Doctor Who fans may 'never' find out secret behind Mrs Flood mystery

Russell T Davies admits a big 'Doctor Who' mystery might "never" get explained.

The 61-year-old showrunner has opened up about Anita Dobson's enigmatic character Mrs Flood, who bookended Ncuti Gatwa's first series in the TARDIS as she broke the fourth wall in both 'The Church on Ruby Road' and 'Empire of Death'.

Fans have been trying to figure out the meaning behind the deliberate winks to the audience, and while there is a reason behind it, Russell isn't sure he'll ever make that public.

He told SFX magazine: "That hasn’t been explained, and it might never be, frankly.

"It’s very interesting, within the 'Doctor Who' offices, we know exactly why that happens and yet I’m showing no sign of putting that on screen.

"There is actually a reason for it that was in a very early draft of 'The Star Beast'. But I see no need to explain it whatsoever."

He insisted 'Doctor Who' has more freedom than other shows with its own "proscenium arch", which is a theatre term referring to the area of a stage where a show takes place.

It's the frame where the characters, locations and the story itself exist, while the audience sit outside that - although in some productions, characters will occasionally acknowledge the crowd themselves.

He said: "I think it’s a programme which you can very happily turn towards the audience. It’s a very fine, very simple tradition."

Russell noted that it isn't really possible in some more straight laced programmes, but it works for the iconic BBC sci-fi show.

He added: "My sister watches that, she doesn’t blink. She actually doesn’t blink when a character turns to camera and gives them a wink.

"I mean, you would if it was 'Pride and Prejudice', that would be odd.

"But there’s something showy about 'Doctor Who', there’s something proscenium arch about it. There’s something arch about it, full stop."