I'm sure it's been mentioned, but BBC America has March 30 as the start date for 7b. First commercial I've seen, but I haven't had the TV on a lot lately.
Don't think the BBC has confirmed it yet, but Easter Saturday would fit in with some previous seasons.
The BBC confirmed March 30 as the BBC One return date last week, probably to give fandom something to discuss other than the revelation the day before that none of series 8 would air this year.
I'm not sure that is unheard of for British tv actors, everything I've seen/read indicates they put in long days. Can I third this?
Yeah - I don't get where the British actors don't do long days comes from. There are a few times in The Writers Tale where RTD mentions the long hours the actors and production staff are doing.
Just going by what other Brits have said in this Forum, that, that is one of the reasons it takes longer for British Productions, because they don't do the overtime My apologies if it's not so afterall.
Not that they don't work overtime, there's just legal limits on how many hours people are allowed to do. Also it's down to budgets too, for the most part British productions can't afford to thrown another production crew on it or a pay the overtime on a production that's overrunning. It was one of the things Hugh Laurie said he was amazed at on House.
I've done quite a few 16 hour days (usually on location) in various capacities on various productions. Pretty much the only people who aren't allowed to work that long of a day here in the US are the kids.
I have a friend who's a sound recordist (worked on Waking the Dead and so) and she's often done 14 hour days (come to that, I've done 14 hour days, with another four on the commute home, for two or three days on the trot when coming up to deadline). So really, the Brits don't do the overtime thing doesn't hold water: the legal limit that Sindatur mentions is a 48 hour-a-week limit under EU law, and Britain has an opt-out - so you can work longer if you sign an agreement saying you agree to do so. You just can't be forced to do so). In any case, it wouldn't change the central point: there are so many hours that Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise can work and still learn their lines and get enough sleep to remember their lines. That's the constraint that makes it difficult to make more than 14-ish episodes a year without changing the whole approach of the series, and turning it into 'Doctor Who and his team of six chums'. It doesn't explain why they aren't still making 13/14 episodes a year as they used to do. That's down to other constraints.. budget planning constraints.
I thought they were still keeping to the nine porduction schedule, they're just breaking up the airing of the show.
Not quite: the airing of the show depends on part on when they shot it, and the shooting of the 2012-13 season was (reportedly) pushed back so that half the funding came from Financial Year 2011/12, and the other half from FY 12/13. Half as much per FY.
Yeah, they're basically trying to keep the budget up by spreading it over two years. Or by making half as many episodes for each year...
The timing of that means series 8 (or 8a if it's still split, though there's no reason for that ATM) would be starting at Easter 2014
It is very vague and interesting that the BBC could officially announce 2014 series for a bunch of other shows this week but not DW. I really do suspect now that they're waiting on Matt Smith to sign a contract for another full series (or not) before they decide exactly what they're going to do.
No surprise there, S7 is Matt Smith's 3rd Series, so, it wouldn't be a surprise at all, if his tenure is nearing it's end. I'd love to see him stay longer, but, not many have stayed beyond 3 Series (Hartnell just a bit over 3, Pertwee 6 and Tom Baker 7, and then Tennant did the Specials after 3 Series)