Which falls within the bounds of adjusting for the actor as Brendan Moody referred to.
Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
- Start date
A lot of Doctor Who scripts going back to the Classic Era have been commissioned and/or written before a new Doctor has been cast; that's just how the show operates.
Each Script Editor or Showrunner tweaks and adjusts things based on how each new actor ends up portraying the character, but a situation where the new Doctor had their initial scripts specifically written for them from scratch following their casting is actually the exception rather than the rule.
Each Script Editor or Showrunner tweaks and adjusts things based on how each new actor ends up portraying the character, but a situation where the new Doctor had their initial scripts specifically written for them from scratch following their casting is actually the exception rather than the rule.
Isn't that part of the reason the Doctor's opening episode is usually filmed later in the block, so they can make a more definitive first impression and slipping the episodes where they're all finding the Doctor's voice into the middle of the season where the audience can do some of the lifting of understanding how this Doctor is different from all other Doctors.
In the classic era that only happened for Davison, I think. It’s not usual.
That's more about the actor's familiarity with the role than being able to make script adjustments. Even then, Eccleston and Tennant both filmed their first episodes in their first block, so they didn't get the benefit of that. Smith did, don't know about Capaldi or Whittaker.
Capaldi actually did film his first episode first. Indeed, his first day of filming was spent wearing Smith's costume, which when you consider there's only one scene in the episode where Capaldi is wearing that outfit seems to imply they spent an entire day filming that one scene.
Smith is the only modern Doctor whose first episode was recorded noticeably late in production (and it was specifically done so he and Gillian could be more familiar with their roles); the other four all did their first episode as part of their first block of filming. The production blocks tend to be built around logistics of sets or guest casts rather than more abstract creative concerns.
Has that been announced? I must've missed it.
Thanks!It's on the CV of the episode's director as being the Easter Special.
Which makes sense considering "Planet of the Dead" aired on Easter Saturday during 2009's year of specials.
It certainly will be nice to have Doctor Who back on Easter weekend, even if just for a special.
Yeah, I still miss when Easter premieres were a thing.
Yeah, I still miss when Easter premieres were a thing.
I think that airing Legend of the Sea Devils on Easter Sunday is more about making Doctor Who 'appointment Holiday viewing' than it is about anything else.
Makes perfect sense, if you have a standalone episode of Dr Who then Easter was always the best place to put it. I always hated that Waters of Mars just dropped on a random Sunday. I'm sure there was a reason but it would have surely made more sense to drop on Halloween (especially as Halloween was a Saturday that year).
At the Galifrey One convention last weekend Producer Matt Stevens revealed that after Chibnall said he was leaving the BBC were going to put the show on "hiatus" (and we know what that really means).
Then they lost two episodes from Flux and the original plans had to be changed. (They weren't counting the Specials in the eight originally announced.)
Then the BBC asked them for an extra episode for their Centenary but the show was still cancelled, sorry, on hiatus after that, so plans changed again.
And then suddenly the BBC had signed a multi-series deal with Bad Wolf so plans had to be changed yet again.
Then they lost two episodes from Flux and the original plans had to be changed. (They weren't counting the Specials in the eight originally announced.)
Then the BBC asked them for an extra episode for their Centenary but the show was still cancelled, sorry, on hiatus after that, so plans changed again.
And then suddenly the BBC had signed a multi-series deal with Bad Wolf so plans had to be changed yet again.
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It's weird isn't it? I wonder what happened? Did RTD basically come along and badger the BBC into the deal with Bad Wolf with him returning as showrunner I wonder? Has RTD in fact saved Doctor Who again? (and I still wonder if one day we won't discover that if Moffat had walked away much earlier than he did we might have again been looking at a "hiatus".)
From the sounds of it none of the people currently making the series knew anything about it until it was a done deal.
(It looks like poor old JMS never had a chance at the job.)
