The power behind the TARDIS is moving on.
Steven Moffat, since 2010 the showrunner and lead writer of the longest-running TV series in the world, Doctor Who, will step down from his role next year, the BBC announced Friday.
His replacement is to be Chris Chibnall, the creator and writer of the popular ITV series about a child's murder in a small coastal town named Broadchurch, which was remade for U.S. audiences as Gracepoint. Chibnall has also written for the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood.
"My timey-wimey is running out," Moffat told the UK listings magazine Radio Times, using the phrase he invented in one of the show's most popular ever episodes, Blink. "But I am beyond delighted that one of the true stars of British Television drama will be taking the Time Lord even further into the future."
Moffat's tenure began with Season 5 of the rebooted show, Matt Smith's first season as the Doctor and widely regarded as one of the best in the show's history. It will end with Season 10 later this year.
In a further blow to fans of the show, the BBC also announced that all 12 episodes of Season 10 will be broadcast in spring 2017, rather than in fall this year as expected. BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore said the screening of the series would "bring the nation together."