The Mill, who have provided most of the CGI work for Doctor Who since it returned are to close their TV devision due to a downturn in the amount of work available, with the BBC's decision not to commision a series this year getting a specific mention. http://www.televisual.com/news-detail/-Mill-TV-to-close-following-vfx-downturn_nid-2660.html So adding that to JLC's recent comment that there will be a "big gap" before the next series doesn't bode well for any of Series 8 before Autumn 2014...
To which we can add that complication that Atlantis is definitely scheduled for autumn 2013, so if it's a success, there isn't room for a full 13 episode run of Doctor Who and a second season of Atlantis in autumn 2014. Either Atlantis would have to be knocked back to Jan 2015, or it's another split run of Who like 2012/13.
The BBC's decision was financial too.... more of a 'forced' decision for them though. A sad sign of these times unfortunately.
I love the way this is being put at Who's door, when clearly the fact that Merlin has finished along with Sinbad not getting a sequel and the fact they didn't get the DaVinci’s Demons' gig probably had more of an impact, hell at least they could probably factor in getting some Who work next year at least... Surprised they weren't working on Atlantis?
They won a BAFTA for their great work in "The Fires of Pompeii", but some of their CGI did look too gaudy and rushed.This seems a bit of a non story and could be a blessing in disguise. Way back in S1 they used decent models alongside competent CGI; perhaps they should return to doing that?
I don't think you're going to see a return to model work, given that the BBC unit that did that has been shut down.