Dr Who News (5)

[WhoHar @whohar]

Some more gossip. Treat accordingly.

MINOR SPOILERS (if true)

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There is now a rumour doing the rounds that the Christmas Special will set up a soft reboot, whereby the Doc will end up in an alternative universe with everything reset. It’s an interesting idea and could breathe some new life into the show.

[janetteB @janetteb]

@whohar It makes sense because I feel as though there is a currently a fundamental problem with a story about an alien who saves earth over and over; where are they? Why isn’t the Doctor stopping Global Warming, doing something about inequality, about the hideous wars, the abuses of human rights, the undermining of democracy, the whole damned mess He isn’t addressing any of it. I think this became more apparent in stories located in the “here and now”. It made the Doctor seem a bit pointless. They can fix big problems, why aren’t they? Slipping off into an alternative universe avoids that trap. After all we do need the Doctor, to give us hope, or at least, the illusion of it.

cheers

Janette

[WhoHar @whohar]

@janetteb

Yeah, it’s a pretty unpleasant planet right now. And if Who is set in the here and now, it can make it less escapist, for the reasons you mentioned.

An alt-universe would have several advantages for storytelling. You could have one that’s similar to ours but where the Doctor doesn’t know everything about it, even down to Is there a Gallifrey? What are those pepper-pot things called? A soft reboot if you like.

Maybe that’s why Rose is the current face – it’s possible they are now in her universe, which opens up a plethora of storytelling opportunities.

Of course, given the Mavity situation, it may be that the everything after WBY is already in an alt-U, and the Xmas special will just bring the Doc back here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[janetteB @janetteb]

@whohar now that sounds unfair to the Doctor…  and as you say he is already in an alt universe. Though that seems to be hit and miss story wise. ie not sure all the writers got the memo.

cheers

Janette

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@janetteb @whohar

… or have ‘the rooms’ only just woken up to all the Virtual Reality/Alternate Universe clues? Mavity, V’linx, REG, song and dance, unDoctor-like reactions… we were even shown another ‘fake’ VR/AU within the one that’s been there since… NOT WBY but The Star Beast… ‘The Boss’ remember?

Why can’t The Doctor sort out the world? He can only reveal metaphors, as always. The rest, I’m afraid is up to us. Just like Wagon Train to The Stars but without the gunboat.

[WhoHar @whohar]

@janetteb @ps1l0v3y0u

I think the gap in actual Who news (Whows?) and the accompanying content vacuum mean the DW sites (and there are many) are scrabbling around for something, anything, to say. They often have quite significant followers and need to stay relevant so any minor rumour is jumped on as if it were something significant.

And talking of which, some reports again today that the Christmas Special will be delayed to Easter 2027, as they can’t find an actor willing to take on the role of the Doc. No comment from the BBC as yet.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@whohar @janetteb

so same old, same old?

If this ‘new doc’ rumour is anything more than disgraceful anti-Piper/anti-Badwolf briefing, I am going to get quite annoyed.

[WhoHar @whohar]

@janetteb @ps1l0v3y0u

so same old, same old?

I guess. Alot of the Who fan channels are protesting a bit too much, so there are a few logic fails on their parts about why it is not true. We’ll find out when we find out.

But…I did discover that previous Christmas specials weren’t filmed until the September, so there’s a bit of a bigger open window than I thought initially when I said July was the cutoff. Probably with Billie Piper’s existing filming commitments it’s likely that filming would be scheduled later, and this may be why rumours are appearing.

It’s all a bit storm in a teacup for me.

[WhoHar @whohar]

So, RTD was on the Radio 2 breakfast show on Monday, promoting Tip Toe (new show).

He was asked specifically about Doctor Who and he said that there is a press release somewhere in the baroque confines of the BBC approval system, but that he expects an announcement on the show to be released in the next two weeks.

So, watch this space.

[janetteB @janetteb]

@whohar Sounds promising. He is surely busy right now with a new series out so maybe Dr Who has been pushed to the back burner for a bit. Fingers crossed for news.

Cheers

Janette

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@janetteb @whohar

hmm lots of desperate sounds from the sheep pen.

i and The Independent basically reprinted the ‘no actor will do it’ story and blamed it on The Sun.

There was a ‘fans’ questionnaire: who was Rose at end of Reality War? Who should the next Doctor be? Will The Abzorbaloff return?

Then someone spectaculated that the special had already been filmed in secret.

RTD conducted a radio interview with Gary Davies and promised an announcement in a fortnight, the (jokey) reason for the delay being BBC lawyers.

Apart from that it was the barking of dogs.

I suspect ragebait baiting. Is that a thing?

I shouldn’t look really. It’s wild out there.

 

[WhoHar @whohar]

@janetteb @ps1l0v3y0u

Then someone spectaculated that the special had already been filmed in secret.

I’ve heard the same rumour. It would be hilarious if true.

But yeah, too much noise, not enough actual information because:

Cash needs clicks, and clicks need content. And the content doesn’t even have to be that good.

[Ubik @ubik]

This just in:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2026/update-doctor-who-future

 

[janetteB @janetteb]

@ubik beat me too it.. (And welcome.) It isn’t too much of a surprise. I hope that the emphasis going forward will be on good writing rather than expensive flashy special effects. I would prefer wobbly sets and bubble wrap monsters if the stories are good. (Well maybe not bubble wrap. that looked silly back in the day.) I just hope that the BBC have learnt that bigger is not always better.

fingers crossed for the future, a fresh start, fresh ideas but our Doctor at the heart of it all, and that ridiculous blue box, taking us on adventures, giving us hope, or at least some respite from despair.

Cheers

Janette

 

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

Well, I did say I’d be quite annoyed.

The ratings were an insurmountable problem.

BBC funding issues and allergy to continuity writing win out.

 

[WhoHar @whohar]

Also this from The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jun/10/bbc-abandons-plans-for-doctor-who-christmas-special

RTD quotes:

“As a result, there won’t be a Christmas Special – we only cooked that up to guarantee a future when no one knew what would happen, but now we do know, there’s no need for it.”

“For the record: there’s no script, I never wrote it, and no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor.”

Which are interesting. Something feels off to me.

[janetteB @janetteb]

@whohar it does sound like RTD bravado. I do suspect a falling out.”Creative differences” is the euphemism generally used I think. I hope that, whoever takes over, the fine work done by AG writers is not forgotten and RTD and Moffat get to pen the odd episode. they were both at their best when writing one offs. It was the big bang series endings that were always their undoing. New ideas could save the show, or sink it entirely. I just hope the BBC chose well. I hope they know what to look for.

Cheers

Janette

 

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@whohar @jeanetteb

The bbc are not holding the purse strings without creative control. But if someone else holds the purse strings and annoys the telegraphed mailfist, that’s not our fault.

yours faithfully PW

[TranslatorCircuit @translatorcircuit]

I can’t tell you how much I hate the BBC for this latest announcement, especially after wasting more than a year!

I think the licence fee must now be abolished, the BBC should be forced to show commercials and even do sponsorship deals. I never watch BBC TV, so I don’t care!

Everything the current BBC management cares about should be destroyed! This includes cancelling “Strictly”, “Eastenders”, and “Casualty”.

I made a decision to stop watching UK based TV channels in 2020, because of Brexit. I later gave Doctor Who a special exemption from this policy, but that’s all. I never watched the series of “The Windsors” featuring “Megxit”.  I also think that the BBC is responsible for creating an isolationist, monolingual mass media culture in the UK, because they ran the first TV channel in the UK, leading to Brexit,  although they showed some films from the rest of Europe, but that wasn’t enough.

I think the fans should show the BBC whose series Doctor Who is, by writing scripts to replace the cancelled 2026 series and the cancelled 2025 and 2026 Christmas Specials, then producing some more fan films, possibly crested completely with AI. These films could then be uploaded as torrents, then appear as searches in streaming apps such as Stremio, Nuvio, and Kodi.

I’ve recently been using Stremio a lot, which has enabled me to find and watch some fairly obscure classic sci fi series, including “Out of The Unknown” (BBC) and “Journey to The Unknown” (ITV, Hammer Films). “Journey to The Unknown” was obviously very low budget, and each episode was based on a short story by a well known sci fi author instead of writing their own scripts. Due to this, it was never shown outside the UK, because they bought the rights to produce these stories for UK showing only. This might have included signals reaching Ireland, as well as the coast of Belgium, then being fed into the Belgian and Dutch cable TV networks, though.

I’m considering writing a script for a sci fi series which is similar to Doctor Who, but different enough to avoid prosecution, then offering it to some other European broadcasters in Germany, France, and Italy. If the BBC try to object, then I could just point out that they got the idea for Doctor Who from HG Wells’ “The Time Machine”.

 

 

 

[WhoHar @whohar]

@janetteb @ps1l0v3y0u

Bravado. Yes. Creative Differences. Also yes.

The BBC are going to go out to competitive temder for the new series, so my read is that there was definitely some tension about the show. Maybe the external discussion also affected the decision.

The BBC went out to tender for the CBeebies version of DW last year. It’s animated, so maybe a bit quicker to production than a live action version. So, when that does air, it would give us some clues as to when the show proper will return. My gut / guess says at least 3 years.

What will we call this new hiatus? After 2nd Gap, A2G?

[WhoHar @whohar]

@translatorcircuit

I’m considering writing a script for a sci fi series which is similar to Doctor Who,

You could call it Professor Why. 😀

Seriously though, go for it. Sounds like fun and you’ll get a lot out of it even if it comes to naught.

I’ve often said that, with the creatives and the learned on here, this board could write an episode of Who. Maybe @craig can set up a new Collaboration board. Well, we’ve got to do something while we all wait now, don’t we?

[janetteB @janetteb]

@whohar I like that idea. I did write a draft of a story about J.W Doctor meeting up with Ian and introducing Alfred Enoch as Ian and Barbara’s grandson and potentially a new companion some years ago. I also had some convoluted theories to explain the Danny/Orson conundrum. I think though the challenge now is to explain who Billie Piper is and to develop a new story that unties some of the narrative knots that RTD has left behind. (unwillingly I am certain.) (I might work on it while I am on holidays in two months time.)

cheers

Janette

 

 

[janetteB @janetteb]

and the reason I came to this page was to share this  An insightful article by Martin Belam

cheers

Janette

[WhoHar @whohar]

@janetteb

I think it would be good fun. I’ve been part of / run writers groups / rooms before and found it really rewarding.

Not sure about the logistics of doing that on here though.

(I might work on it while I am on holidays in two months time.)

If you do and if you want another pair of eyes on it, I’m happy to take a look.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@whohar @janetteb @translatorcircuit

The cliff-hanger, as Belam says, does seem to be the key, almost a taunt. ‘You want a show based on continuity but without continuity? Try THIS.’ This suggests both sides knew what was coming.

I am actually very annoyed, mainly with the BBC. I’m afraid for The Corporation too; it’s been in right wing’s cross hairs since the advent of satellite and cable, and it’s senior management have made appalling misjudgments about celebrities. They need shows that are bankers ratings-wise. In this respect RTD was set up to fail. But of course, this was also a long term set-up.

Who seems to have been a particular target since it’s inception: the bug eyed monster question , kiddie winkies hiding behind the sofa, the… erm companion conundrum, and ultraviolence. When the right wing philosophical machine began to blame the 60’s in earnest, it couldn’t be good for Who.

RTD 1 did not pull punches: companion conundrum taken to the nth, sexualised concrete slabs, lycanthrope royals, the ENTIRE script of Empty Child/Doctor Dances and, oh yes, he found a star writer who was even worse. Well, if we can’t dodge Steven Moffat, we better bring him under control. My view is they appointed The Man to do just that. But Steven wouldn’t be tamed. He kept harking back to continuity. So The Man left briefly to look at what the competition were doing, and came back with someone more biddable, part of the same team too! Continuity!

Interesting thing about Moffat, he didn’t think he would survive season nine, we got three special s and series 10 because the third season of Broadchurch had to be completed. But he said the show was sketched out til 2020. Does that mean there was an actual plan? Cartmel had a plan. RTD and Moff had arcs, and they obviously shared ideas, and with Mark and Toby too.

They do Meta too! Do I NOT like that. People might think the show is under threat, like Trial of a Time Lord. They might think WE’RE the monsters. But Moff starts writing about A Hybrid, and a Confession Dial. What was THAT supposed to mean? Just because we asked him to pen a cartoony special to attract a bit of interest from these new streaming platforms. It’s a good idea. Maybe one of these can fund the show. And take the flak.

But plans. Evidence for. There is the question of origin and family. In NuWho that was seeded with The Library, and The Woman and Wilfred’s question at Donna’s wedding. Interesting that this specifically should be turned on its head by Chib, then resurrected by RTD.

Some of you may be aware of my opinion of the Girl Who Died. I also pointed out that, once practically 2 seasons of meandering dull, badly written and continuity free Who was out of the way, Chib deliberately trashed Gallifrey, the regenerations, and The First, in the most infamous story of all. Get In! But maybe Chib was flushing away Ashildr too.

Why so tense Chris? Were you operating under instruction?

How specifically was Disney brought on board? And when and how did the saviour return? Anyone know? Obviously The Mouse was a ‘kid show’ move. No hebephile bait or gender politics please. Well, Russ was never on board for that was he? Were those two series a hatchet job to get rid of the inappropriate partner, an engineered Parting of The Ways? And there you are, had Russ been down this Meta road before?

Then there is V’linx, V’indicator, Villengard… it is actually the new Trial of a Time Lord with a cast of Who’s greatest hits in cartoon form: Sutekh and maybe The Fendahl too, the Mara promised and teased in The Well, Midnight, River/Jack, and Coal Hill lost in the fog. And virtual reality: how relevant! All this could be yours. Or do you really want that soap?

I get the sense of brinkmanship from both sides, The Beeb furious that they were put on the spot. But how did that initial plan for a Christmas Special come about? That’s The Corporation upping the ante; it couldn’t be publicised without their approval.

Of course no actors were approached to be The Doctor; it was Billie. Of course Russ didn’t have to write, it was already in the bag. He’s a man literally with a plan, and the Corporation can no longer allow that.

Bobby is in the shower. Will he ever come out?

Maybe we should all collaborate on an arc. Heavy to Meta.

[WhoHar @whohar]

@whohar @janetteb @translatorcircuit

I did have a thought that this is all a bluff by the BBC / Bad Wolf / RTD, and that the Christmas special is already in the bag – with Tennant and Piper reverse bi-generating into the new Doc. Surely not though.

Assuming we take it at face value – and remember that RTD has basically admitted that he / BBC / Bad Wolf have been lying to the fans so we can’t be sure, this is what I’d do:

Hiatus until 2030 to help build some demand. Then, reboot with the new Doc in an alternate universe and with amnesia. No TARDIS (at first). No explanation of how we got from Piper to the new Doc (at least at this point). Hint that every time a Doc regenerates there is a whole new universe created, or that the reverse bi-generation punted the Doc into a new dimension. Start a series of adventures with no continuity baggage.

Completely new creative team.

I’d consider doing say, 3 x 45-minute episode stories, with 4 such stories a year, so 12 eps in total. The reduction in stories would help produce more narrative depth and possibly assist with budget too (fewer locations, fewer monsters, and VFX)

Just my 2c. (BBC – are you listening??)

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@whohar @janetteb @translstorcircuit

The Big Spoof? As you say, surely not. The only explanation must be the slow motion car crash. This was coming since RTD finished series 4 with The Parting of The Ways.

At some point the special was planned and The BBC then decided they couldn’t back it. It’s not the same institution that brought the show back. The show is too difficult, too much of a target. The sub-canon sausage machine too bland, I’m afraid.

What we’ve seen is a struggle for what the show really means… trying NOT to use the word ‘soul’… so obviously Disney was never going to work. Then what?

Seriously, has Ben Stiller ever indicated he’s a fan? That’s about the only level of production value, tension, humour and pointy-stickedness that would be acceptable.

But it’s competitive tender. Expect gaffer tape and blu-tack soap with daleks. Hint: stormtroopers were scary 18 years after WW2. They’ve been deconstructed. It’s the omniterror now.

 

[nerys @nerys]

Much as I love Steven Moffat’s writing, I did feel that the complexity of his story arcs led to a conundrum for Doctor Who: How do you top this? Chris Chibnall tried … with largely disastrous results. His best episodes were the stand-alones that didn’t seem hell-bent on one-upping the story arcs of his predecessor.

I’d hoped that with RTD’s return, we’d see a return to a more compact, disciplined style of storytelling. I’ve only seen Ncuti Gatwa’s first season (I have a library hold on the second season). But, while there were some stellar episodes, the centre doesn’t hold. From what I have read, the same is true for his second season.

So, following as it does news of the break with Disney, this news is not surprising. But it is disappointing.

[janetteB @janetteb]

@nerys Story arcs in Dr Who have been a mixed blessing. I like a story arc but I think they made them too important, some small narratives threads linking episodes, the odd little mystery to keep fans, (like us), guessing and theorising are fun and add depth but they had to make the end reveal too big, to noisy to flashy and that always fell flat. Even Moffat’s arc endings were often a bit disappointing. Maybe we were having too much fun theorising beforehand. It is a delicate balancing act and I don’t think RTD ever pulled it off, well maybe not after his first series with Eccleston which did deliver at the end. Both RTD and Moffat were best at the one off episodes, the “little” stories, and in the most recent two series it has been the single episodes that have worked.

As for the tender, I keep thinking of those guys who were talking about reviving Blake’s 7. they said some very sound things about Dr Who. I hope that they put their hands up for the job.

cheers

Janette

 

[TranslatorCircuit @translatorcircuit]

The main problem with Doctor Who is the BBC and their mismanagement or even abuse of the series!

I feel I need to remind people that there hasn’t been a full length (13 episode) series of Doctor Who since 2020! The COVID-19 Lockdown was the excuse for the 6 episode long series The Flux, but since then there’s been no excuse whstsoever!

As for the finances, no particular amount of money needs to be spent on producing Doctor Who. It’s better to have a cheaply produced new series of Doctor Who than no series at all. One of Doctor Who’s biggest enemies Michael Grade had the cheek to compare Doctor Who to Star Wars, but they’re two completely different things. Star Wars was a series of films, meaning that it had only a few stories. Of course there are now some Star Wars based TV series as well. Doctor Who contained several stories in each year’s series. Star Wars films also relied mainly on special effects, without much of a plot. Michael Grade had the cheek to single out the Doctor Who story “Warriors of The Deep” for criticism in an episode of Room 101. I think this was a fantastic story, set in about the year 2084, where there were two unnamed power blocks threatening each other with nuclear destruction. The missiles could only be fired or their launch cancelled by someone with a cybernetic brain implant, or by the Doctor. The fact that a metal door which fell on someone, trapping them, was obviously  made of foam rubber or that Michael Grade didn’t like the costume for the Merkur sea monster is irrelevant! A remastered version is now available.

I’ve recently managed to wstch some episodes of a BBC sci fi series called “Out of The Unknown” from the 1960s. Each episode was adapted from a short story published by sci fi authors. The stories were written without any plans to be produced as TV series episodes. These episodes contain little or no special effects. I’ve really enjoyed watching them, trying to guess the endings and what the twist at the end would be. I plan to continue watching them.

I’ve turned totally against the BBC now and just want to have them closed down, so they can no longer prevent any new series of Doctor Who being made. I think it would be great if some people managed to black out BBC broadcasts with a powerful enough alternative signal, wrecked a live programme hybcausing a power cut during Strictly or staging a protest in the BBC newsroom.

I think Doctor Who should either be made Public Domain, or the rights given to a charity which requires some kind of licence fee payment from anyone producing any TV series or films of it, like Peter Pan, so long as this didn’t affect fan films or was based on the ability to pay.

I see that Russell T Davies has posted a video on YouTube saying that Doctor Who hasn’t been cancelled at all. I haven’t bothered to watch this, but it obviously HAS been cancelled for the simple reason that there will be no BBC produced Doctor Who series in the foreseeable future. The planned CBeebies series is an insult which should be cancelled. To me, after more than a year with no new Doctor Who series “the foreseeable future” means 2026. To some other people it includes 2027.

 

 

• This reply was modified 15 hours, 44 minutes ago by  TranslatorCircuit.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@translatorcircuit @nerys @janetteb @whohar

the cbeebies thing is frankly an insult. Kid’s show.

I might say the bbc’s behaviour was inexplicable but you may well get your wish @translatorcircuit, the days of The Corporation as we know it could be numbered. They know it. They literally cannot afford a challenging exciting show.

This may explain their frankly truculent behaviour; some people may consider RTD and Moff arrogant but they clearly loved the show. What is the BBC’s vision? A kid’s cartoon? Chib’s incoherent and interminable Soap? Somehow, I’m not sure they’re as committed.

Were there successful season closers in Nu Who? Doomsday entertained until Rose’s extraordinarily improbable rescue. Last of the Timelords without Doctor Dobby would have served. Bits of End of Time were magnificent.

Moffat handled season ends well… down-played them at the start. Hell Bent and Doctor Falls with their related eps were of course utter triumphs. Time of the Doctor did rather unravel after 20 minutes. Death in Heaven is a conundrum: something very odd going on with that and Last Christmas. Entertaining though.

Arcs. Both writers mixed it up or disguised the arc. The second half of season 7 was a bit uneven but wonderfully entertaining.

Annoying comments about Leela’s ‘instincts’ vs reason aside, the classic Holmes/Hinchcliffe run was all stand alone eps. The War Games, Unit and the Master IS an arc, extending to include 4’s first season too. The Key of Time is obviously an arc, and the whole of 5’s sorry travail. 7 and Ace most definitely had their own arc.

Arcs go hand in hand with the problem of continuity. You can do stand-alones, and by all PLEASE no Universe ending threats, but in Who the history of the show IS its meaning. Chib may have been operating under instruction or simply someone who couldn’t actually hack the job, but the removal of arcs and continuity may mean incoherent boredom.

 

 

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