Spoilers Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

[Jayson1]

There's another factor to consider: Streaming. I don't know if those numbers are included in the figures Starkers provided, in fact, I'd wager they aren't as most platforms are squirrely about releasing their numbers. Thanks to streaming, most shows are no longer event viewing for a specific time since streaming allows people to watch the show whenever they want to (or simply can). As a result, those numbers can and will be interpreted differently from broadcast ratings.

If it was a success though their would be no debate about their being a new season. It would be a lock. They would probably even be filming a Christmas special already. I think it's safe to say that the numbers, whatever they are must not be good if they are not bragging about how successful the ratings are and all of that.

 

[DigificWriter]

Some reports have that the budget was tripled.

RTD pretty definitively debunked that notion with the one comment he made.

Isn't the BBC though having some money problems? I mean that is why I assume they hooked up with Disney to begin with.

Disney Plus' primary role was as an International distributor, not a co-financier. Bad Wolf Studios assuming the role of the show's primary production studio (in association with BBC Studios) was the 'cost-offsetting' measure that got implemented in concert with RTD's return.

Also lots of stuff depends on who is in charge. Is the same people in charge of the BBC today as it was back then?

Charlotte Moore remains the BBC's Chief Content Officer and, ultimately, the person who will decide when Doctor Who returns.

To soon. They got find a new showrunner and maybe partner if HBO is part of the process. My guess is we are at least 5 years away from new Who.

Since it returned, Doctor Who has never been off TV screens for longer than 2 years, and there's very little reason to believe that losing Disney Plus as an International distributor is suddenly going to change that.

 

[BillJ]

Since it returned, Doctor Who has never been off TV screens for longer than 2 years, and there's very little reason to believe that losing Disney Plus as an International distributor is suddenly going to change that.

If the numbers are correct, that they’ve lost about half their audience in the UK, losing Disney could be a backbreaker.

 

[DigificWriter]

If Charlotte Moore decided to actually cancel Doctor Who, the cause would be a lack of UK viewership numbers, not the loss of Disney Plus as an International distributor.

There is a chance that the traditional viewership numbers could possibly doom it, but given that the BBC itself is no longer responsible for the actual production and primary financing of the show, and also given the fact that we already have confirmation that it is in fact the current plan to continue the show even without Disney Plus, the actual likelihood of the show not returning at all is low.

 

[BillJ]

If Charlotte Moore decided to actually cancel Doctor Who, the cause would be a lack of UK viewership numbers, not the loss of Disney Plus as an International distributor

It will come down to a crunching of all numbers, that will decide if it is economically viable to move forward. Nothing more, nothing less.

The BBC isn’t in this to lose money. No IP holder is.

 

[jaime]

I think that is part of it. Some might say because they gender and then race switched the Doctor but the ratings were already going down with Capaldi. I think the problem is people just really, really loved Tennant and Matt Smith in the role and they were a big reason for the shows success, They have not been able to recapture the magic they had with both of those guys.

And I think part of the problem is they don’t seem to be trying to, except with the dangled carrot of Tennant in the specials. Within five minutes the headlines were about race-bent Newton, but that could have been overcome if they had landed whatever came next. Ncuti was done for as soon as the Xmas special finished. Space Babies and Devils Chord were just the confirmation that Who wasn’t for general audiences anymore, so off they duly fecked. Which given headlines in yhe Metro (who isn’t for you any more white men) and interviews about touching grass, wasn’t really much of a surprise.

 

[BillJ]

who isn’t for you any more white men

Was someone from the production actually dumb enough to say this or was it a news outlet using division to drive clicks?

 

[BillJ]

Was it this?

Sorry straight white men, Doctor Who was never made just for you

The British sci-fi series has always championed the underdog.

metro.co.uk

I hope folks would realize that is an opinion piece.

 

[DigificWriter]

The BBC isn’t in this to lose money. No IP holder is.

The BBC is not a 'for-profit' entity. They're essentially the UK equivalent of PBS, but get their funding from a mandatory broadcast licensing fee rather than public donations.

 

[BillJ]

The BBC is not a 'for-profit' entity. They're essentially the UK equivalent of PBS, but get their funding from a mandatory broadcast licensing fee rather than public donations.

It doesn’t matter. If they are losing money on Doctor Who, that means pounds that don’t exist for other projects.

 

[DigificWriter]

It doesn’t matter. If they are losing money on Doctor Who, that means pounds that don’t exist for other projects.

Unless I'm grossly mistaken, it's virtually impossible for the BBC to 'lose money' on anything because of the way that they're funded.

In the case of Doctor Who, specifically, though, the BBC would have to decide that it's no longer worth it to allocate whatever amount of money to its production that isn't provided by Bad Wolf Studios, but I don't think that's actually that much of a concern.

 

[BillJ]

Anyone know when the spinoff is supposed to air? Its performance will probably have some bearing on the future of the franchise.

 

[jaime]

Was it this?

Sorry straight white men, Doctor Who was never made just for you

The British sci-fi series has always championed the underdog.

metro.co.uk

I hope folks would realize that is an opinion piece.

Yup, that’s the one.
Terrible headline on an article that’s taking a sort of… adversarial approach to what really should be about saying ‘hey look, it was like this when you liked it too!’ but instead they ran with that headline. (And I think it was originally more full on, and the ‘just you’ was edited in.)

It really didn’t help. Joe Public isn’t necessarily going to read far into that at the end of the day, and it’s the kind of thing that in the old days a production team is going to want to counter.

Instead there was sort of internecine warfare between fans, same in the press (as you see here) and interviews with cast that were really digging into that culture war trench.

None of which is good for growing or keeping a fan base.

Consider how back in the day Captain Jack was alright to go and head up a whole spin off of Torchwood.

Part of that is how attitudes have changed, and how culture warsy things have got of late, but also it’s about how the show and cast itself handled things at that time. That article itself makes out as though there was this problem and that problem, but those are all being looked at retrospectively. At the time there was way less noise than is suggested — certainly any problems with Freema weren’t exactly in the public or even much with fans at the time. (Her biggest problem faced with fans and RTD it seems was not being Rose…)

Problem was, this time round, it was being presented and promoted as very adversarial, which gets you click bait, but doesn’t get you viewers. (Jinx Monsoon and their interview claiming that there were legions of drag fans waiting to take up viewership and fandom for everyone that didn’t like Devils Chord springs to mind.)

 

[DigificWriter]

I just did some research, and according to what information I could currently find, Doctor Who's total production budget is/was between 10 and 13 million Pounds, most of which is likely now coming from Bad Wolf Studios' coffers.

Can anybody name another Dramatic series that costs less than 8 thousand per episode to make?

 

[David cgc]

I just did some research, and according to what information I could currently find, Doctor Who's total production budget is/was between 10 and 13 million Pounds, most of which is likely now coming from Bad Wolf Studios' coffers.

Can anybody name another Dramatic series that costs less than 8 thousand per episode to make?

Eight thousand an episode? You're misinterpreting something, that wouldn't cover payroll alone for two people.

 

[jaime]

It was between 10 and 13 million a season years ago. Who is generally around one and a bit million per episode these days basically. With the Disney deal I can see that going to maybe 2-3m per episode, but production costs are also higher, because of the 4K UHD for effects work and camera rentals.

Marketing is separate, and is cheap enough they tried using AI and got blasted for it.

I vaguely remember when Matt Smith became the Doctor is was a big enough payday that they gave him a Coutts bank account according to some news story, but (a) that may have been nonsense or I am misremembering and (b) Tennant *was* on big bucks after staying around a bit.

It’s not like the old days, when the Doctor role was decent money, but not going to make you rich by any stretch. I can also imagine that the payday for Ncuti was decidedly *not* going to be opening a Coutts account, as his profile is (despite media reporting) fairly low key, and the show itself is not what it was back then. I also would not be remotely surprised if each Doctor since Tennant has got a lower pay packet. (The role is a bit like public service… shit pay, but better pension prospects. In this case, convention circuit, Big Finish, and a higher profile for a bit) Capaldi would be willing to not take home the moolah, as it was in part a labour of love for him, and he’s pretty successful. (Saying that, his costumes were v. Expensive indeed.) Jodie and Ncuti? Not even TV A-List, so smaller pay. (You could tell me Bradley Walsh was on a better deal and I would believe you) Tennant? Sure, love, favour — but I bet he was expensive as feck too, even at mates rates.

 

[Chaos Descending]

I just did some research, and according to what information I could currently find, Doctor Who's total production budget is/was between 10 and 13 million Pounds, most of which is likely now coming from Bad Wolf Studios' coffers.

Can anybody name another Dramatic series that costs less than 8 thousand per episode to make?

It's been about 30 years since I last took economics, calculus, and statistics, but from what I can remember, the probability of those numbers being anything close to the correct budget for Doctor Who in 2025 approaches zero.

 

[DigificWriter]

If the information I found is outdated, I retract it.

I tried to find up-to-date information.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I just did some research, and according to what information I could currently find, Doctor Who's total production budget is/was between 10 and 13 million Pounds, most of which is likely now coming from Bad Wolf Studios' coffers.

That was the budget of the RTD1 era. Torchwood was a bit less, like about half.

As an aside, that's also about what BBC Worldwide was asking from American networks to broadcast the Eccleston series. (The number I've heard floated was $15 million.) The ended up settling with SyFy almost a year later at about 10 percent of that, 100k an episode.

 

[BillJ]

Unless I'm grossly mistaken, it's virtually impossible for the BBC to 'lose money' on anything because of the way that they're funded.

BBC Posts Income of $7.2 Billion, but Frozen License Fee, High Operating Costs Cause Deficit

The BBC has posted a record income of $7.2 billion, but is in deficit thanks to a frozen license fee and high operating costs.

variety.com

The BBC has posted a record income of £5.7 billion ($7.2 billion) for the 2022/23 period, up from £5.33 billion last year, but is in deficit by £120 million.

This is from the 2023/2024 report from the BBC, which you can download...

In December, the Government restored a link to inflation on the licence fee after two years of no increases. It certainly brought more financial certainty, but the rise was less than anticipated. It is an outcome that requires the BBC to make still further changes on top of the major savings we have already been delivering.

As the Board noted at the time, the BBC’s content budgets are now impacted, which in turn will have a significant impact on the wider creative sector across the UK.