Series 5 to be shown in two halves?

[Savage Jaw]

This has been rumoured before, because of the fact that next year there will be a World Cup on when part of Doctor Who usually airs, but this time there is possibly some extra credence to this, as Richard Curtis, who was recently revealed as one of the Series 5 writers, has suggested in an interview that he thinks his episode will be shown in February. He did say thinks, so nothing is definite yet, and Curtis may have misunderstood what the BBC's intentions are, or if it is true, the BBC may change their plans.

Interview with Richard Curtis: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8244450.stm

I think this could well happen because, by February, it is possible for around 5 or 6 episodes to be fully completed and ready for broadcast.

The last time Doctor Who was shown during a World Cup back in 2006, it did rather well ratings wise, so why they need to bother with this now, who knows?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

An early broadcast makes a lot of sense, but not for World Cup reasons.

Rather, it makes sense because the series has been off the air, except for a few specials, for eighteen months by February. Broadcasting the new season early not only capitalizes in the audience interest after the regeneration, but it also says to the audience, "No, Doctor Who hasn't gone away."

 

[The Nth Doctor]

If this is true and there's a split, there is the consolation that the season starts earlier which is a fair compromise for me.

 

[The Badger]

Might also give the production team the chance to see how the audience react to young Smithy, and possibly make changes for the later episodes.

 

[Cutter John]

Pretty much what Emh said. Aren't a lot of BBC series only six episodes long anyway?

So how long is this World Cup thing supposed to last?

 

[StCoop]

So how long is this World Cup thing supposed to last?

"This World Cup thing."
Bloody ignorant Americans!

Anyway... given that they didn't start by having to shoot an Xmas episode they're already a month ahead of where they normally would be and they don't appear to be shooting in anything resembling transmission order, so it'd be possible for his episode to air in Februrary with no need of a split series.

 

[Worf2DS9]

If they do split it, they just better not take a page from the BSG way of doing things and split the DVD sets too. That just sucks!

 

[Shazam!]

I wish they'd show Doctor Who in the winter. Airing the show Springtime/early Summer is mental when it's sunny outside and all the kids are playing out and everyone else is having a BBQ or something.

It should be watched in the dark with the curtains drawn. That's how I remember it from when I was a kid.

 

[Snick27]

Speaking of the World Cup, that Soccer right, so how many teams join in and how long does it last. Im sure i was told this before, but its been awhile.

Hope they dont break it up though, been missing this show too much.

 

[Cutter John]

So how long is this World Cup thing supposed to last?

"This World Cup thing."
Bloody ignorant Americans!

Awww, cut me some slack. I'm just not a 'sports person'.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Speaking of the World Cup, that Soccer right, so how many teams join in and how long does it last. Im sure i was told this before, but its been awhile.

Hope they dont break it up though, been missing this show too much.

Indeed, we are talking about football. The 2010 World Cup takes place between 11 June and 11 July in South Africa next year, with 32 national teams taking part.

 

[Skywalker]

So how long is this World Cup thing supposed to last?

"This World Cup thing."
Bloody ignorant Americans!

Hey, I'm an American and I'm really looking forward to the World Cup. I'm hoping that Team USA will do a lot better in South Africa than they did in Germany.

That said, I'm all for a split season if it means getting new Who a few months early.

 

[captcalhoun]

if it does start in February, it's more likely that it's going to just from Feb for the 13 weeks.

 

[Starkers]

Yeah I reckon it'll be a Feb start and well finished before the World cup. Makes sense really. The Beeb have Who early doors, footy over the summer, then Strictly come the autumn

I hate the idea of a split season. We've had to put up with a truncated Who this year, I just want a full run again next.

I guess it depends when it starts in Feb but assuming it's the last saturday they can show it all by mid May which would actually fit in quite well with the World Cup starting in June.

 

[Timofnine]

I'd love for all of season 5 to be shown from February onwards... it's still dark outside so the kids will love it (and I will! ). Also as a bonus, we get to see the new series earlier then usual!

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm a big football fan (Go Manchester United!) and looking forward to both Doctor Who and The World Cup. If I recall correctly the third series of Doctor Who was delayed being shown here in Canada because of CBC's commitment to Euro 2008. Space doesn't have that problem. I wonder if Canada will get the full series? Probably not.

 

[diankra]

The World Cup really has no impact on how Who runs; the actual tournament runs for a bit over two weeks, but when it overlapped with the end of the 2006 Who season, it had no effect on the Who schedule (the closest it came was the commentator on the World Cup Final reading out an announcement that the Doctor Who finale would start on time later that evening whatever happened!).
Doesn't mean that the split season/early start rumours are groundless, of course, but the Beeb won't have to split the season to fit round the football, at least to judge by last time.

 

[23skidoo]

The only concern I have regarding a split season is the likelihood of a "double dip" on the DVD release later. As it is, we don't know if the specials will be released in a box set (due to, in part, this ill-informed notion that SD and HD cannot mix in the same set, and I do consider The Next Doctor to be one of the specials). I'd hate for the first 6 episodes to come out in an expensive box and then have to buy another expensive box for the second 6 or 7 or however many later.

I don't see the sense of it, frankly. If the season was a US style 22 or 24-episode season, then splitting would be feasible. But it's only 13, so why bother? If they're concerned about scheduling they can always do what they're doing with Sarah Jane and run a couple back to back (and when they did this back in the Davison era it actually paid dividends on the ratings). Alternately, they could do something cool like take a two-parter and make it a 2-hour movie event.

Alex

 

[Tulin]

I said it before when this happened - DW should be shown around June because that is winter in Australia and DW is a winter series. I love curling up on a cold winter night and watching me some DW.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

The World Cup really has no impact on how Who runs; the actual tournament runs for a bit over two weeks, but when it overlapped with the end of the 2006 Who season, it had no effect on the Who schedule (the closest it came was the commentator on the World Cup Final reading out an announcement that the Doctor Who finale would start on time later that evening whatever happened!).
Doesn't mean that the split season/early start rumours are groundless, of course, but the Beeb won't have to split the season to fit round the football, at least to judge by last time.

If I remember rightly, Doomsday was on before the 3rd/4th place off between Germany and Brazil. I don't think the show was affected at all by the World Cup last time.