In my mind, the timeframe of the 50th anniversary was the pinnacle of Doctor Who, at least here in the States. I don't mean that Day of the Doctor is the best story (it's not), but in terms of my own personal enjoyment and that of even the non-DW fans around me. I would hear non hardcore fans discussing DW at the office and around town. There seemed to be more buzz in the general media. It was its highest point in terms of public awareness/interest at this point. And I was really digging all of new Who up to that point more and more.
After Day of the Doctor aired, all of that seemed to decline. And I really liked Capaldi's era. So it wasn't so much that I was not enjoying the show, but even for me it wasn't quite at the same level. And general interest seemed to be vanishing. Let's general media coverage etc. Not all at once but it started declining with Capaldi.
All that during Capaldi's era and even more so during Whitaker's and Gatwa's time.
I think its really as simple as that the show, during the Tennant/Smith years, was populated by youngsters and was aimed at youngsters. Not necessarily a kids show either, but the broad demographic of the main aimed audience was covered in a way that an older, or a female, or a black gay person didn't. And I'm trying to imply anything indecent, simply that some folks might've thought they didn't like the idea of actors
too different to those two would be acceptable.
I mean, I remember the days when a supposed BBC memo had come out before series 10 was made that said that they'd prefer if Capaldi didn't renew his contract (cause some did argue he might've stayed in Chibnall's first year) with CC had a new, Tennant-like young-looking Doctor take over the show.
Thank you for that in-depth response, Allyn. Having been a regular at Outpost Gallifrey in the past, I fully understand that stipulation but I appreciate you providing a summary of Spilsbury's comments.
As for what he actually said, I'm not entirely surprised (but disappointed) on what is most likely going on behind the scenes. The one thing I didn't think about before is Disney's option to renew. How long is that option and is there any chance Disney will give the BBC a break by telling them to go ahead and shop around (as has already been rumored) or will we have to wait the full period?
If the latter, this will whole situation will feel awfully similar to what happened with the Marvel Netflix shows and having to wait for Netflix's rights revert back to Marvel (obviously the actual scenario is very different, I just mean how us viewers feel from the outside).
What I fail to understand is, if Disney has definitively decided not to renew the next seasons, why not allow the BBC, as the rightful owner of the IP, to take it elsewhere when they clearly can and want to. And if they haven't said anything because they want to see if the BBC can change their minds, well, why? I mean, its one thing to decide to delay an announcement. But to have a rights expiration date without producing anything and basically stranding the show because
they don't feel its worth spending on seems, well, unsound.
I also wonder if the Sea Devils thing is part of the reason for a delayed response from all parties.
