Series 13 not shooting until September

[Yminale]

People are going to hate what I say but maybe it's time for the BBC to license out Doctor Who while they can still get a decent price for it. I'm sure Amazon, AppleTv, or even Hulu would be interested. Judging from "The Boys" and "The Expanse", Amazon could do an 8 to 10 episode series every year easily. Move the production to Canada were cost are less and Union rules are less strict. Maybe get an internationally recognized actor to play the Doctor.

I honestly don't believe that Doctor Who cost the same as "Call the Midwife". It must be twice or even 3 times the cost (the 18 month schedule is an accounting gimmick to hide the real cost).

 

[Marc]

I honestly don't believe that Doctor Who cost the same as "Call the Midwife". It must be twice or even 3 times the cost (the 18 month schedule is an accounting gimmick to hide the real cost).

only report I could find (not that it means much - my google fu is more google fubar) was mention in The Guardian about 4 years ago that put the cost at 1mil Pounds per ep.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/21/call-the-midwife-film-episode-south-africa

back in 2015 Gizmodo put the price per episode at $US1.5Mil which at the current exchange rate would come in at 1.1mil Pounds

https://io9.gizmodo.com/low-budget-tv-shows-that-are-better-than-most-huge-bloc-1670583186

IMDB put it at a million pounds per ep back in 2014

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls056710448/

There were some articles where Moffat complained about the budget but didn't give any details on the amount.

So maybe a bit more to produce the Call the Midwife but not a huge amount.

 

[Professor Zoom]

People are going to hate what I say but maybe it's time for the BBC to license out Doctor Who while they can still get a decent price for it. I'm sure Amazon, AppleTv, or even Hulu would be interested. Judging from "The Boys" and "The Expanse", Amazon could do an 8 to 10 episode series every year easily. Move the production to Canada were cost are less and Union rules are less strict. Maybe get an internationally recognized actor to play the Doctor.

I honestly don't believe that Doctor Who cost the same as "Call the Midwife". It must be twice or even 3 times the cost (the 18 month schedule is an accounting gimmick to hide the real cost).

You mean license out the production?
Because HBOmax is already giving them lots of money to air the show.

 

[Samurai8472]

Bradley Walsh reportedly lands lead role in The Darling Buds of May remake

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/...-lead-role-in-the-darling-buds-of-may-remake/

 

[The Wormhole]

Judging from "The Boys" and "The Expanse", Amazon could do an 8 to 10 episode series every year easily.

Both those shows have only had one season on Amazon, so we can't easily judge whether they can maintain the pace on an annual basis. Yes, they both have another season coming, and The Boys has enough in the can that a trailer was done (though pulled after it was released without authorization) but until a release date is announced for those seasons, we can't accurately say Amazon is doing eight to ten episode every year. Indeed, looking at how The Expanse was produced when it was on SyFy, they had literally one whole year between the end of one season and the start of the next. EG, season 1 ended February 2016, season 2 premiered February 2017. Season 2 ended April 2017, season 3 premiered April 2018. And given season 3 ended June 2018 and season 4 was released on Amazon December 2019, an argument can actually be made it took Amazon longer to produce a ten episode season than it took SyFy to do a thirteen episode season. And Amazon wasn't any quicker than BBC was with Doctor Who under Chibnall.

Maybe get an internationally recognized actor to play the Doctor.

You do realize the Doctor will always be British, right? Even the 96 TV movie, an American co-production filmed in Canada stuck with a British Doctor.

 

[Yminale]

an argument can actually be made it took Amazon longer to produce a ten episode season than it took SyFy to do a thirteen episode season. And Amazon wasn't any quicker than BBC was with Doctor Who under Chibnall.

Not a fair argument since the Amazon deal came at the last minute and I heard they had to rebuild the sets. Amazon has other shows. "Man in the High Castle" is on it's fourth season.

You do realize the Doctor will always be British, right? Even the 96 TV movie, an American co-production filmed in Canada stuck with a British Doctor.

You do realize he was suppose to be a MAN with 12 regenerationa as a Timelord. There are no more rules anymore. American Doctor here we come

 

[Yminale]

You mean license out the production?
Because HBOmax is already giving them lots of money to air the show.

Yeah I don't get that. I thought Britbox had the international streaming rights. But anyway yes, sell the whole franchise to someone else for a nice chunk of cash.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Yeah I don't get that. I thought Britbox had the international streaming rights. But anyway yes, sell the whole franchise to someone else for a nice chunk of cash.

I’m assuming HBOmax are getting the rights to steam it only in America. I hadn’t heard either way regarding international rights.

Selling it would be a bad business decision. Sure, you get a lot of money, but then what, the BBC would have to pay for the right to air it?

If they license it out to another company to make, like with the audio dramas, then they are going to lose out on some revenue, as that company will want to make a profit on their investment. It would be a question if the BBC could make the same revenue, if they lose money on the deal, that seems like a bad decision.

Maybe it’s less episodes, but better to keep production in house.

 

[Yminale]

Selling it would be a bad business decision. Sure, you get a lot of money, but then what, the BBC would have to pay for the right to air it?

The BBC is pretty ambivalent about Doctor Who. They might not want air at all and let someone else do the marketing in the UK.

It would be a question if the BBC could make the same revenue, if they lose money on the deal, that seems like a bad decision.

It depends on how much money they want. I would estimate the entire franchise to be worth around 1 billion dollars. If the BBC was willing to take less they could keep the lucrative merchandising rights and the Doctor Who back catalog. After the disastrous season 12 and the new round of budget cuts coming, the BBC needs to consider this.

 

[Professor Zoom]

The BBC is pretty ambivalent about Doctor Who. They might not want air at all and let someone else do the marketing in the UK.



It depends on how much money they want. I would estimate the entire franchise to be worth around 1 billion dollars. If the BBC was willing to take less they could keep the lucrative merchandising rights and the Doctor Who back catalog. After the disastrous season 12 and the new round of budget cuts coming, the BBC needs to consider this.

What makes you say they are “ambivalent” about Doctor Who?

 

[Starkers]

I doubt they're ambivalent as such. Do they see it as the holiest of holies anymore? No. Do they still think it's a strong brand? Undoubtedly.

 

[The Wormhole]

Not a fair argument since the Amazon deal came at the last minute and I heard they had to rebuild the sets.

Not really. Amazon picked The Expanse only a week or so after SyFy cancelled it. All the sets were still standing, indeed, there was a plan in place to turn them over to Star Trek Discovery, a plan which was rescinded after Amazon's decision to pick the show up was made.

You do realize he was suppose to be a MAN with 12 regenerationa as a Timelord. There are no more rules anymore. American Doctor here we come

The part you never seem to understand is that Doctor Who is a British show, made for Britain. Yes, these days it has a large international audience, but that doesn't change the fact that it is still a British show. The Doctor is a character who identifies as a British citizen, and is a British pop culture icon who needs to retain their British uniqueness, otherwise, what's the point? You can change the actor who plays the Doctor, you can change the Doctor's gender and skin colour, you can change aspects of the Doctor's character, the regeneration limit, hell even the characters backstory as we've just seen, but the one thing that can not change is the Doctor's British nationality. Take that away, and the character is not the Doctor anymore, and nor is the show Doctor Who anymore.

 

[Marc]

Not really. Amazon picked The Expanse only a week or so after SyFy cancelled it. All the sets were still standing, indeed, there was a plan in place to turn them over to Star Trek Discovery, a plan which was rescinded after Amazon's decision to pick the show up was made.

The part you never seem to understand is that Doctor Who is a British show, made for Britain. Yes, these days it has a large international audience, but that doesn't change the fact that it is still a British show. The Doctor is a character who identifies as a British citizen, and is a British pop culture icon who needs to retain their British uniqueness, otherwise, what's the point? You can change the actor who plays the Doctor, you can change the Doctor's gender and skin colour, you can change aspects of the Doctor's character, the regeneration limit, hell even the characters backstory as we've just seen, but the one thing that can not change is the Doctor's British nationality. Take that away, and the character is not the Doctor anymore, and nor is the show Doctor Who anymore.

to paraphrase Terrance Dicks, It's the Doctor's essential Britishness,

 

[Starkers]

So given a whole heap of TV shows around the world are postponing production at the moment due to the Corona Virus, anyone else suspect there might be an even longer gap than we'd expected now? I wonder if this will feed into the BBC's decision making over what to do next. If delays drags on long enough with Chibnall and Jodie even want to come back?

I doubt we'll get new Who until 2022 now outside of Revolution of the Daleks, thank goodness they've already filmed that!

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Of course, safety is paramount and everyone should be calm and easy about this whole thing.

But damn it, Chibnall. Not one but two years for what? Subpar entertainment?

 

[Starkers]

More time to polish scripts if nothing else (looking at this from a glass half full perspective)

 

[The Wormhole]

I've been seeing speculation on this matter, though mostly from those with a somewhat cynical outlook on the matter. "Oh you just know Chibnall is going to use the coronavirus as an excuse to delay the new season even more" sort of thing. Too soon to say anything, at the moment IMO. Personally, I think that if coronavirus isn't cleared up by the fall we'll have far bigger things to worry about then when's the next season of Doctor Who filming. Then again, there are people saying it may be a year to year and a half before the world straightens itself out from the coronavirus, so who the hell really knows?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Simply at anyone who whines about Chibnall delaying the show because of COVID-19. Seriously, what the fuck?

 

[Marc]

Then again, there are people saying it may be a year to year and a half before the world straightens itself out from the coronavirus, so who the hell really knows?

one way to look it as is getting shows back into production is one way to help economies get back on their feet - people are working and earning a living so they can out out and spend money.

Doubly so when productions setup shop in a particular location and benefit employment there (such as Doctor Who setting up shop in Cardiff).

 

[diankra]

As has been said, as shooting wasn't supposed to start till September, the current problem should have little impact, unless it'scares still going on then, in which case we'll all have much bigger things to worry us.

In tv sf terms, the immediate question would be whether Section 31 does shoot as planned once Discovery 3 wraps. Much more immediate.