moonves
			2 years, 7 months, 1 day
4		Mal Young (born 1957)	20 July 2020	Incumbent	George Cheeks
			Ongoing
#	Franchise Executive		Tenure		Appointed by

Responsibility Holders

The following individuals, in effect, held the same responsibilities that the Franchise Executive later held from 2011.

Responsibility Holder	Tenure	Position
Rex Tucker	1963	Interim Producer
Verity Lambert	1963-65	Producer
John Wiles	1965-66	Producer
Innes Lloyd	1966-68	Producer
Peter Bryant	1968-69	Producer
Derrick Sherwin	1969	Producer
Barry Letts	1969-74	Producer
Philip Hinchcliffe	1974-77	Producer
Graham Williams	1977-79	Producer
John Nathan-Turner	1979-90	Producer
Ian Fraser	1990-93	Producer
Ben Aaronovitch	1993-97	Executive Producer
Mal Young	1997-2004	BBC's Head of Drama / Controller of Continuing Drama Series
Ira Steven Behr	2004-11	Executive Producer for Paramount Television / CBS Television Studios