2013 Transmission / Shooting Details

[StCoop]

From the new DWM.

Series 7b doesn't start until April.

(So both halves manage to miss screening on those "dark winter nights" that Moffat claimed the delay was to allow the series to move to. And his "more Who than ever" actually turned out to be "one series in two years".)

The Anniversary Special (singular) doesn't shoot until (again) April.

(Anyone who was still holding out for any of Series 8 next year should really give up now.)

 

[ATimson]

The Anniversary Special (singular) doesn't shoot until (again) April.

(Anyone who was still holding out for any of Series 8 next year should really give up now.)

Technically I think the Anniversary Special and Christmas 2013 will be part of the Series 8 production block. But series 8 proper? Agreed.

 

[diankra]

I'm not blaming Steve, but any sentence involving the words BBC Wales, Doctor Who, Organise, Brewery and, ahh, Celebration, also has to include the word Couldn't.

 

[Mr Awe]

Sounds like they really need to get their shit together.

 

[The Wormhole]

Series 7b doesn't start until April.

Meaning we won't have a traditional Easter premiere since Easter 2013 is in March.

Yeah, I know, seasons 2 and 3 didn't premiere Easter weekend, but every other season did, and Planet of the Dead aired Easter weekend 2009 so I think there's enough grounds to call it traditional.

 

[StCoop]

The contrast between that way the BBC/RTD handled the Tennant Gap Year and the way the BBC/Moffat have handled the never-ending Series 7 has been stark.

Moffat coming off Twitter was probably one of the smartest moves he made. The BBC allowing him to keep Spinning wildly before he did one of their worst.

 

[The Wormhole]

The contrast between that way the BBC/RTD handled the Tennant Gap Year and the way the BBC/Moffat have handled the never-ending Series 7 has been stark.

Hell, we had an eight month gap between the Christmas 2011 special and Asylum of the Daleks which is the longest gap between episodes we've had since Doctor Who's return in 2005. Mind you, not by much, the previous record was seven months between Planet of the Dead and The Waters of Mars.

Still, in 2009 we knew what to expect. IMO, they should have spaced the specials out more evenly over the year, but I suppose there's nothing to complain about. And besides, during those seven months we had Torchwood and SJA (which featured a Doctor cameo) to keep the Whoniverse alive.

When first announcing that seasons would be split, the reason given was because this would decrease the gaps between seasons. Instead it has increased it, and we don't even have spin-offs to keep us entertained. Although we shouldn't blame BBC or Moffat over that. Torchwood wasn't exactly a hit with Miracle Day, and SJA can't continue anymore.

 

[Mr Awe]

Agreed, they should at least get the story straight so we know what to expect.

 

[diankra]

Yes, what adds insult to injury is that no-one can give a straight answer to the simple question:
"Why can't you just make 13 episodes and a Christmas special, as they did for four years in a row."
It's not just the fans who'd like an answer to that: I'd imagine the bosses at BBC1, BBC DVD, Character Options and Worldwide's overseas customers feel the same (you can spot from the profit warnings and circulations figures how these stop-start transmissions are damaging Character and DWM).

 

[Brendan Moody]

And if the current production team can't manage 13+1 annually (which to be fair is, for a show of this scale on British TV, a major undertaking) it may be time to stop making the show in batches that size. A consistent 10+1, although it would inspire fan whining and doom-mongering, might be more practical in the current environment.

 

[StCoop]

And if the current production team can't manage 13+1 annually (which to be fair is, for a show of this scale on British TV, a major undertaking) it may be time to stop making the show in batches that size.

Though one that was managed (with pressure but still managed) for the first four years. Perhaps if the cast and crew weren't heading off on Jollies to America every other month they'd be able to concentrate on making the show?

Anyway, I wouldn't lay long odds on the current production team (and Doctor) being around past the Xmas 2013 Christmas Special. Which will probably result in Series 8 not starting until Autumn 2014, since Chibnall (or whomever) will need to get settled in.

 

[Samurai8472]

So the wait between the end of series 7 and till the Christmas special will be longer

Things were suppose to get better/quicker not deteriorate.

The original plan of "less time between breaks" seems to be an afterthought now. That only lasted two years
.

September- Air five episodes

December- Air Christmas special

April- Air 8 episodes


Repeat cycle(Obviously not going to happen)

 

[Brendan Moody]

Right, the question at this point is which is the unusual one: the RTD team for being able to do it, or the Moffat team for not? By all accounts Moffat seems to be a less engaged/obsessive showrunner (fewer rewrites of others' episodes, etc); he does have Sherlock to deal with, which he can't back out of in the way RTD could back out of his commitments to the Who spin-offs, but he's got Gatiss to take some of the slack there (and possibly on Who as well). There's also the question whether the current economic climate makes it harder to get things done on time. I have my suspicions, but my views on other issues are probably coloring them.

The original plan of "less time between breaks" seems to be an afterthought now.

I doubt that was ever actually the plan, rather than a convenient way to make the split sound good when it was first announced.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

I really don't understand why you'd all expect a complete 13 part season every year. I imagine that Moffat's team work to the dictates of BBC scheduling, which would include budgetary concerns, etc. It's not very common for tv shows to come back every year in the same months as before. Extended breaks and revamped schedules are the norm, not the exception.

 

[StCoop]

I really don't understand why you'd all expect a complete 13 part season every year.

I can't speak for other people but that's far less an issue for me than things like Moffat calling people stupid for saying that it looked like we were going to end up with fewer episodes than in previous years. Which then turned out to be correct.

 

[Brendan Moody]

I really don't understand why you'd all expect a complete 13 part season every year.

As noted, the fact that Russell T. Davies and co. delivered them for four years running is a big factor.

I imagine that Moffat's team work to the dictates of BBC scheduling, which would include budgetary concerns, etc.

If there's one thing that's always been clear, it's that the BBC wants as much Doctor Who as possible. Remember how peeved Peter Fincham was when he grasped that there was going to be a gap year in 2009 rather than a fifth series?

It's not very common for tv shows to come back every year in the same months as before. Extended breaks and revamped schedules are the norm, not the exception.

That's an overstatement. Occasional breaks and schedule revamps occur, but moving around as much as Doctor Who has since 2009 is the exception, not the norm. Being Human, Downton Abbey, Merlin, Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes... all recent, all managing to run several years in a row with no more than a couple months' schedule shift over those years.

I don't "expect" a 13-part season every year; I grasp the argument for an occasional gap or schedule revamp. But the plan for Doctor Who is shifting a lot more than it used to, and I don't think it's surprising that people wonder why.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

If there's one thing that's always been clear, it's that the BBC wants as much Doctor Who as possible. Remember how peeved Peter Fincham was when he grasped that there was going to be a gap year in 2009 rather than a fifth series?

It's pretty obvious that Doctor Who's going to be one of the most expensive shows the BBC produce, and I shouldn't think the same amount of money is there as it was in 2005-2009. If the Beeb are really that pissed off with Moffat's performance, wouldn't they move the show over to a new production team?

Occasional breaks and schedule revamps occur, but moving around as much as Doctor Who has since 2009 is the exception, not the norm. Being Human, Downton Abbey, Merlin, Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes... all recent, all managing to run several years in a row with no more than a couple months' schedule shift over those years.

All have been big recent hits though. 7 years down the line, if they're still going, they would be subject to more changes and schedulers' whims. The norm is what happens to all the other shows. And it seems that Doctor Who is now in that same cycle. It's passed its big success peak, and has now settled down into a comfortable thing that people like. They can rest it and move it about, it'll still find its audience when it comes back on.

I don't "expect" a 13-part season every year; I grasp the argument for an occasional gap or schedule revamp. But the plan for Doctor Who is shifting a lot more than it used to, and I don't think it's surprising that people wonder why.

Well, when you've been watching telly as long as I have, you don't come to expect anything. Shows come back when they come back.

 

[diankra]

It's pretty obvious that Doctor Who's going to be one of the most expensive shows the BBC produce, and I shouldn't think the same amount of money is there as it was in 2005-2009.

I'd imagine that is the reason, and specifically, that BBC Wales's budget has been cut (like all the rest of the BBC), so they can't afford to make all the series they like, so they keep pushing Doctor Who back to split its costs over two financial years (regardless of what BBC1, Worldwide, etc, would prefer).
What's frustrating is the contempt for the viewers of not simply admitting that - or whatever the explanation actually is.
It's not as if it's limited to Who - tune into Feedback on Radio Four, and every couple of weeks you'll hear a criticised BBC exec whose answer comes down to "Because I say so, and my opinion must be more important than yours because I've got the job and you haven't, so just shut up and watch/listen to what I'm good enough to give you," - but it is irritating. Because we're not idiots who can't handle the truth - well, not all of us.

 

[StCoop]

It's pretty obvious that Doctor Who's going to be one of the most expensive shows the BBC produce, and I shouldn't think the same amount of money is there as it was in 2005-2009.

Nope. Doctor Who gets the standard BBC 45-minute drama budget. It doesn't get any special consideration for the extra costs that go into making it. Anything on top of that it gets by doing deals with BBC America.

 

[Brendan Moody]

If the Beeb are really that pissed off with Moffat's performance, wouldn't they move the show over to a new production team?

I don't think they're "that pissed;" I just don't believe they're the primary source of the recent schedule fluctuations.

All have been big recent hits though.

I think you'd be hard pressed to make a quantifiable argument that any of those shows bar Downton Abbey was ever more of a hit than Doctor Who, which is still performing essentially as it was in 2005, is right now. Some long-running shows peter-out in gaps, delays, and specials, and some don't, for a variety of individual and specific reasons, not because that's the way of all celluloid.

Well, when you've been watching telly as long as I have, you don't come to expect anything. Shows come back when they come back.

I don't think the amount of years anyone has been watching telly has anything to do with it.

I'm not utterly averse to the idea that budget is a factor, but the prospect that the only thing BBC Wales could think of to do was to cut production of its most popular programme in half in that programme's 50th anniversary year... well, if that's the actual reason, there's a serious failure of imagination going on. And just last August, Moffat said that while of course he would always like more money, "Doctor Who is incredibly well looked after by the BBC." Is that just PR? Maybe, but the same possibility exists for any other explanation he might give or deny.