Officially no series 8 in 2013

[Captaindemotion]

I'd rather have 6-13 episodes of decent television than 22 episodes of average television.

This.

Look at the recent TW: MD it seems as if their was enough story to do a decent 5 part series, but with Starz it looks like it was padded out to 10 episodes of mediocre TV.

And this.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I'm sure it's been mentioned, but BBC America has March 30 as the start date for 7b.

First commercial I've seen, but I haven't had the TV on a lot lately.

 

[The Wormhole]

Space has also confirmed March 30.

 

[MacLeod]

Don't think the BBC has confirmed it yet, but Easter Saturday would fit in with some previous seasons.

 

[Brendan Moody]

The BBC confirmed March 30 as the BBC One return date last week, probably to give fandom something to discuss other than the revelation the day before that none of series 8 would air this year.

 

[MacLeod]

^Must have missed that announcement.

 

[Starkers]

I wouldn't go quite that far, but Game of Thrones, with its enormous scope, certainly has a much larger budget requirement so the 10 episode seasons can be justified because of the cost to do any more. Because of the nature of the show they can't get away with a couple of sets on a sound stage for some inexpensive filler episodes like Doctor Who often can. Has nothing to do with how much work goes into it though.

More accurate to say that Doctor Who is a comparatively inexpensive series to produce, with a comparatively easier schedule for the cast and crew. That seems to be true in general for BBC productions though. American productions are insanely grueling at times in the name of getting the best bang out of those much higher budgets.

Remember DW has a regular cast of 2-3, who are in the majorit of the scenes, when you have a cast of 7. You can spread screen time around more. So you can be filming two differenct scenes you two groups of actors at once. If your principals are in almost every seen you can't do that.

That may be true, but, it's also true a 12+ hour day for an American TV Actor is quite common, and unheard of for British TV, so, it's not just the screen time of the actors per episode.

I'm not sure that is unheard of for British tv actors, everything I've seen/read indicates they put in long days.

I'd rather have 6-13 episodes of decent television than 22 episodes of average television.

This.

Look at the recent TW: MD it seems as if their was enough story to do a decent 5 part series, but with Starz it looks like it was padded out to 10 episodes of mediocre TV.

And this.

Can I third this?

 

[VDCNI]

Yeah - I don't get where the British actors don't do long days comes from. There are a few times in The Writers Tale where RTD mentions the long hours the actors and production staff are doing.

 

[Sindatur]

Yeah - I don't get where the British actors don't do long days comes from. There are a few times in The Writers Tale where RTD mentions the long hours the actors and production staff are doing.

Just going by what other Brits have said in this Forum, that, that is one of the reasons it takes longer for British Productions, because they don't do the overtime My apologies if it's not so afterall.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Yeah - I don't get where the British actors don't do long days comes from. There are a few times in The Writers Tale where RTD mentions the long hours the actors and production staff are doing.

Just going by what other Brits have said in this Forum, that, that is one of the reasons it takes longer for British Productions, because they don't do the overtime My apologies if it's not so afterall.

Not that they don't work overtime, there's just legal limits on how many hours people are allowed to do. Also it's down to budgets too, for the most part British productions can't afford to thrown another production crew on it or a pay the overtime on a production that's overrunning. It was one of the things Hugh Laurie said he was amazed at on House.

 

[Venardhi]

I've done quite a few 16 hour days (usually on location) in various capacities on various productions. Pretty much the only people who aren't allowed to work that long of a day here in the US are the kids.

 

[diankra]

I have a friend who's a sound recordist (worked on Waking the Dead and so) and she's often done 14 hour days (come to that, I've done 14 hour days, with another four on the commute home, for two or three days on the trot when coming up to deadline).
So really, the Brits don't do the overtime thing doesn't hold water: the legal limit that Sindatur mentions is a 48 hour-a-week limit under EU law, and Britain has an opt-out - so you can work longer if you sign an agreement saying you agree to do so. You just can't be forced to do so).
In any case, it wouldn't change the central point: there are so many hours that Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise can work and still learn their lines and get enough sleep to remember their lines.
That's the constraint that makes it difficult to make more than 14-ish episodes a year without changing the whole approach of the series, and turning it into 'Doctor Who and his team of six chums'.
It doesn't explain why they aren't still making 13/14 episodes a year as they used to do. That's down to other constraints.. budget planning constraints.

 

[DWF]

It doesn't explain why they aren't still making 13/14 episodes a year as they used to do. That's down to other constraints.. budget planning constraints.

I thought they were still keeping to the nine porduction schedule, they're just breaking up the airing of the show.

 

[diankra]

It doesn't explain why they aren't still making 13/14 episodes a year as they used to do. That's down to other constraints.. budget planning constraints.

I thought they were still keeping to the nine porduction schedule, they're just breaking up the airing of the show.

Not quite: the airing of the show depends on part on when they shot it, and the shooting of the 2012-13 season was (reportedly) pushed back so that half the funding came from Financial Year 2011/12, and the other half from FY 12/13. Half as much per FY.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Not quite: the airing of the show depends on part on when they shot it, and the shooting of the 2012-13 season was (reportedly) pushed back so that half the funding came from Financial Year 2011/12, and the other half from FY 12/13. Half as much per FY.

Yeah, they're basically trying to keep the budget up by spreading it over two years. Or by making half as many episodes for each year...

 

[Samurai8472]

Looks like we will have a Christmas special

From Radio Times:

'To dispel any rumours of doubt, (Radio Times) sources confirm that after filming of the anniversary, they'll (production team) will be girding themselves for a Christmas special, then SERIES EIGHT and beyond.'

 

[Konata Izumi]

Hope it's How the Daleks Stole Christmas.

 

[Lonemagpie]

The timing of that means series 8 (or 8a if it's still split, though there's no reason for that ATM) would be starting at Easter 2014

 

[StCoop]

The timing of that means series 8 (or 8a if it's still split, though there's no reason for that ATM) would be starting at Easter 2014

It is very vague and interesting that the BBC could officially announce 2014 series for a bunch of other shows this week but not DW.

I really do suspect now that they're waiting on Matt Smith to sign a contract for another full series (or not) before they decide exactly what they're going to do.

 

[Sindatur]

The timing of that means series 8 (or 8a if it's still split, though there's no reason for that ATM) would be starting at Easter 2014

It is very vague and interesting that the BBC could officially announce 2014 series for a bunch of other shows this week but not DW.

I really do suspect now that they're waiting on Matt Smith to sign a contract for another full series (or not) before they decide exactly what they're going to do.

No surprise there, S7 is Matt Smith's 3rd Series, so, it wouldn't be a surprise at all, if his tenure is nearing it's end. I'd love to see him stay longer, but, not many have stayed beyond 3 Series (Hartnell just a bit over 3, Pertwee 6 and Tom Baker 7, and then Tennant did the Specials after 3 Series)