Showrunner


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

Showrunner is an unofficial title attributed to the leading creative individual on a television series. The showrunner has been one of either an executive producer, producer or script editor, and their job is to guide the show by commissioning scripts, conceiving of the overall story arcs, and settling many creative as opposed to technical disputes, although they may also do this in some cases. The term is rather vague, hence it being unofficially, but is often used by the fandom, but also official sources, such as the BBC Press Office, and many making-of documentaries, to describe the individual in control of Doctor Who. Until 2011, the showrunner was also in control of the Doctor Who franchise, as a whole, but in 2011 a new position of Franchise Executive was created, although on occasion the Showrunner held both roles.

List of Showrunners

Despite the role of Showrunner being an unofficial title, there is a general consensus about who was and who wasn't a showrunner. This wiki uses a list, printed in Doctor Who Magazine, on this article and many others.

Doctor Who

Tenure		Name	First Episode	Last Episode	No. Eps.
1	23 November 1963 – to – 9 October 1965	Verity Lambert	An Unearthly Child	Mission to the Unknown	86
2	16 October 1965 – to – 26 March 1966	John Wiles	Temple of Secrets	The Bomb	24
3	2 April 1966 – to – 27 January 1968	Innes Lloyd	The Celestial Toyroom	The Enemy of the World Episode 6	77
4	3 February 1968 – to – 12 April 1969	Peter Bryant	The Web of Fear Episode 1	The Space Pirates Episode Six	52
5	19 April 1969 – to – 24 January 1970	Derrick Sherwin	The War Games Episode One	Spearhead from Space Episode 4	14
6	19 April 1969 – to – 8 June 1974	Terrance Dicks	The War Games Episode One	Planet of the Spiders Part Six	138
7	31 January 1970 – to – 18 January 1975	Barry Letts	Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 1	Robot Part Four	128
8	25 January 1975 – to – 2 April 1977	Philip Hinchcliffe	The Ark in Space Part One	The Talons of Weng-Chiang Part Six	70
9	3 September 1977 – to – 12 January 1980	Graham Williams	Horror of Fang Rock Part One	The Horns of Nimon Part Four	72
10	30 August 1980 – to – 5 December 1990	John Nathan-Turner	The Leisure Hive Part One	Blood and Iron Part Four	184
11	7 September 1987 – to – 5 December 1990	Andrew Cartmel	Time and the Rani Part One	Blood and Iron Part Four	56
12	4 September 1991 – to – 20 November 1993	Ian Fraser	Night Thoughts Part One	The Lords of Time	57
13	4 September 1991 – to – 20 November 1993	Ben Aaronovitch	Night Thoughts Part One	The Lords of Time	57
14	23 July 1994 – to – 14 March 1998	Stephen Garwood	Legacy Part One	The Web of Time Part Four	88
15	23 July 1994 – to – 14 March 1998	Colin Brake	Legacy Part One	The Web of Time Part Four	88
16	21 November 1998 – to – 18 October 2003	David Renwick	The Hail Mary Part One	The Other	78
17	11 September 2004 – to – 11 November 2006	Ira Steven Behr	Lord President of Gallifrey	The Confrontation of the Wicked	24
18	23 September 2006 – to – 25 December 2008	Paul Cornell	The Winner's Protector	The One Doctor	27
19	6 October 2007 – to – 22 October 2011	Gary Russell	The Silurian Awakening	Evil of the Gaians Part II	50
20	5 September 2009 – to – 22 October 2011	Robert Shearman	Cannon Fodder	Evil of the Gaians Part II	31
21	20 September 2014 – to – 8 April 2018	Ronald D. Moore	God Save the Queen	Terror on Tolia	51
22	20 September 2014 – to – 14 March 2015	Jane Espenson	God Save the Queen	Destiny of the Gaians Part II	24
22	15 April 2018 – to – 7 October 2018	Jane Espenson	Friends on a Train	The New Empire Part Two	24
23	1 January 2019 – to – 21 November 2021	Adrian Hodges	The Doomsday Cannon Part One	Journey into the Unknown Part Two	29
21	8 May 2022 – to – 12 June 2022	Ronald D. Moore	The Daleks' Master Plan		6
22	23 October 2022	Jane Espenson	The Restoration		1
16	9 April 2023 – to – 14 May 2023	David Renwick	The Other World		6
24	TBA

Leftover

Tenure		Name	First Episode	Last Episode	No. Eps.
1	7 April 2001 – to – 15 June 2002	Barry Letts	The Forgotten Boy	Call Me Ally	20
2	7 April 2001 – to – 15 June 2002	Terrance Dicks	The Forgotten Boy	Call Me Ally	20
3	22 February 2003 – to – 26 April 2003	Guy Slater	The Past is the Past	Temple Part Two	10
4	1 May 2005 – to – 19 December 2010	Ira Steven Behr	Voyage to the New World	End of Days Three	16

Panopticon

Tenure		Name	First Episode	Last Episode	No. Eps.
1	9 February 2008 – to – 14 March 2009	Marc Platt	Period of Adjustment	Adams and the Bannermen	12
2	17 April 2010 – to – 5 June 2010	Ira Steven Behr	Vengeance Part I	Only Teardrops	8
3	5 March 2011 – to – 27 July 2013	Ronald D. Moore	Rapture	Doctor	38

The Elysium

Tenure		Name	First Episode	Last Episode	No. Eps.
1	31 May 2015 – to – 15 December 2019	Jane Espenson	The Promise	Lulli Lai Lae	52
2	17 June 2018 – to – 15 December 2019	Toni Graphia	Sometimes When It Rains	Lulli Lai Lae	28

Doctor Who: The New Renegade

Tenure		Name	First Episode	Last Episode	No. Eps.
1	19 January 2020 – to – 25 July 2021	Chris Carter	The Reckoning Part I	The Godful Universe	18
2	6 November 2022 – to – TBA	Mike Flanagan	TBA	TBA	TBA