I was at Gallifrey One and at an event with Strevens (not the podcast). Strevens said that no one on the production knew what was going to happen to the series. As far as they knew, it was going into hiatus because they had heard nothing about a new production team. He got a courtesy call from someone (not named but from context it wasn't from Chibnall) the day before the RTD deal went public.
Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
- Start date
^ I don't automatically read "cancellation" into a comment like that, and don't really see why anyone would.
Thans for the additional info, BTW.
Thans for the additional info, BTW.
Nowhere do I say "cancellation." I'm just passing on what Strevens said. From their perspective, they were assuming a hiatus because they didn't have word of a new production team by the time they wrapped. Clearly, they weren't privy to all the information.
I know.
I wasn't meaning to infer that your comment about Strevens' comments implied cancellation, and apologize for any confusion.
If anything, the info you shared only supports my skepticism that Strevens' comments implied that the show was on the verge of cancellation.
"Going into hiatus" is a well known BBC euphemism for cancellation, which is why people are interpreting these comments as meaning the show was about to be cancelled.
Well, it is far more common over there for shows to have seasons produced years apart, they haven't historically had the same emphasis on continuous production as U.S. shows, so I actually wouldn't know how to tell the difference between an actual "the show is dead" cancellation versus "the show is on hiatus, and the next season will air in seven years as if there had been no gap at all," if there is a difference at all. Maybe there's some technical or legal thing about the UK system that makes it easier to do what in America would be considered "reboots" or "revivals" or "legacy sequels."
What I'm saying is, I feel like if "Sex and the City" had been a BBC show, "And Just Like That..." would've just been season seven, even if was produced seventeen years after season six. Though, from what I can tell, that did happen with "Rosanne," with the new show initially considered to be the tenth season of the original run, up until it was retooled and retitled.
Putting the semantics to one side, it's kind of worrying that Chibnall was left trying to craft an ending to his and Jodie's time with no idea of what (in anything) was happening next.
If they only found out the day before the rest of us they were halfway through shooting the last episode at that point.
If they only found out the day before the rest of us they were halfway through shooting the last episode at that point.
Yeah, and factoring in that originally, I believe, Legend of the Sea Devils was supposed to be Jodie's final episode I won't be surprised if Sea Devils turns out to be amazing and epic and the centenary episode turns out to be a bit ropey.
From a storytelling perspective, Chibnall might just be trying to break from the "regeneration happens in the TARDIS" angle. Apart from the fake-out regens, all the Doctors from Eccles on have regenerated inside the TARDIS (Smith at least partially, for the actual change to Capaldi). He might just have been bored of it.
I certainly am as well as the insistence of The Doctor having to stand up to regenerate, even if they were already on the ground.
A couple of other interesting tidbits from Gallifrey One. Not necessarily earth shaking but I thought were interesting. The last one is a potential spoiler.
When talking to Jo Martin at a meet and greet, we asked her if she was given any indication where her Doctor falls. She said that Chibnall told her that she is the original Doctor. Not surprising and it's consistent with what we saw onscreen. She's fully aware of the controversary surrounding her Doctor, and she's quick to say she thinks it should be up to everyone to decide for themselves. Someone from the production team recommended she stay off of social media on the day her first episode aired in anticipation of the controversy. She really was a delight. Full of energy and humor. A real pleasure to talk to.
My friend and I also spoke with Mandip Gill at a meet and greet. We said we knew that she couldn't say anything about the Centenary special, but did she think it was a good wrap up for her era? We thought she'd give us the company line about being excited about the finale, the usual PR stuff, etc., but she absolutely froze in this long pause. She never did say what she thought. We both came away worried about it because we got the impression that she was not confident about it. Additionally, we both got an inclination that she'd be back in the RTD era (possibly only for the 60th). Buuut, that's a totally subjective take on our part. She did not say that but there seemed to be hints. For one thing, she indicated she had a conversation with RTD. That tidbit came out by accident in the course of the conversation. Of course, that doesn't mean she'd be in it but there were other subtle things.
Finally, I met Sacha Dhawan there and I told him that I knew he couldn't say anything, but I hoped to see him in one of the upcoming specials, and he . . .
When talking to Jo Martin at a meet and greet, we asked her if she was given any indication where her Doctor falls. She said that Chibnall told her that she is the original Doctor. Not surprising and it's consistent with what we saw onscreen. She's fully aware of the controversary surrounding her Doctor, and she's quick to say she thinks it should be up to everyone to decide for themselves. Someone from the production team recommended she stay off of social media on the day her first episode aired in anticipation of the controversy. She really was a delight. Full of energy and humor. A real pleasure to talk to.
My friend and I also spoke with Mandip Gill at a meet and greet. We said we knew that she couldn't say anything about the Centenary special, but did she think it was a good wrap up for her era? We thought she'd give us the company line about being excited about the finale, the usual PR stuff, etc., but she absolutely froze in this long pause. She never did say what she thought. We both came away worried about it because we got the impression that she was not confident about it. Additionally, we both got an inclination that she'd be back in the RTD era (possibly only for the 60th). Buuut, that's a totally subjective take on our part. She did not say that but there seemed to be hints. For one thing, she indicated she had a conversation with RTD. That tidbit came out by accident in the course of the conversation. Of course, that doesn't mean she'd be in it but there were other subtle things.
Finally, I met Sacha Dhawan there and I told him that I knew he couldn't say anything, but I hoped to see him in one of the upcoming specials, and he . . .
Gave me a big whonking huge wink with a smile. I think his return has already been rumored and is fairly well suspected. After this interaction, I personally have no doubt that he'll be back.
Last edited:
Holy hell, I don't need that argument re-ignited.
Is it? Maybe the first to go by the title Doctor, but we saw the Timeless Child regenerate...a lot.
Didn't I read somewhere that when Stephen Moffat took over the show he was given the option of calling it either season five or season 32?
It was actually going to be Series 1.
Some idiot at the BBC's Marketing department was worried that that higher series numbers would put new viewers off from watching so the plan was to renumber for every new Doctor.
If you look at behind the scenes photos/video the clapperboards read Series 1/Episode X and none of pre -broadcast official PR calls it Series 5.
It might as well have been Series 1, considering how little carried over from the RTD years. New logo, new sets, new cast, new time vortex…
Ughhhhh...I'm glad that didn't happen.
