No series 12 till 2020?

[Starkers]

Can't blame Moffat this time...
To be honest it sounds like a case of people putting two and two together and coming up with five but it would be bloody annoying if we had to wait 18 months for the next series, and it would suggest there are wider issues within the BBC beyond a showrunner's control.

 

[KennyB]

Not that uncommon these days........

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Since Radio Times is reporting it, I am a little worried. Bugger.

 

[Starkers]

Since Radio Times is reporting it, I am a little worried. Bugger.

But they're also suggesting everything could be fine...

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yeah and hopefully that's the case. But even with their suggestion that everything could be fine, just the fact they're reporting it gives me more worry than the Sun or the Mirror reporting it at all.

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm sure I'm missing something, but I don't really get how production not starting until January will result in a gap year with no new episodes until 2020. I know, the article says it's because this season began filming October 2017 and premiered exactly one year later, thereby a season which begins filming January 2019 shouldn't be expected until sometime 2020. But, Capaldi's first two seasons began filming in January of 2014 and 2015, respectively and made premiere dates the fall of those years, and that was with two more episodes. I can accept season 11 might have needed a bit more time, since they were a new production staff assembling a new cast, building new sets and even switching to a new way of filming the show. But everything's in place now, shouldn't that make season 12 smoother than 11?

I don't know. There isn't much to argue with in that article, but something still seems off to me.

 

[Lonemagpie]

They can get away with starting in January and still make an autumn slot, and in any case there's be a 2019 Xmas Special - I don't see anything to be concerned about. They're starting shooting in plenty of time, the preproduction work was done for this season.... The usual Whovian "the sky is falling!" panic- fashion just finding a new source since the season premiere didn't bomb on its new Sunday slot.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I cannot see the BBC tolerating any sort of "I'll make Doctor Who when I want" attitude from Chibnall as they did with Moffat. They've just relaunched the series, and a gap year would kill any momentum this year is building.

 

[dahj]

 

[BritishSeaPower]

To be fair, we were also told we'd have a "gap year" for Star Trek Discovery and it's really only a 4 month delay. BBC is weird and a 18 month wait wouldn't be atypical. But it seems odd with all the splash to not have this ready to go a year later in October.

And to be fair, the gap years and half seasons did a good job killing enthusiasm.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

The frak? Why is it so difficult for the BBC to care about its prestigious program? Their continuous contempt for it is ever-showing.

I have a better idea: Have the Doctor regenerate at the end of this series, so there's gonna be even more momentum for 2020. See?

What happened to the idea of doing specials throughout the year to fill the void? Surely the 2010 Specials and animated episode served a decent purpose there? Why is that model abandoned?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

What happened to the idea of doing specials throughout the year to fill the void? Surely the 2010 Specials and animated episode served a decent purpose there? Why is that model abandoned?

Money.

RTD discusses the problem they had getting a budget from the BBC for the specials in the second edition of The Writer's Tale, which made it very hard for them to plan or even know how many specials they could afford. The BBC didn't know how to budget them because they didn't know how overseas buyers would respond to them.

Admittedly, circumstances changed over the years, and maybe the specials model would have been viable in the late Moffat period in that unexpected gap year. But no one behind the scenes was really interested in doing specials; Moffat's headspace wasn't there, and Capaldi wanted to pursue other work.

 

[C.E. Evans]

That article had a lot of speculation in it...

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Money.

RTD discusses the problem they had getting a budget from the BBC for the specials in the second edition of The Writer's Tale, which made it very hard for them to plan or even know how many specials they could afford. The BBC didn't know how to budget them because they didn't know how overseas buyers would respond to them.

Admittedly, circumstances changed over the years, and maybe the specials model would have been viable in the late Moffat period in that unexpected gap year. But no one behind the scenes was really interested in doing specials; Moffat's headspace wasn't there, and Capaldi wanted to pursue other work.

But how is a viable, reasonable policy to have a programme that is above others in prestige and actual recognizeability around the world, in a more regular timetable? I thought the 10-episode mark was supposed to help that situation, not just perpetuate the never-ending nonsense that we're talking about.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Sometimes, as an American, I totally don't understand how the TV industry in the UK works. If they start filming in January... they can't possibly hit an October air date? Is it budget? The amount of working hours allowed? I know they are stricter with shooting time than here in the States, but... still...

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Are the Tories still trying to break the BBC?

 

[StalwartUK]

Seems to fit into the usual pattern there's been over the past 10 odd years. 1 series plus a special or two every 18 months or so. Or two series every three years to put it another way.

Multiple reasons they do it, BBC saves money by spreading some series out over two financial years, eases the burden on the production team and so on. I've always wondered why they keep coming up with excuses than admitting the truth.

 

[Hey Missy]

Wait, people blame Moffat for the split series and hiatuses?
Will he ever stop being the Rick Berman of the Doctor Who fandom?
What next, he causes world hunger and water shortage?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Wait, people blame Moffat for the split series and hiatuses?

Yes, a lot of people do. Here and all over the Internet.

Will he ever stop being the Rick Berman of the Doctor Who fandom?

I fear not. After things got overly complicated, people quickly turned against him just as other fans (and there's probably some overlap) turned on Davies after he successfully brought the show back. At this point, I think more fans dislike Moffat than Davies, although that might be because he's more recent.

What next, he causes world hunger and water shortage?

Well, this is the Internet...

 

[BritishSeaPower]

I actually think my own opinion of the RTD era has gotten worse over time - with the sole exception that he was better at running his seasons and reigning in some of weirder elements that Moffat indulged. While Moffat's quality definitely dropped and he's responsible for some very real issues, I think I find it more enjoyable, even in it's chaotic form. So far, I'm enjoying Chibs, though my biggest complaint is the show feels a little clinical. Though that might be the understated score and the decompressed storytelling.

As I seem to recall, the Season 6 split was said to be budgetary but the Season 7 split was to give him more time to run up to the 50th. I forget the stated reason for the Capaldi gap year but many assumed it was self-imposed.