So here are five of the best female writers working today whose names we’d like to see at the top of an episode…
Jane Espenson
Former writer for Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Jane Espenson is responsible for some of that series’ most sharp, witty and scary episodes, (‘Gingerbread’, ‘Earshot’, ‘Band Candy’) and won an award for ‘Conversations With Dead People’.
Her affinity with British genre TV is evident: she is reported to be currently working on a Syfy remake of Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased). Perhaps more pertinently, however, she’s already indulged in the universe of Doctor Who with writing duties on Torchwood: Miracle Day.
Jane Goldman
Goldman’s star can only rise further, with Kick Ass, Stardust and X Men: First Class already under her belt, as well as modern Hammer Horror hit The Woman In Black.
Her ability to mix wildly colourful fantasy with gothic horror could inspire a Hinchcliffe-era style adventure. One of the most successful writers under both the criteria that we’re discussing here (female, genre), the TARDIS crew would be wise to nab her before she’s out of our reach.
Caitlin Moran
Her columns (in The Times) are funny, furious, pithy and moving – usually all at once, and in five hundred words or less. Frankly, it seems a slinky fit for Doctor Who’s DNA.
A prolific tweeter, which should keep the fanboys happy, Moran is currently working on an ‘anti-chick flick’ based on her own bestseller How To Be A Woman, and has a BBC sitcom in the pipeline. She has a devoted army of fans, and of all the people on our list, an episode by Moran is the most likely to pump up the audience figures with people who perhaps wouldn’t usually watch the show.
Abi Morgan
If Team Moffat are able to persuade the great and good Gaiman to knock out an episode or two, then there’s no reason whatsoever why they couldn’t fire off a request to Abi Morgan, who is frankly one of the UK’s most important screenwriters, full stop – no matter about the gender.
Garnering praise and controversy for film projects such as Brick Lane and Shame, she also writes BBC Two’s drama about the BBC, The Hour. As Doctor Who sails past its fiftieth year, who better to celebrate the Verity Lambert/Delia Derbyshire magic that started it all?
Michelle Paver
As yet, Michelle Paver hasn’t written for TV, but that hasn’t stopped her books being some of the must hungrily devoured in the fantasy fiction section.
Her stories involve an Earth of the past – namely, the Prehistoric and Bronze eras, and in the case of Wolf Brother, feature a lonely traveller, cast adrift from his clan but finally assisted by his loyal companions. Which pretty much sounds like every episode of Doctor Who we’ve ever watched…
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Who would you like to see write for the show? Let us know below…