The relevant quote from the GQ interview that Radio Times has (poorly) excerpted here:

>I watch the Star Trek empire with vast envy: the way that's turned itself from an old archive show into something fantastic. The cast is so progressive, so good, so beautiful. And very cleverly I think Star Trek is reaching out to making something like fifty-two episodes a year. So that's your yearly show, genius. And there's a problem with the BBC, it's a public service broadcaster, so there's only so much they'll ever commit to.
>
>So I thought — with no criticism whatsoever towards the people who were running it at the time, because they were running it within the BBC's measures — it was time for the next stage for Doctor Who. I thought the streaming platforms are ready, the spin-offs are ready; I always believed in spin-offs when I was there. I did Torchwood as a spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures as a spin-off. Those spin-offs declined when I left, and I can see why. And I very much left after 2008, when the money became scarce, I think that's fair enough for the public service broadcaster that the money is spent on other things.

So, yes, he's absolutely taking the money and running with it. And it really does look like while people keep comparing it to Marvel and to Star Wars (it happens in the GQ interview proper almost immediately as well, and has already forked off into it's own grumpy fanboy "Grr DISNEEEYYY thing here in the thread, even) what Russell himself is using as a model is Star Trek for Paramount+

As someone who just so happens to like most of what's happening with Star Trek at Paramount Plus - who in fact thinks this is probably the most consistently good and inarguably POPULAR that Star Trek has been in general for decades now - this sounds like a great sign, to me.

>!(No, I dont' like everything happening with Star Trek, but then again, I never did. Star Trek - and Star Wars - are more than half absolute shite and always have been. The weird notion that these multi-decade multimedia ongoing branded properties are best judged by being always good all the time with no fuckups ever is... bizarre)!<