Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: ben wheatley, doctor who, generation z

Doctor Who: We Make The Case for Ben Wheatley as Next Showrunner

As Doctor Who fans speculate over who will succeed Russell T. Davies as showrunner, we make the case for Ben Wheatley (Generation Z).

There's been a lot of speculation about the future of Doctor Who, and Russell T. Davies has said he has no intention of being the current showrunner forever. That makes sense. He has a whole career outside of Doctor Who writing drama and socially relevant drama and is already going back to that with a new Channel 4 drama that's been greenlit. Fans have been speculating who could be a good showrunner after he leaves. Steven Moffat already said he's not in the running and is too busy with his own projects. Familiar names have been bandied about, mostly writers who have already written for the series, like Pete McTighe, Toby Whithouse, and several others. Here's another name you might not have thought of: cult horror director Ben Wheatley.

Who is Ben Wheatley?

Ben Wheatley is a talented and unique director of mostly horror and surreal cult British movies… and the Chinese-funded giant dinoshark blockbuster Meg 2: The Trench. His best films include the mysterious crime horror thriller Kill List, the serial killer dark comedy Sightseers, one of the few good adaptations of J. G. Ballard's High Rise (starring Tom Hiddleston, no less), the surreal and phantasmagoric historical supernatural thriller A Field in England, the twisty gun action crime caper Free Fire, the COVID-era supernatural ecothriller In the Earth, and most recently, the Channel 4 apocalyptic zombie dark comedy series Generation Z. All of these are worth seeing if you haven't already.

Wheatley has directed at least one episode of Doctor Who, after all. That was "Deep Breathe," the first episode featuring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. That episode had a harder edged tone to it that's consistent with the toughness in his storytelling and directorial style, especially in the climatic confrontation between the newly-regenerated Doctor and the episode's villain, the Half-Face Man. The only fight here is a war of words, mostly from the Doctor, when he tells the monster that he's probably going to have to kill him, and that may not make him a good man, but a necessary one. It's one of Steven Moffat's many brilliant scenes, and Wheatley lets the moral weight and violence of the Doctor's words carry the drama and the darkness of that scene. The lighting was cold, noirish, and harsh, different from the usual bright primary colours, befitting Wheatley's penchant for horror and noir thrillers. His episode was also one of the most cinematically and visually stylish episodes.

Why Ben Wheatley Might Make a Great Season of Doctor Who?

Wheatley has a native grasp of mystery and cosmic horror that very few creators and storytellers understand on top of deep knowledge of the genre, including Science Fiction. He has a unique voice in genre storytelling when he writes his own stories. It was the premiere of Generation Z on Channel 4 in 2024 that made him look like an intriguing pick to be the showrunner for Doctor Who. Generation Z is a uniquely British view of the zombie apocalypse with a strong streak of social commentary that British Science Fiction often has. Wheatley mixes dark comedy with horror and violence with a theme of government cruelty and how a community responds to an apocalyptic event as he deals with the allegorical theme of the older generation feeding off the young to stay alive and in control. It's not subtle, but Science Fiction and Horror aren't supposed to be. It even features Anita Dobson (Mrs. Flood in Doctor Who, and shot in the same period she made her two new seasons), who is simultaneously hilarious, feral, and terrifying as she embodies the themes of the story. And technically, they're not zombies as they're not dead, they're ghouls because they're still intelligent as they crave human flesh.

As a screenwriter and filmmaker, Wheatley is the whole package. He has directed Science Fiction, Horror, Crime, Action, an FX-heavy blockbuster and frequently writes his own script with his equally talented spouse Amy Jump, herself a filmmaker, sometimes co-writing his projects. The two of them were recently developing a Tomb Raider movie before that project was cancelled. He understands genre storytelling, themes, metaphor, symbolism, and social commentary, and he has also directed one episode of Doctor Who. He gets the social commentary, plotting, humour, and scariness without overloading on camp cutesiness that has recently threatened to overtake the modern era of Doctor Who. He possesses a sense of British surrealism and rebellious eccentricity that is perfect for the series. He would know what to do if he was given the job of taking over the series.

The question is, would Wheatley even want to be the showrunner for Doctor Who? It's a very hard job because it's not just writing the stories; it's also producing while having to deal with budget limitations and answering too many executives breathing down his neck. The search for a new showrunner for this series is an especially difficult one and you can bet the BBC has approached every hot showrunner in British television, regardless of whether they were the right ones for the job or not. Sometimes, it feels like the best showrunner for Doctor Who might be like trying to find the best candidate for the British Prime Minister or President of the United States – the ones who really want the job might be the worst candidates, and the only ones who don't want the job might be the most suitable.

Generation Z is now streaming on Prime in the US. You should watch it if you didn't get to see it on Channel 4 in the UK. At the very least, you get to see a good darkly comic British apocalyptic zombie show, and you can debate whether Wheatley is a good candidate.

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