Ncuti Gatwa is the 15th Doctor

[Brendan Moody]

The specials were sent to Disney for editorial notes per last month’s DWM, so even if their money is primarily framed as a distribution deal they’re getting some level of content input. The show looks fine for mid-range genre TV but I think “near-cinema” might be a stretch.

Obviously the studio work could be extensive, but it’s hard to believe the “Disney tripled the budget!” scenario people were putting forth would have no evident effect on the location work.

 

[Mr Awe]

Well, I'm a bit disappointed it's only 8 episodes, particularly factoring in a larger budget.

But 8 episodes in a year is probably more than the average Chibnall year (I haven't looked at his average per year, and yes, I know COVID impacted that too). So, it's probably a relative improvement

And it does sound like RTD wants to do more.

So, upon reflection, I guess it's OK news. Not great but not terrible.

 

[XCV330]

Doctor Who has been doing near-cinema production quality since Matt Smith brought everything to HD. I'd hazard Disney's money is more about distribution rights than editorial notes.

I think if they're investing, they'd want some script approval. Self-indulgent "the moon is an egg" scripts should have ever seen the light of day.

 

[Rich Watson]

Another bit of info from DWM and this one might need a spoiler tag.

Spoiler: Just in case

Scott Handcock has said that the villains in the first block of episodes to be shot will come from the 4th and 7th Doctor's eras.

Fenric? The Gods of Ragnarok? Dear god, not The Bannermen?

Or will it finally be time for the return of the greatest villain of them all...

(I know legally they can't bring him back but they can use some of those Disney dollars to fight off Bassett's lawyers.)

 

[Jedman67]

I think if they're investing, they'd want some script approval. Self-indulgent "the moon is an egg" scripts should have ever seen the light of day.

I believe thats the Series i more or less skipped
I don't know if distributors have any kind of creative feedback process, although I don't know if D+ falls under "distribution" or "partner".

 

[Rich Watson]

I don't know if distributors have any kind of creative feedback process, although I don't know if D+ falls under "distribution" or "partner".

If the only thing you're paying for is screening rights, you could cut episodes or even skip episodes but you wouldn't be involved at the point in the process where they're still in production.

 

[Rich Watson]

One more snippet from Russell. (Oh how amazing to have someone in charge who actually tells fans stuff!)

Writing back in November he said that he was expecting the location shooting to have made the news by the time the issue went on sale. So any day now...

Given the lack of official photos of Ncuti in costume I'm thinking he's going to be spending the episode in Tennant's outfit. A decision that will no doubt go down well with Jodie Whitaker fans with no acrimony whatsoever.

 

[Jedman67]

One more snippet from Russell. (Oh how amazing to have someone in charge who actually tells fans stuff!)

Writing back in November he said that he was expecting the location shooting to have made the news by the time the issue went on sale. So any day now...

Given the lack of official photos of Ncuti in costume I'm thinking he's going to be spending the episode in Tennant's outfit. A decision that will no doubt go down well with Jodie Whitaker fans with no acrimony whatsoever.

RTD said that he didn't want Tennant to wear Jodie's costume.

“I was very certain that I didn't want David to appear in Jodie's costume, I think the notion of men dressing in 'women's clothes', the notion of drag, is very delicate,” he said.

“I'm a huge fan of that culture and the dignity of that, it's truly a valuable thing. But it has to be done with immense thought and respect. With respect to Jodie and her Doctor, I think it can look like mockery when a straight man wears her clothes.”

"If they can pay with gender in a sarcastic or critical way, they will. The only photo they'd print would be of David in what they considered to be women's clothes. Then it becomes weaponised – as a mockery of feminine traits, a mockery of drag, of that culture. So that was never going to happen.”

----------
Personally, I can accept the magical time traveling box and the ability to cheat death, but I absolutely draw the line at the clothes changing too

One way around this would be to have the Master change outfits and just not have her change back prior to regeneration, but honestly this is such a small nitpick.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Incoming news from the new DWM.

Only eight episode per series. Very disappointing. I hoped they'd be going back to ten. However they are committed to a series a year

It's 8 plus a Xmas special per year - so 9 in total for and from 2024- with no gap years planned (apart from the fucking anniversary year, of course, which only has the three Tennants and a Xmas Specia)

 

[Brendan Moody]

Another bit of info from DWM and this one might need a spoiler tag.

Spoiler: Just in case

Scott Handcock has said that the villains in the first block of episodes to be shot will come from the 4th and 7th Doctor's eras.

Fenric? The Gods of Ragnarok? Dear god, not The Bannermen?

Or will it finally be time for the return of the greatest villain of them all...

(I know legally they can't bring him back but they can use some of those Disney dollars to fight off Bassett's lawyers.)

The precise quote is

Spoiler

”Russell confirms a name for some anonymous monsters in Block One. We can’t help referencing two old… adversaries.” To me that sounds a lot more like a new monster with an allusive name than two returning villains, but we’ll see.

Another tidbit from Handcock’s production diaries: a voice-only role for one of the Tennant specials was just recorded in October. Miriam Margoyles, perhaps?

 

[Brendan Moody]

Another point: Handcock’s production diary notes receipt of scripts for six different episodes (a first draft, four second drafts, and a third draft) over the course of five days. That makes it pretty unlikely RTD is writing everything.

 

[Tomalak]

But 8 episodes in a year is probably more than the average Chibnall year (I haven't looked at his average per year, and yes, I know COVID impacted that too). So, it's probably a relative improvement

31 episodes for Jodie between October 2018 and October 2022, so yes it averages out at just over 6 episodes per year.

Obviously Covid had a big impact, but that doesn't explain why there was just one episode in 2019.

If we assume the original plan was a full 10 episode series in 2021 plus Jodie bowing out in the New Year Special on 1st January 2022, that would have been 33 episodes in effectively 4 years, or an average of 8 episodes per year.

So if it really is 8 episodes plus a Christmas special each and every year going forward, plus spin-offs, it's obviously better overall. I think consistency is key.

 

[Tomalak]

And just for completeness, the average was 12 episodes per year across the RTD1 years and 10.5 for Moffat.

They also saw Torchwood, SJA and Class which helped to fill in the gap years.

One of the reasons Chibnall gave for the reduced episode count was the increased cost and complexity of production, and I think that's totally fair.

RTD started out in 2005 an era of standard definition TV which was more forgiving and cheaper to produce. It was also a world before the global financial crisis when the pound was strong and the BBC was swimming with money.

That's emphatically not the case now, and even Disney's original Star Wars and Marvel shows are short series averaging about 6-8 episodes.

Doctor Who is heavily reliant on a tiny cast of two, so realistically it's going to be difficult to increase the episode count much above 9 without sacrificing on running time or quality.

 

[Brendan Moody]

While the BBC’s contribution to the budget will be determined by the number and length of episodes because that’s (to my understanding) how it’s required to do things, Disney’s money won’t be limited in that way, so the relationship between episode count and production quality may be different this time around.

There’s also Gatwa’s availability to contend with (he had the Barbie movie and the fourth series of Sex Education to film this year) and the fact that this time last year, when they would have been determining episode count, it was harder to tell what COVID protocols would look like. As it turns out they’re not currently much of a factor, but there was no knowing that in 2021.

It does sound like Davies is hopeful of doing more episodes in future years. It’s interesting that he’s writing for Christmas 2024 right now. He’s not the type to work significantly in advance of production, so perhaps that special will be banked as part of this production season, giving them some leeway for next season?

 

[Rich Watson]

It’s interesting that he’s writing for Christmas 2024 right now. He’s not the type to work significantly in advance of production, so perhaps that special will be banked as part of this production season, giving them some leeway for next season?

They're shooting from December to July, so enough time for eight episodes plus two specials.

And Series 2/15/Whatever scripts were already being planned when Russell gave that interview about the climate crisis a few months back. So looks like they're doing the right things to ensure they live up to the "series a year, every year" promise.

 

[Mr Awe]

Doctor Who is heavily reliant on a tiny cast of two, so realistically it's going to be difficult to increase the episode count much above 9 without sacrificing on running time or quality.

Yeah, I understand all that. It's just that as a fan of DW, I want more! And that's totally understandable too.

I agree that consistency is key and that's one of RTD's hallmarks. In another thread, a poster was joking about upcoming gaps and my response was that under RTD, particularly under his plans for spinoffs and the deal with Disney, there are unlikely to be any gaps for the foreseeable future. And RTD confirms that in the recent interview.

Definitely an improvement right there!

 

[Samurai8472]

Yeah, I understand all that. It's just that as a fan of DW, I want more! And that's totally understandable too.

I wonder he's going to go back to the Doctor lite/ Companion lite episode format

One episode which features more of the doctor and a little bit of the companion(Midnight)

One episode which focuses on the companion and the doctor isn't in the episode much.(Turn Left)

 

[arch101]

It really does sound like RTD is settling in for a long haul, doesn’t it?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Yeah, I understand all that. It's just that as a fan of DW, I want more! And that's totally understandable too.

I agree that consistency is key and that's one of RTD's hallmarks. In another thread, a poster was joking about upcoming gaps and my response was that under RTD, particularly under his plans for spinoffs and the deal with Disney, there are unlikely to be any gaps for the foreseeable future. And RTD confirms that in the recent interview.

Definitely an improvement right there!

You're forgetting Doctor Who Confidential.

13 + 13 + 10 + 13 = 49 episodes per year, even though that set of numbers never really happened, and when it was close, a lot of the episodes happened during the same week.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I wonder he's going to go back to the Doctor lite/ Companion lite episode format

One episode which features more of the doctor and a little bit of the companion(Midnight)

One episode which focuses on the companion and the doctor isn't in the episode much.(Turn Left)

He largely did that before to give Tennant and the companion of the series a break from the schedule. With the episode count lower, I doubt that's something he'll return to.