Someone else picking it up?
Spoilers Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
- Start date
Someone else picking it up?
I hope they end up with whoever helps fund Series 16+, it's really annoying not having the whole series together in the US. I was thinking it would be cool if Britbox picked it up so we could get everything Doctor Who going all the way back to 1963 in one place, but then I remembered that 50% of Britbox is The BBC, so that's not going to work if they someone else to help fund the new seasons.
Disney Plus reportedly gave the show a budget increase strictly in order to facilitate technical upscaling from 2K to 4K.
Some reports have that the budget was tripled. More than upscaling going on with that much money.
To soon. They got find a new showrunner and maybe partner if HBO is part of the process. My guess is we are at least 5 years away from new Who.
No idea if RTD is out the door or not.
I think he is. He didn't exactly bring back the ratings liked hoped so my guess they will want to reboot the show with a new guy or lady.
Yeah it is possible. But who knows what Bad Wolf's contract is like.
BBC has in the past shown heavy reluctance to change showrunners. They begged and pleaded RTD to stay the first time and even considered ending the show when that didn't work. They did successfully persuade Moffat into staying after he declared his intention to leave. And they were going to end the show when Chibnall left until RTD returned to the fold in the eleventh hour. RTD's not going anywhere unless he chooses to do so.
Well he did, The Star Beast got almost 8 million, Wild Blue Yonder got over 7 million and The Giggle got close to 7 million before The Church on Ruby Road leapt up to almost 7.5 million.
Then season 14 starts and we're down to 4 million and dropping.
There are a couple of interpretations of this I guess, one somewhat more distasteful than the other.
1. People like Dr Who and are happy to watch in small doses/when it's a special occasion but they're not fussed when it's on every week/don't want to commit to a full season.
2. People loved seeing Tennant back but weren't as keen on Ncuti.
I hope it's the former, I loved Ncuti and frankly it isn't like the last straight white male Doctor was pulling the viewers in either (and I adored Capaldi as well).
It might be a mixture of the two I guess, or it could be another reason that doesn't occur to me.
What I think we can say is that it isn't a case that the show has run its course. Millions of people still watch it and enjoy it week in/week out, and I suspect if it wasn't for the budgetary issues the BBC would likely carry on indefinitely.
I still think a smaller scale show can still work, they just need to be clever about it.
Yeah I think RTD likely has the gig as long as he wants it. Just worries me what happens when he gets tired again.
The specials have always had a spike of millions of viewers and Church on Ruby Road got almost as many viewers as The Star Beast, so it seems like people turned up to give Ncuti a chance.
It seems to me that there are two main causes for the falling ratings. First, TV ratings are dropping in general, second, people aren't liking the series as much as they used to. Episode scores have climbed a bit since the Whittaker era, but they're still way below the Capaldi era, which was below Smith.
It seems to me that there are two main causes for the falling ratings. First, TV ratings are dropping in general, second, people aren't liking the series as much as they used to. Episode scores have climbed a bit since the Whittaker era, but they're still way below the Capaldi era, which was below Smith.
I didn’t watch Church cos Goblins eating babies isn’t Doctor Who, and isn’t my thing. (Nor are musicals truth be told. But I can tolerate them.)
I can only imagine the general public tuning in and finding the Doctor clubbing, singing, etc and then just noping out of there.
Regardless of whether Who has been meeting fan expectations, I just don’t think it’s been meeting general public or cultural expectations either. It’s been BBC 3 when it’s meant to be BBC 1 basically.
I can only imagine the general public tuning in and finding the Doctor clubbing, singing, etc and then just noping out of there.
Regardless of whether Who has been meeting fan expectations, I just don’t think it’s been meeting general public or cultural expectations either. It’s been BBC 3 when it’s meant to be BBC 1 basically.
Could be, after 15 seasons, people are just burning out on the property. It may be something that needs to be put on the shelf for a few years to rekindle fan interest.
Sometimes, properties can be victims of their own success.
Isn't the BBC though having some money problems? I mean that is why I assume they hooked up with Disney to begin with. Also lots of stuff depends on who is in charge. Is the same people in charge of the BBC today as it was back then?
I think that is part of it. Some might say because they gender and then race switched the Doctor but the ratings were already going down with Capaldi. I think the problem is people just really, really loved Tennant and Matt Smith in the role and they were a big reason for the shows success, They have not been able to recapture the magic they had with both of those guys.
There's another factor to consider: Streaming. I don't know if those numbers are included in the figures Starkers provided, in fact, I'd wager they aren't as most platforms are squirrely about releasing their numbers. Thanks to streaming, most shows are no longer event viewing for a specific time since streaming allows people to watch the show whenever they want to (or simply can). As a result, those numbers can and will be interpreted differently from broadcast ratings.
I thought they were included in the totals? Someone would have to dig through the articles again.
Like I said, I wasn't sure and I can't remember how open Disney+ is about their numbers. Netflix is infamous about not releasing their numbers (and when they do, it's well after the fact and not with full data), so I don't know if Disney+ is similarly cagey.
Ah. I imagine the Disney+ numbers are unavailable. I was talking about the BBC streaming numbers through their service.
We have to assume that the show isn’t producing whatever metrics Disney set for it, if they are ambivalent about going forward under the original terms of the deal. Of course, Disney could also just be being cheap and trying to get a better deal.
