Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

[DigificWriter]

At this point I have no idea what it's going to take to kill the conspiracy theories and convince certain people to accept the repeatedly-confirmed truth that there will be no new Doctor Who broadcast from October 2022 to November 2023, since said repeated confirmations from multiple official sources clearly don't seem to count as being factual in certain people's minds.

* sigh *

 

[Mr Awe]

^ Man, your life has got to be really rough, bearing that burden and all!

 

[jaime]

At this point I have no idea what it's going to take to kill the conspiracy theories and convince certain people to accept the repeatedly-confirmed truth that there will be no new Doctor Who broadcast from October 2022 to November 2023, since said repeated confirmations from multiple official sources clearly don't seem to count as being factual in certain people's minds.

* sigh *

Remember a few weeks back, when there was ‘David Tennant denies he is coming back’ video doing the rounds? In which he didn’t actually do that, and talked about how people will always say what they like anyway?
Yeah.
He’s coming back. That’s a given. Still hasn’t been announced, but most people have looked at the photos and know that’s the case.
Supposition based on looking at what’s come out… and sometimes being right about it. I’m really nae gonna fash if there’s no Chrimbo special, but it just looks likely.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Tennant conspicuously didn’t deny the claim that he was coming back in that video, which makes for a stark contrast with the BBC unnecessarily putting “to air in 2023” in every announcement about the current filming. If they were actually doing a Christmas special and wanted to keep as mum as possible they would say “to air as part of the show’s upcoming anniversary celebration” or something. They’re specifying 2023 because that it is in fact the calendar year when the currently filming special will air.

Apart from everything else I don’t think they’d want to put the next episode out as quickly as 2-3 months after Whittaker’s finale. Give it time to be the end of an era rather than jumping right into the new/old producer’s time.

 

[Lonemagpie]

2023 starts on January 1st, remember. The Beeb keep hammering home "2023" not "November 2023"
Personally I don't give a shit, but if we're going by rules-lawyering...

 

[DigificWriter]

^ Man, your life has got to be really rough, bearing that burden and all!

I don't like the prospect of having to disconnect myself from the fandom solely because people refuse to believe things that have already been repeatedly confirmed because at that point things have gone from discussion/speculation to conspiracy theory and there's already enough of that in real life.

 

[Tuskin38]

There's been no official confirmation that there won't be anything before November 2023.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Yeah, as I said several posts back there’s nothing ruling out even a New Year’s Day special (RTD is allowed to lie). I don’t personally think it’s what’s happening, but that’s just a hunch.

Not sure it’s “rules-lawyering” to remind folks that the BBC has an obligation to be honest in its official statements, but hey-ho.

 

[DigificWriter]

There's been no official confirmation that there won't be anything before November 2023.

Yes, there has.

Unless you don't think the BBC's announcement of RTD's return and comments directly from RTD himself aren't 'official'.

Which, again, goes back to conspiracy theories.

 

[jaime]

Wasn’t there an official interview put out where Chibnall had a five year plan?
How’d that work out?
Does any of the last few years of stories look like someone planning things that much?
The Beeb said Who wasn’t cancelled in 1989… I mean in hindsight, sure, but at the time? Haha hahahaha.

Rule number one:
Public Relations… lie. At least a little bit.

And no, they won’t announce anything, they are desperately trying not to step on the toes of the incumbent Doctor and Showrunner, but the music is playing and RTDs dancing away inviting the current people to step on the dance floor while Chibnall sulks into his beer. I feel embarrassed for all concerned.

My literal favourite Companion, and the first Companion I remember are coming back in an episode in October… and so little buzz has been made, so little excitement generated, that I am more excited for the return of my *least* favourite companion of the pre-Chibbers modern era than I am for that. Because I have *nothing* to hang on to bar those few seconds.

Not with a bang, but a whimper.

 

[captainkirk]

If there are multiple specials, why do any of them have to be this year? It could be 60th, Christmas 2023, and New Year's 2024. That way, Tennant can go out in a multipart story ending with a New Year's special again.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Wasn’t there an official interview put out where Chibnall had a five year plan?

The BBC had a five-year plan for Doctor Who.

How’d that work out?

Like a lot of things, it ran headlong into COVID.

 

[jaime]

The BBC had a five-year plan for Doctor Who.



Like a lot of things, it ran headlong into COVID.

It ran into COVID before there was COVID. Damn time travel. (Lower episode count, no Xmas specials, and humongous breaks between seasons happened long before Wuhan went viral.)

Was it def the BBC? Because I could have sworn there was a lot of ‘he has this plan for who and…’ stuff around when people first expressed their misgivings.

The only thing the Beeb seemed to have planned without him was Timelord Victorius, and that is seeming less of a crossover event and more of a stealth market research experiment by the day.

 

[jaime]

If there are multiple specials, why do any of them have to be this year? It could be 60th, Christmas 2023, and New Year's 2024. That way, Tennant can go out in a multipart story ending with a New Year's special again.

chronic hysteresis.
All over again.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Again, we get it. You hate Chibnall.

Let it go. If not for our sakes, but for your own.

 

[Tuskin38]

Yes, there has.

Unless you don't think the BBC's announcement of RTD's return and comments directly from RTD himself aren't 'official'.

Which, again, goes back to conspiracy theories.

Where did they say November?

 

[StCoop]

One of the posters they're putting up for set decoration in Bristol is for a circus taking place in December. But the days/dates correspond to 2023 not 2022. So unless they're going back to the early RTD set-up where the present-day episodes were actually one year in the future that's pretty strong evidence.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Yeah, as I said several posts back there’s nothing ruling out even a New Year’s Day special (RTD is allowed to lie). I don’t personally think it’s what’s happening, but that’s just a hunch.

Not sure it’s “rules-lawyering” to remind folks that the BBC has an obligation to be honest in its official statements, but hey-ho.

Nah, I'm rules lawyering by pointing out that "2023" is not the same as "November 2023" And that the official statements don't specify November (except when mentioning the anniversary *date*)

 

[jaime]

Again, we get it. You hate Chibnall.

Let it go. If not for our sakes, but for your own.

Oh, I let it go some time ago, except for humorous sniping. Eighties comics had Thatchos, I have Chibnall.

 

[Mr Awe]

I don't like the prospect of having to disconnect myself from the fandom solely because people refuse to believe things that have already been repeatedly confirmed because at that point things have gone from discussion/speculation to conspiracy theory and there's already enough of that in real life.

Like I said, your burden is enormous! It doesn't get any worse than disconnecting from a fandom because some people on the Internet said things you disagree with. You better go take a lie down.