I remember reading an interview a few years – mid-90s at a guess – in which someone, possibly Mark Gatiss, said he was sure that Doctor Who would return one day because there’d soon come a point where people in strategic positions all over the higher echelons of the BBC (or media generally) would be Doctor Who fans.

It struck me as a thrilling prospect – and one that made a lot of sense. You only have to look at the people who worked on the New Adventures and follow a few of their career paths to see how true that prediction turned out to be.

I thought I’d see how true it was and found that Doctor Who creeps into various different areas of UK media – almost as if someone had interfered with their personal time lines 40-odd years ago and ensured they were in the right places at the right time…

Writing and production staff with direct involvement in new series

Russell T Davies
Steven Moffat
Mark Gatiss
Gareth Roberts
Neil Gaiman
Chris Chibnall
Rob Shearman
Gary Russell
Paul Cornell
Matthew Jones
Simon Nye
Richard Curtis

Actors with direct involvement in new series

David Tennant
Peter Capaldi
John Barrowman
David Walliams
Peter Kay
Simon Pegg

Miscellaneous authors

All have been published or commissioned for TV/audio scripts outisde of Doctor Who, as far as I can tell

Marc Platt
Ben Aaronovitch
Andy Lane
Lance Parkin
Justin Richards
Martin Day
Simon Winstone
Mark Morris
Paul Magrs
Robert Perry

Miscellaneous actors and writers with some (possibly tangential) involvement in new series or spin-off media

Reece Shearsmith
Stephen Fry
Kim Newman
Michael Moorcock
Jon Culshaw
Nev Fountain
Mitch Benn
Matt Lucas