The 10 most prolific Doctor Who writers

While many shows are most well-known for their actors, Doctor Who is one of the rare cases where the writers are just as well-known. A common argument for bad episodes is that the actors would do well with better writing, and the return of well-liked writers is a cause for celebration.

Typically, fans think about the show in terms of who the current showrunner is, but who actually writes the stories is much more complicated than that. While Russell T. Davies wrote almost every episode of the most recent season, he only wrote the beginning and ending of series 2. That model was common in other seasons, which left other writers to fill in the gaps.

Here, we break down the ten writers who are responsible for the highest number of episodes since 2005. This only includes those that they personally wrote, rather than those where they were credited as showrunner or for having created a character. It might be surprising how many fan-favorite episodes came from writers you haven't heard of.

NOTE: Any episode title in italics is co-written with another author.

Paul Cornell - 3

Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work on Doctor Who, both on-screen and in the extended world. He has written 13 novels, 11 audio plays, and 7 comics within the world, along with his work for the show.

Before the revival started, Paul Cornell wrote all six episodes of Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka, which was recently canonized in the episode "Rogue." Since then, he has contributed three episodes to the show: "Father's Day," "Human Nature," and "The Family of Blood." All three episodes were nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

Jamie Mathieson - 4

Jamie Mathieson began his career in 2009 when he created the film Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. This got his foot in the door of the sci-fi/fantasy industry, which led him to write four episodes of Being Human and three of its sequel Becoming Human.

In 2014, Mathieson brought his experience to Doctor Who, where he wrote the episodes "Mummy on the Orient Express," "Flatline," and "Oxygen." He also co-wrote "The Girl Who Died" with Steven Moffat. All of these episodes were within Peter Capaldi's run on the show, three with Clara Oswald and one with Bill Potts.

Peter Harness - 4

Peter Harness began his career as a playwright, but he moved onto television early in his career, working on multiple mini-series and television films. Several of the projects involved history and/or crime, which appear to be favorite topics of his. Like Jamie Mathieson, Harness came to Doctor Who during the Twelfth Doctor's run, which he exclusively wrote for.

Notably, his episodes tend to be some of the most memorable during Peter Capaldi's time as the Doctor, with some great speeches and powerful character moments. These included "Kill the Moon," "The Zygon Invasion," "The Zygon Inversion," and "The Pyramid at the End of the World." He shared writing credit for "Inversion" with showrunner Steven Moffat.

Helen Raynor - 4

Helen Raynor began her career in theatre but switched to script editing for television in 2002. With a few years' experience under her belt, she transitioned to working on Doctor Who, where she became the first woman to write an episode since the show's revival. She ended up writing a two-parter for series 3 and another for series 4, as well as one episode from each of the first two seasons of Torchwood.

One trend Raynor seemed to follow when writing her episodes of Doctor Who was presenting Classic Era villains in new lights. First, she took on the Daleks in "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks," before playing with the Sontarans in "The Sontaran Strategem" and "The Poison Sky." Her Torchwood episodes focused on different applications of time travel in the lives of ordinary people, a somewhat rarer approach given the monster-heavy focus of the spinoff show.

Gareth Roberts - 6

Gareth Roberts committed to Doctor Who early in his career, writing novels and comic strips for the franchise during the 1990s. He began working with the official series once it was brought back in 2005. Roberts wrote the interactive episode "Attack of the Graske," along with six other episodes: "The Shakespeare Code," "The Unicorn and the Wasp," "Planet of the Dead," "The Lodger," "Closing Time," and "The Caretaker."

In addition to his contributions to the core show, Roberts worked on 18 episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures. These episodes included the pilot, which he co-wrote with Russell T. Davies. This career trajectory put him on a similar path as Chris Chibnall, who was Doctor Who's showrunner from 2018 through 2022, but his partnership with the franchise ended after he made multiple transphobic comments online.

Toby Whithouse - 7

Toby Whithouse started his career as an actor but switched to writing in the early 2000s. He joined the world of Doctor Who with the episode "School Reunion," which introduced modern fans to Classic Who companion Sarah Jane Smith. He also wrote the Torchwood episode "Greeks Bearing Gifts."

However, the majority of his Doctor Who episodes came from Steven Moffat's time as showrunner. For Matt Smith's Doctor, he wrote "The Vampires of Venice," "The God Complex," and "A Town Called Mercy." During Peter Capaldi's era, he wrote the two-parter "Under the Lake" and "Before the Flood," as well as the season 10 episode "The Lie of the Land."

He also briefly appeared on-screen in the episode "Twice Upon A Time," where he portrayed a German soldier.

Mark Gatiss - 9

Mark Gatiss is a well-known writer for British television, co-creating The League of Gentlemen and Sherlock. His connection with Doctor Who goes back decades, with five books, entries in six anthologies, and several audio dramas under his belt. His first on-screen writing job was for the direct-to-video spinoff P.R.O.B.E. in the late 1990s.

He became much more well-known once the revival happened, with nine episodes from the first to the tenth series. The first two, "The Unquiet Dead" and "The Idiot's Lantern," were written while Russell T. Davies ran the show, while the remaining seven were during Steven Moffat's tenure. Those included: "Victory of the Daleks," "Night Terrors," "Cold War," "The Crimson Horror," "Robot of Sherwood," "Sleep No More," and "Empress of Mars." Gatiss is also notable for having written the special film An Adventure in Space and Time, which dramatized the founding of the show for its 50th anniversary.

Along with his writing, Mark Gatiss appeared in Doctor Who five times. He portrayed Professor Lazarus in "The Lazarus Experiment," Gantok in "The Wedding of River Song," and the Captain in "Twice Upon A Time." He also played Danny Boy in "Victory of the Daleks" and "A Good Man Goes to War," but those roles were not included in the credits.

Chris Chibnall - 29

Chris Chibnall is probably best known for being Doctor Who's showrunner during Jodie Whittaker's run as the Doctor, but that is not all he did for the franchise. He was also the head writer for Torchwood in its first two seasons, where he wrote eight episodes and heavily influenced the direction of the show. That position had him working closely with Russell T. Davies, who invited him to work on the series 3 episode of Doctor Who, "42."

He went on to write four more episodes during Steven Moffat's time as showrunner. These episodes include "The Hungry Earth," "Cold Blood," "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," and "The Power of Three." He also wrote the "Pond Life" minisodes, set before Series 7. Following tradition, Chibnall was given the chance to write part of Peter Capaldi's exit episode, "Twice Upon A Time," to help the transition to his era.

Chibnall was in charge of series 11 to 13, where he controlled the direction of the show and personally wrote 24 episodes. During this period, Jodie Whittaker played the Doctor, and their companions included Yasmin Khan, Ryan Sinclair, Graham O'Brien, and Dan Lewis. His most famous plot arc was the Timeless Child, which suggested that the Doctor was not from Gallifrey, but was a child from another dimension from whom the Time Lords got the power of regeneration.

Chris Chibnall wrote the following stories while showrunner:

• "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"

• "The Ghost Monument"

• "Rosa"

• "Arachnids in the UK"

• "The Tsuranga Conundrum"

• "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos"

• "Spyfall: Parts One and Two"

• "Fugitive of the Judoon"

• "Praxeus"

• "Can You Hear Me?"

• "Ascension of the Cybermen" and "The Timeless Children"

• Flux: "The Halloween Apocalypse," "War of the Sontarans," "Once, Upon Time," "Village of the Angels," "Survivors of the Flux," and "The Vanquishers"

• "Resolution"

• "Revolution of the Daleks"

• "Eve of the Daleks"

• "Legend of the Sea Devils"

• "The Power of the Doctor"

Russell T. Davies - 41

Russell T. Davies is unquestionably the most important force in modern Doctor Who, as the showrunner during two periods of revival. However, he is currently in second place for episode count, although that will change once Ncuti Gatwa's second season airs. Russell T. Davies was responsible for the show's resurrection in 2005, although many other writers had tried (and failed) before him.

During his first period as showrunner, from 2005 through 2010, Davies wrote 31 episodes. The Doctor was played by Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant during this time, with the companion roster including Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, and Donna Noble. His version of the show was retooled to focus on humanity, done in part by destroying the Time Lords before the series aired. Davies was also known for his series-long arcs, which seeded clues throughout the season, leading up to a strong finale.

Russell T. Davies wrote the following stories while showrunner (2005-2010):

• "Rose"

• "The End of the World"

• "Aliens of London" and "World War Three"

• "The Long Game"

• "Boom Town"

• "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of Ways"

• "The Christmas Invasion"

• "New Earth"

• "Tooth and Claw"

• "Love & Monsters"

• "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday"

• "The Runaway Bride"

• "Smith and Jones"

• "Gridlock"

• "Utopia," "The Sound of Drums," and "Last of the Timelords"

• "Voyage of the Damned"

• "Partners in Crime"

• "Midnight"

• "Turn Left"

• "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End"

• "The Next Doctor"

• "Planet of the Dead"

• "The Waters of Mars"

• "The End of Time: Parts One and Two"

During his time as showrunner, Davies also expanded the Doctor Who universe with the spinoffs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. He wrote six episodes of Torchwood and three episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures. However, he was primarily focused on the main show, with the others being run mostly by other writers.

After David Tennant's version of the Doctor regenerated, Russell T. Davies left to work on other projects. However, he came back to the show in 2023 after a period of poor ratings. His second era began with the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate's Donna Noble for the 60th anniversary specials, followed by Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor with companion Ruby Sunday.

Davies wrote the following stories during his second time as showrunner (2023-?):

• "The Star Beast"

• "Wild Blue Yonder"

• "The Giggle"

• "The Church on Ruby Road"

• "Space Babies"

• "The Devil's Chord"

• "73 Yards"

• "Dot and Bubble"

• "The Legend of Ruby Sunday" and "Empire of Death"

Steven Moffat - 49

Like many of the others on this list, Steven Moffat began his work with Doctor Who before it came back to screens in 2005, with a short story called "Continuity Errors" in 1996 and the Comic Relief sketch "The Curse of Fatal Death" in 1999. He then became known for writing some of the most beloved episodes of the series during Russell T. Davies's era, including: "The Empty Child," "The Doctor Dances," "The Girl in the Fireplace," "Blink," "Silence in the Library," and "Forest of the Dead."

When the BBC announced that Moffat would be taking over from Davies, he claimed that all of his prior work was part of "a secret plan to get this job." This, along with the quality of his previous writing, made most fans excited for his run, although many struggled with the idea of losing David Tennant as the Doctor.

Steven Moffat ran the show from series 5 to series 10, writing 42 episodes during that time (including the 50th anniversary special). His major plot during Matt Smith's era was the Silence and their attempts to kill the Doctor, while his arc for Peter Capaldi largely revolved around the Doctor's morality and his attempts to save Missy from herself. During this time, the main companions were Amy Pond and Rory Williams, Clara Oswald, and Bill Potts.

Steven Moffat wrote the following stories while showrunner:

• "The Eleventh Hour"

• "The Beast Below"

• "The Time of Angels" and "Flesh and Stone"

• "The Pandorica Opens" and "The Big Bang"

• "A Christmas Carol"

• "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon"

• "A Good Man Goes to War"

• "Let's Kill Hitler"

• "The Wedding of River Song"

• "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe"

• "Asylum of the Daleks"

• "The Angels Take Manhattan"

• "The Snowmen"

• "The Bells of Saint John"

• "The Name of the Doctor"

• "The Day of the Doctor"

• "The Time of the Doctor"

• "Deep Breath"

• "Into the Dalek"

• "Listen"

• "Time Heist"

• "The Caretaker"

• "Dark Water" and "Death in Heaven"

• "Last Christmas"

• "The Magician's Apprentice" and "The Witch's Familiar"

• "The Girl Who Died"

• "The Zygon Inversion"

• "Heaven Sent"

• "Hell Bent"

• "The Husbands of River Song"

• "The Return of Doctor Mysterio"

• "The Pilot"

• "Extremis"

• "The Pyramid at the End of the World"

• "World Enough and Time" and "The Doctor Falls"

• "Twice Upon a Time"

Although Moffat took some time away from the franchise during Chris Chibnall's era, he did return during Russell T. Davies' second term, writing the season 1 episode "Boom" and the upcoming 2024 Christmas special "Joy to the World."

Television is a visual medium, so it makes sense that audiences would be more familiar with the actors than the writers. However, appreciating the writers is always a good move, particularly because it might bring fans to their new favorite shows. Think of your favorite episode of Doctor Who, see who wrote it, and explore what else they've written. There's a good chance you'll find another series to fall in love with while waiting for the next season of Doctor Who to return to screens.