Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

[jaime]

They said, "If you leave, it will be cancelled."

Consequently, he stayed longer than he planned and the show remained on the air.

He finally decided to leave and they stopped making it. As far as is known, he didn't leave because it was cancelled. It appears to be the other way around as best as can be determined. They stopped making it because he left and there was no one on hand to produce it. (So, yes, that's exactly what I meant and you read it correctly the first time.)

There are some BBC people on record indicating that it wasn't their intention to permanently cancel the show. Sorry, I'm forgetting who at the moment. I guess they thought they'd find someone at some point. Verity Lambert (no longer at the BBC) was interested around then. But I guess her efforts got shot down because Worldwide wanted to make a movie. But it does get complicated!

JNT ended up still running Who at worldwide though, I don’t think he actually got around to leaving. He was still doing Who stuff for years.

 

[Chaos Descending]

JNT ended up still running Who at worldwide though, I don’t think he actually got around to leaving. He was still doing Who stuff for years.

I looked into it a little bit, and my memory was indeed wrong and Mr. Awe was right. JNT did quit, there was no replacement, and Doctor Who was cancelled.

 

[Chaos Descending]

To be more specific, JNT said, "I am done after Season 26 is finished" and towards the end of production for Season 26, they got word that there would be no Season 27. The voice over ending to the last episode of Survival was added shortly before airing because the team knew that that would be it.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I looked into it a little bit, and my memory was indeed wrong and Mr. Awe was right. JNT did quit, there was no replacement, and Doctor Who was cancelled.

He did indeed leave the show hence why it was cancelled, but there are interviews of him stating the BBC just strangled the show budget wise to the point that by the end he just wanted done with it and to leave due to the continued pressure of making the show with a constant shrinking budget, that and the BBC were treating the show as a annoyancee they would be happy to see gone by the end.

 

[Commander Troi]

the BBC were treating the show as a annoyance they would be happy to see gone by the end.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were happy. IIRC, Mary Whitehouse had set her sights of DW as an example of "violence in children's television" and had made life No Fun for the BBC.

 

[Mr Awe]

I looked into it a little bit, and my memory was indeed wrong and Mr. Awe was right. JNT did quit, there was no replacement, and Doctor Who was cancelled.

Well, it was a long time ago! My memory isn't perfect either!

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I wouldn't be surprised if they were happy. IIRC, Mary Whitehouse had set her sights of DW as an example of "violence in children's television" and had made life No Fun for the BBC.

I remember Hinchcliffe taking about the doctors attempted drowning in Deadly assassin, in which he thought his head was held under just that little bit too long, so he decided to freeze the frame thinking it would lesson the impact, when i fact he later stated it made it a lot worse.

Thanks Mary. lol

 

[The Wormhole]

I wouldn't be surprised if they were happy. IIRC, Mary Whitehouse had set her sights of DW as an example of "violence in children's television" and had made life No Fun for the BBC.

Alternatively, JNT once joked every time Mary Whitehouse complained about Doctor Who, the show would see a boost in ratings.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Alternatively, JNT once joked every time Mary Whitehouse complained about Doctor Who, the show would see a boost in ratings.

A forerunner of the Streisand Effect.

 

[Starkers]

A forerunner of the Streisand Effect.

There's no such thing as bad pudicity (I mean clearly there is!)

I'm not sure Whitehouse had that much sway in the eventual cancellation of the show. I could be wrong, but my understanding was always that it was during the 70s when she was most vocally against violence in Who.

 

[The Wormhole]

I could be wrong, but my understanding was always that it was during the 70s when she was most vocally against violence in Who.

Indeed, the Hinchcliffe era specifically, according to Wikipedia.

 

[Steve Roby]

But not only the Hinchcliffe era. From wikipedia:

Vengeance on Varos reflected the media's contemporary concern over video nasties and snuff movies and provoked considerable controversy for its violent content.[2] The scenes featuring acid bath deaths, attempted hangings and genetic experiments on the female characters were widely criticised in the Radio Times letters page, and the programme Points of View.[8] Unlike previous criticisms of the show's violence, this time complaints about Vengeance on Varos were raised by members of the general public and some of the show's fans, as well as traditional critics such as Mary Whitehouse.[9]