Officially no series 8 in 2013

[diankra]

Interesting... where does the money go then?

Into the BBC pot as a whole, to pay for six TV channels (not counting the two children's channels, as they just take over BBC3 and BBC4's broadcast slots during daytime: counting them as a separate channel is just branding and internal organisation), 10 radio channels, plus local radio, plus the website and iplayer. Plus payoffs for resigning bigwigs.

The problem is that with a near freeze on the licence fee (and the government shifting the cost of the World Service from the foreign office to the BBC), every department is having its budget squeezed, including BBC Wales drama department. And they seem to be making their budget work by reducing the number of episodes of Doctor Who in each financial year (so season 7 was part funded from 2011/12, and apart from 2012/13), rather than make the full run of 13+1 Who episodes in a single year, and dropping some other six part series altogether.

The effects are noticeable in other ways - over on Radio 4, longstanding continuity announcers are taking early retirement rather than do a 'merged' job, experienced news presenters are making far more on-air gaffes (probably because of problems with the systems at New Broadcasting House that there isn't the money to sort out), outtakes are getting left in the transmitted versions of recorded programmes (eg: "But the most important aspects... sorry, But the most important and unexpected aspects of this discovery..." the first bit should have been edited out, but got missed). And so on...

 

[Mr Awe]

^^ That sounds like very short term thinking. Cut the budget of one of the best money making shows in order to make their budget work. Sure, cuts their short term expenses but reduces their longer term income! I guess I don't get it.

 

[MacLeod]

^I think the lisence fee also pays for the maintenace of the transmission systems

 

[diankra]

It is short term thinking, but within the organisational structure it makes sense at departmental level - just as it did in 1985, when the drama department needed to save money to pay for the launch of Eastenders (which, in the long term, would save it money, but had massive start-up costs), and found it by dropping Doctor Who (or dropping it till the next financial year, as it turned out) even though the loss of Who sales would cut the income of the BBC as a whole. But when that loss was passed on the next year, it would be split across the whole BBC, so drama department itself would lose a lot less than it saved...

 

[Samurai8472]

Blogtor Who has had that 2013 timetable taken down from it's site.

There was also a picture of a Clara action figure, and a playset of the London Underground

 

[ToddCam]

What terrible timing. Would it be at all profitable for the BBC to sell Who to a network? Forgive me if it's ludicrous, I don't know anything about broadcasting...

 

[StCoop]

What terrible timing. Would it be at all profitable for the BBC to sell Who to a network? Forgive me if it's ludicrous, I don't know anything about broadcasting...

There have been rumours that it could move over to becoming a BBC Worldwide production, which would allow BBC America to come in as full co-production partners rather than just chipping in the odd bit of cash as they do now. (It would also put Julie Gardner back in charge of it again!)

 

[Captaindemotion]

As long as we get some new episodes in spring, I don't really care if they call it season 8, 7B or whatever. But I'm disappointed that the 50 year anniversary is only going to be 60 minutes (if that's accurate). I would have expected at the very least a 90 min special or a 2 - 4 part miniseries.

This is the first time DW has been on the air in a year ending in '3' since 1983, it's now one of the BBC's mainstays and biggest attractions and this is the best they can do?

 

[MacLeod]

You never know dear old Auntie Beeb might have something in mind, that hasn't been announced yet.

 

[StCoop]

You never know dear old Auntie Beeb might have something in mind, that hasn't been announced yet.

Like what? Every statement from everyone involved now sings from the same sheet and points in the one direction.

And they're hardly going to leave anything important off advertising material that's aimed at Trade rather than the general public.

 

[MacLeod]

^Unless they haven't finalised that material.

 

[StCoop]

^Unless they haven't finalised that material.

It's nearly February now. They know exactly what's happening this year.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

^Unless they haven't finalised that material.

It's nearly February now. They know exactly what's happening this year.

Plus, the point of that material is to let merchandise buyers for the retail chains know what kind of support they can expect from the series. If there's eight episodes in the spring or a special in the autumn, buyers will want to know that because that's when their customers will be high on Doctor Who. Likewise, if there's nothing in the summer or winter months, buyers will want to know not to stock Doctor Who merchandise then because it's dead weight. The list, in other words, is a guide for the buyers to let them know when to stock their stores -- and when not to. And buyers don't like surprises and rush solicitations because they're very hard to plan for and very difficult to gauge accurately.

 

[Samurai8472]

^Exactly it's a chain reaction.

If I was a toy seller and heard there was 50th anniversary special planned then i'll make sure to stock up on some classic series figures etc.

Strike while the iron is hot.

 

[DalekJim]

We've only had one properly scheduled series since 2008 so I'm used to being fucked about but this is still shit news. The show has really failed to build up a momentum for me over these past few years and it's precisely because of random dicking about like this.

 

[Captain_Amasov]

Why is the BBC so strapped for cash? Isn't Who a big moneymaker?

Their Charter doesn't allow them to reinvest the money they make from it into the Show.

Which is sad when you consider that with the cut backs the BBC has had, it still manages this:

"The BBC generated more than £8bn for the UK economy in 2011-12, almost twice its licence fee spend."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21041587

 

[Mr. Adventure]

outtakes are getting left in the transmitted versions of recorded programmes (eg: "But the most important aspects... sorry, But the most important and unexpected aspects of this discovery..." the first bit should have been edited out, but got missed). And so on...

Luckily for us that has never been a problem in Doctor Who.

 

[diankra]

outtakes are getting left in the transmitted versions of recorded programmes (eg: "But the most important aspects... sorry, But the most important and unexpected aspects of this discovery..." the first bit should have been edited out, but got missed). And so on...

Luckily for us that has never been a problem in Doctor Who.

It's a good example of why people used to swear -as offensively as possible - when they made a slip, just to make sure it wasn't used.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Count me in the group that thinks if we aren't getting anything else after 7b, that a 60 minute 50th anniversary special isn't that impressive.

At least give us a 2 parter like The End Of Time. Even without lots of Doctors, it gotta be a big enough story for 2 hours, whatever it is.

 

[The Wormhole]

Only?

That's 24 episodes out of 94 total. Significantly less than half, so yeah, "Only."

I thought the 90 minutes for The Five Doctors was perfect. Why not just do that length?

The Five Doctors being 90 minutes isn't really all that impressive when you consider a four part classic Who story (which were the norm during Davison's years) had a combined total run time around 90 minutes. The only difference is that it was shown in one fell swoop as opposed to hacked up into four parts.

Besides, in Pertwee's years six-parters normal but The Three Doctor was only a four parter.

I'm sorry, but while many things about the state of DW these days concern me, the anniversary special being 60 minutes is a non-issue. Sure, I wanted a two-parter like The End of Time featuring all living Doctors, but I've only been expecting a 60 minute story. Honestly the fact that we basically have two gap years in a row as more upsetting to me, and that's not even all that upsetting.