News RUMOR: Whittaker potentially leaving

[Relayer1]

Time for my heretical view, with which many of you will not agree. The Beeb should probably wrap the whole thing up in the next couple of years and then never commission another series of Doctor Who ever again. I think it's fine having a female Doctor, it's just that I think the pool of story ideas was exhausted long ago and attempts to keep things fresh haven't worked for long if at all - flashes of brilliance and then periods of absolute drivel. We could do with something completely new to obsess about. I'll get my coat...

I'm too invested to want it cancelled, but some better writing and maybe a change in format wouldn't go amiss.

RTD produced more than his share of drivel. More than Moffat to be honest. But also more standout moments (often written somewhat ironically, by Moffat !) and certainly less of a convoluted mess. Swings and roundabouts.

I have no magic bullet, but you're right - it's been back for a long time and most brand new shows have run their course by now. It's got to be tough even trying to keep it fresh.

I'd like to see it go a bit retro - feature older characters a bit more - Romana, Susan, Rani, Jo etc. and maybe even two or three part episodes that could be repackaged as TV movies or miniseries for other markets.

Something to shake things up a bit anyway.

 

[Starkers]

I don't think the pool of ideas is exhausted. The show can literally tell any kind of story; comedy, sci-fi, romance, horror, thriller, murder mystery, war story, action and adventure. It needs a better showrunner and it probably needs a US style writers' room (which I thought Chibnall had said he was going to do but doesn't seem to have.)

Call the Midwife has been running since 2012 and is still incredibly popular despite technically having a far more generic story structure, but it's well written, had good actors and people still love it. See also Silent Witness which has been going since 1996 and again is still incredibly popular.

 

[Relayer1]

I don't think the pool of ideas is exhausted. The show can literally tell any kind of story; comedy, sci-fi, romance, horror, thriller, murder mystery, war story, action and adventure. It needs a better showrunner and it probably needs a US style writers' room (which I thought Chibnall had said he was going to do but doesn't seem to have.)

Call the Midwife has been running since 2012 and is still incredibly popular despite technically having a far more generic story structure, but it's well written, had good actors and people still love it. See also Silent Witness which has been going since 1996 and again is still incredibly popular.

Good points.

 

[Starkers]

Of course sitting on the fence maybe the show' versatility counts against it somewhat. When people tune into Call the Midwife they know what they're going to get (to a point) whereas with Who you don't. Obviously Who is (I imagine) more expensive to produce than CTM which has standing sets etc.

 

[cultcross]

I wouldn't go so far as cancelling the show; the occasional good episodes are worth having as there's no loss to it being on. But it badly needs a shake up behind the scenes, especially in writing. If this story turns out to be accurate, and Whittaker never gets a non Chibnall run season, that would be a real shame. I think she has real potential as the Doctor that has been largely squandered.

 

[cultcross]

By the way, just thought I'd leave this here:

The Mirror is reporting that Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole are leaving with the Holiday Special, while Mandip Gill will continue into the next season.

But I'm not believing that from a tabloid.

 

[Lonemagpie]

It's also that she's done three years of her three year contract, so we're into renegotiation time; are they willing to up her fee enough to doanother season. Tabloid interpretations of that process always throw a spanner in for their own shits and giggles

 

[DigificWriter]

By the way, just thought I'd leave this here:


But I'm not believing that from a tabloid.

There's a big difference here.

Bradley and Tosin weren't on record directly contradicting that report, whereas Jodie is.

 

[cultcross]

Why would she announce her departure during a random interview with the Telegraph? The producers may intend it to be a surprise, but even if not they'll have a proper comms strategy, not just blurt it out in an interview. Actors aren't mandated to answer truthfully in press interviews. You'll notice she also doesn't say "I'm not leaving", she says "I haven't looked at any other roles since getting Doctor Who". Which may well be very true. The same newspaper, by the way, is now reporting she is quitting.

The reporting of her departure may well not be accurate, but the Telegraph interview does nothing to prove that. Here is David Tennant denying he was planning to quit in December 2007. The BBC announced his departure the following year.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ Those are not even remotely similar situations.

People seem really keen to respect the word of a British tabloid over an on-the-record comment from the Doctor herself that stands in direct conflict with the things that said tabloid is claiming.

 

[cultcross]

Out of interest, how would you expect Jodie to answer the interviewers question about staying on, had she, hypothetically, been planning to depart?

 

[Lonemagpie]

Remember this is the same Mirror who announced that both Jodie and Chibbers were leaving after season 12. And that they were being fired after series 11. They're more coincidentally likely to be right this time because it's contract renegotiation time.

 

[DigificWriter]

Out of interest, how would you expect Jodie to answer the interviewers question about staying on, had she, hypothetically, been planning to depart?

I can't read The Telegraph's interview with her because it's behind a subscription wall, but the sense I get from other sites reporting on said interview is that she wasn't asked a direct question about her future, but instead made her comments about the role and her 100% commitment to it as part of a larger conversation covering a wide range of subjects.

 

[cultcross]

Remember this is the same Mirror who announced that both Jodie and Chibbers were leaving after season 12. And that they were being fired after series 11. They're more coincidentally likely to be right this time because it's contract renegotiation time.

How do you know she had a three year contract? Several news pieces say she has refused to answer questions on contract length.

 

[Lonemagpie]

How do you know she had a three year contract? Several news pieces say she has refused to answer questions on contract length.

Because that's the standard.

Also ISTR the Mirror are the ones who announced Kris Marshall as 13 and have been announcing Jodie's departure annually since being proven wrong...

 

[cultcross]

Well as I've said, I'm not saying I completely believe it this time either, but a vague comment in an interview that she "hasn't looked for any other roles" claimed as being an on the record denial (something the BBC have refused to do, incidentally) is hardly conclusive evidence to the contrary.

At the very least enough press editors believe it this time for it to have spread right across the British press including the Telegraph that carried said interview.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ I find The Telegraph's coverage of this to be odd precisely because of their interview with Jodie

 

[cultcross]

They probably don't share your faith that actors doing a lifestyle interview are always entirely open and forthcoming about behind the scenes negotiations.

It'll all come out in the wash anyway, if it's true there will undoubtedly be follow up once every journalist is looking for proof.

Because that's the standard.

Also ISTR the Mirror are the ones who announced Kris Marshall as 13 and have been announcing Jodie's departure annually since being proven wrong...

They're obsessed with the Kris Marshall thing. Technically they never reported he'd been picked, but they certainly fuelled the speculation with a lot of that "this happened at the same sort of time so must be related" and "the bookies say this might happen largely because we put it out there" journalism beloved by tabloids. They've already put his name in for fourteen, too. Don't know who at the Mirror office fancies him quite so much.

 

[valkyrie013]

well they hired John Bishop for a compainion roll with the girl still staying on, so there's that for the new season.
and it is 3 years till the 60th, i highly doubt they'll keep her till then, but it is possible. Tom Baker lasted 7 seasons and 71 hours and change, so it is possible. And Paul McGann lasted 9 years.. and 2 hours on tv..

 

[Marc]

Why would she announce her departure during a random interview with the Telegraph? The producers may intend it to be a surprise, but even if not they'll have a proper comms strategy, not just blurt it out in an interview. Actors aren't mandated to answer truthfully in press interviews. You'll notice she also doesn't say "I'm not leaving", she says "I haven't looked at any other roles since getting Doctor Who". Which may well be very true. The same newspaper, by the way, is now reporting she is quitting.

To further that point in an interview just before the New Year special Jodie denying even thing about leaving the show.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertain...ing-holiday-special/ar-BB1ci5aJ?ocid=msedgdhp

Whittaker is currently shooting the new season of Doctor Who but declines to discuss — or, if the actress is to be believed, even think about — whether she will continue playing the Doctor after that.

"As far as I’m concerned, right now, I'm the Doctor and that’s taking up everything of me, as an actor," she says. "And to think something beyond that, I can’t put my head there, and I don’t want to."