Ahhhh thats nice,I hope alot is raised!!!!

Re: Doctor Who
 

Should be renamed Doctor Woke.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall to leave Doctor Who in a trio of Specials, culminating in an epic blockbuster Special to air in autumn 2022 as part of the BBC’s Centenary celebrations.

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news/?artic...e-doctor-who#_

Re: Doctor Who
 

Without a shadow of doubt the next Dr will be a person of colour. Time to decolonise the Dr.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Never been the same since William Hartnell. He was Black and White. Sorted.

Re: Doctor Who
 

and [more] gay, and disabled, they have to tick all the boxes now. :rolleyes:

Double bonus for the moment anyway, the awful Whittaker leaving.
Plus now he's just about ruined it, Chibnall as well. Good riddance, but too late.

Season 13 is getting shorter - from 10 to 8, and now from 8 to 6 episodes.
Remember the days when it was 13, or 12 ........ when it was worth watching.
[ Season 12 had the lowest ever viewing figures since its reboot ]

What was episode 7 & 8 are now "specials", and wow ... they added another special (real bonus after taking away the episodes to start with). :dunce:

Still, with its ever decreasing viewership, the ever decreasing episodes count is not a surprise. The original series got canned as it declined.

Season 13 is probably the season Ive least anticipated, or cared about.
At one time I (actually we, my wife liked it as well) would eagerly await it Saturday evening.
That died off when Jodie took over (my wife doesnt care for her either), and even more so when it moved to Sunday.

We'll watch them of course, just to see how it progresses, but Im not expecting much.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Well even before Whittaker was announced Richard Ayoade was always someone linked with the role so maybe they'll go after him this time, the fact it will annoy people is just an added bonus.

Re: Doctor Who
 

I could see that, something very Tom Baker about him (not just curly hair !)

Re: Doctor Who
 

Well they have Jo Martin as the Doctor already so they ticked that box already.

Re: Doctor Who
 

What they need more than anything is a better showrunner who can decide what they want to do and employ better writers. They need to stop this lazy, pedestrian, writing style that feels like they're just churning out the episodes without much inspiration.

Just get writers to tell good stories. Less worldbuilding, less focus on defining the Doctor, and more focus on single one-off stories that are compelling.

Re: Doctor Who
 

They could always bring back Noel Clarke, oh yeah perhaps not...

---------- Post added at 21:27 ---------- Previous post was at 21:26 ----------

Or just mothball it again for a couple of decades, it did wonders for it last time round

Re: Doctor Who
 

Maybe they could do a proper reboot. The whole thing seems too convoluted now and it seems each new showrunner gets to spin it off into another direction. I am not a big Doctor Who fan who knows all the lore but it's never felt to me that it has a particularly well-thought-out canon.

I don't really know what the BBC want it to be another than schedule-filler. They could allow someone to come in and reset the tone, chuck out whatever crap from the canon they no longer need and reinvent the show for how television has changed since 2005.

Re: Doctor Who
 

What they need to do is hire a decent showrunner and not a fanboi. It's worked in the past but recently they have just come out with crazy ideas just because it's what they want in the show.

Re: Doctor Who
 

We'll see what comes of this:


https://news.sky.com/story/doctor-wh...taker-12377036

Re: Doctor Who
 

I cant say im familiar with him, but hes bound to be an improvement.

Re: Doctor Who
 

He's already been in Doctor Who - sort of.

He was the voice of 'House'.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Michael Sheen is a great actor. He does a particularly good Tony Blair. However I suspect the only reason he’s topping a poll that’s bound to have been mobbed by Who fans is that he has made two series of a show called Staged with David Tennant, which means a lot of Who fans will have watched it. The first series of Staged was mostly (entirely?) made via webcam during the first lockdown.

Re: Doctor Who
 

you'll recognise him if you see his face. He has played a few major roles in movies and was in that Amazon series about angels which everyone raved about last year or the year before.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Also with David Tennant. So basically the Who fans want him because they think he’s already best mates with the Doctor.

Re: Doctor Who
 

He was brilliant as Brian clough and David Frost to

Re: Doctor Who
 

According to Broadcast, Bad Wolf are back in as co-producer for next year. Russell T to save the day again?

Re: Doctor Who
 

Nobody at the BBC will admit it but the only reason you’d go back to the man who successfully revived the show is if you think it needs revived again, which it clearly does. From 2023 we need a regular format and scheduling, more emphasis on adventures in time and space and rather less fannying about with the show’s mythology.

Re: Doctor Who
 

BBC News - Doctor Who: Russell T Davies returns as programme showrunner
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-58682472
I'm glad he is returning. Totally out of the blue as well. No rumours or rumblings. Hope he picks a decent actor for the 14th Doctor.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Adds to the existing rumours that Olly Alexander might return since Russell T Davies has worked with him before and specifically mentioned he could be the Doctor.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Excellent news that

Re: Doctor Who
 

Hmmmm, Im undecided.

He did a lot right to start with, but then went off on his own agenda, and somewhat ruined a good start.

I guess we'll see how this pans out, another series of preaching to me will see a lot of skipped episodes.

The programme doesnt excite me as it did with David Tennant / Rose, or Matt Smith / Amy.

(or much further back, Jon Pertwee & Sarah Jane/Jo Grant).

Re: Doctor Who
 

The combination of RTD and Mark Gatiss always delivered. Hey, I may even start watching it again.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Season 13 (6 episodes) starts on October 31st, the first special will be on New Years Day (2022).

The other two specials will be in the Spring and Autumn of next year.

I wish I could say Im excited, but Im not.
I wish I was upset its only 6 episodes, and three specials, for pretty much the next 2 years, but Im not.

I'll watch them (or at least try to) but my interest is now pretty .... meh.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Well we watched episode 1 last night.

No idea what was going on half the time .....

Re: Doctor Who
 

They’ve gone for a fully serialised, season-long story for the first time ever. There was a ton of stuff for them to set up and little that was likely to be resolved in the first 50 minutes.

Family all really enjoyed it here - there isn’t much that will keep all five of us in the living room for an hour any more but this did.

And the weeping angels are still the best monster to emerge in the new era. :D

Re: Doctor Who
 

It was crap-bloody dog's with spaceships, the writer should be hung:td:

Re: Doctor Who
 

Why in a show about an alien that travels in a police box where we've had alien spiders and all sorts is a dog alien with a spaceship so hard to believe?

I thought it was fantastic and of course so hard to review after 1 episode. Would be like calling Harry Potter rubbish after only reading the 1st chapter.

They had a lot to set up and over the next 5 weeks we will get everything resolved.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Knowing this was going to be a long running story line I purposely recorded this first episode and we will watch the first two episodes back to back and hopefully things will be easier to follow.

Re: Doctor Who
 

I saw a great comment on another site : ".. its no longer Doctor Who, its Doctor WTF" :D

Re: Doctor Who
 

That's you thrown out of anorak club. 1986 - 'Trial of a Timelord' .. ;)

Re: Doctor Who
 

… which, although presented in the titles as episodes 1 to 14, is actually four discrete adventures with courtroom scenes acting as links and narration. ;). In BBC parlance, each adventure has a separate production code and was treated as a separate story for production purposes, with different script writers and directors.

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten it, I was there. :D. But it really isn’t the same as what they’re doing now, which is just one single adventure from beginning to end.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Have to say first one l have enjoyed for a long time . Really rate " don't blink "as the best one l can recall. Only watched William Hartnell from behind the sofa !

Re: Doctor Who
 

Well, I'm glad someone else is taking over.
Tonight was just more utterly confusing nonsense, I have no clue WTF is going on. :td:
After warching tonights, my wife looked at me and asked if I understood any of it ... I didnt, neither did she.

Re: Doctor Who
 

I guess being the 3rd episode in a 6 part story arc they are going for the long play and waiting till the last episode or two to resolve a lot of the plot points.

However much of this did make sense but being in the time storm made some bit hard to follow. It's starting to sound like the weeping Angels may have a bigger part to play. Although from the trailers we've still not seen the Ood yet and next week is mostly Angel focused along with the girl we saw in the first episode.

Re: Doctor Who
 

It never got any better.

A vastly over complicated, confusing mess.

and Daleks + Cybermen falling for such an obvious trick, it would never happen.

Thank god Chibnall and Whittaker are leaving.
His ridiculous stories, and her awful doctor, have ruined a once excellent show.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Well to be fair to the Daleks and Cybermen there were desperate to escape the Flux so would have done anything to ensure their safety.

I thought it did a good job of telling a story and covering all the strands they revealed in the first couple of episodes. Lots of timey whimey typical Doctor stuff really.

Re: Doctor Who
 

The viewing figures tell it all really.
They are the worst for any of the "new" seasons.
The worst season premier figure ever & the worst average for any season (Eps 1 - 4).

Episode 4 was over 20% down on that bad start.
Episodes 3 & 4 are the worst figures ever for any episode or special since the 2005 restart.
The preliminary figures for Episode 5 look even worse (and obviously none for episode 6 yet).

Its just bad (and sad).

Re: Doctor Who
 

I quite liked Flux. Ch1 and 2 were reasonable, Ch3 was awful, Ch4 & 5 were pretty good and Ch6 was good (but slight dip from 4/5).

Unfortunately they probably messed up any Prof Jericho spin-off, though they could do some timey-wimey technobabble as there was a glow that doesn't have to be the Flux if they don't want it to be. Vinder and the other 2 in a ship was like a spin-off setup and future possible companions or other reappearances.

The dialogue Jodie has had, mostly in previous series, has been the biggest problem. It was decidedly iffy, and there was little anyone in her position could have done with it. The dialogue wasn't as ropey in Flux. My gut suspects Jodie would've done better under any of the previous showrunners. Chibnall doesn't have the Children's TV background of RTD and it didn't feel to me he could write story and dialogue that suits a family audience, even Moffat had more experience with younger audience (Press Gang) and variety in CV (he did Coupling).

Re: Doctor Who
 

I thought it was shocking. A lot of pointless sub plots, story was a mess too. He tried to be too smart for his own good and he totally failed.

I just hope RTD improves the show to what it once was.

Re: Doctor Who
 

The New Year special was ok ... ish.

Just watched them spoil my memories of the Seas Devils tonight, in another poor story.

The best part was the trailer for her long overdue departure in the Autumn.
Its going to have Ace :) I loved her as a companion, I hope they dont ruin that memory as well.

Re: Doctor Who
 

I am sure they will. Everybody (apart from me) has done nothing but moan about Dr Who for the last couple of years so i can't imagine it will be any different going forward.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Not just Ace but Tegan is back also. Amazing.

Re: Doctor Who
 

I gave up round about Ecclestone/David Tennant.It went downhill after that.Not watched it since.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Chibnall can’t write for families. That much is now abundantly clear. The story ideas in last night’s episode were great but there was far too much going on for the running time. It’s as if he plotted out an entire season of Broadchurch proportions then had to condense it into 50 minutes. Then, he assumes he has to tell the kids what’s going on rather than showing them and letting them think and engage with the story, so the script is saddled with huge amounts of repetitive, expository dialogue. The Doctor basically becomes the narrator.

I think Jodie has done a superb job. She is undoubtedly the Doctor, which was no small feat for the first female actor to play the role after more than 50 years. But, through no fault of her own, her era isn’t going to shine among the greats.

Re: Doctor Who
 

I binned it at Peter Calpadi, He could, and should have, been a great Dr. But the scripts and stories were dire.

Then Jodie Whittaker, Well we had to take a big run up to jump that shark. Call me whatever you want, but she is not the Doctor…….in my opinion.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Jodie Whittaker was a PC/Woke choice, a large number of her early stories have been PC/Woke based - that did die off somewhat until the recent specials when they [of course] had to go for the whole lesbian theme with Yaz.

The stories themselve just got more ludicrous - the whole Flux thing, which was almost incomprehensible, and the Timeless Child nonsense. Chibnall has managed to destroy in 4 years what was built up over the previous 12. When I look back at so many of the amazing episodes (esp with Tennant and Smith) its sad how low its fallen.

Re: Doctor Who
 

The series since the revival has been 'woke' in that it was fairly good at being agnostic around sex and gender (and species) along with dealing with many other issues in a way that worked. When the main character is a 900 old Time Lord (potentially) flirting with a sentient tree, then issues around sex, gender or race aren't that difficult if you know what you're doing as a showrunner.

Where the Chibnall series has fallen down is removing all subtlety about the issues they're trying to deal with - but that is true for all the stories. It's been so much 'tell not show' that it doesn't let people make their own mind up about the issues.

Unfortunately I think that is true no matter what gender The Doctor was or who was playing them.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Had no interest in it since Tennant left.

From what I've read over the years I haven't missed anything entertaining

Re: Doctor Who
 

I think shows just run of steam eventually. There is only so much you can do and before long the writers' are writing with less passion and creativity and instead are just monotonous slogging through scripts. It's obvious when a show has writers who are excited by what they're doing and when they're just doing a job.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Isn't that why DW has survived though? You can change the lead characters, writers, stories from week to week, or total direction if the programme. No other series has such flexibility.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Stargate is the perfect example for that. Literally every person you speak to who was involved in the production at any level will tell you what an amazing job it was to have and how much they loved it and the writers are no exception. It is a joy listening to them go through their stories, creative process and memories of their experience.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Re: Doctor Who
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61371123. New doctor who actor announced.. a solid refresh.

Re: Doctor Who
 

My kids are delighted, they love him in Sex Education

Re: Doctor Who
 

I guess a black Doctor was inevitable

Re: Doctor Who
 

Why not? A good actor with good scripts. Don't care what colour or gender they are.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Good scripts and Doctor Who do not go together hahaha

Re: Doctor Who
 

We already have one. If it was inevitable it was down to statistics, not positive discrimination.

https://www.cableforum.uk/images/local/2022/05/4.jpg

Re: Doctor Who
 

Yep, they have to tick all those boxes these days, probably gay as well. :sleep:

Still, its pretty hard for anyone to be worse than the current one, so hopefully he will improve things.

Personally I've never heard of him, so looked him up.
Quite a youngster (29) and basically starred in one TV show (on Netflix).

I have no idea how you pronounce his name.

Re: Doctor Who
 

You are behind the times. I am upgrading him to non-binary. That way they can have an episode dedicated to the use of pronouns and how we all feel when we arent addressed in the correct manner.

Re: Doctor Who
 

heaven forbid if a Dalek calls them he

Re: Doctor Who
 

Matt Smith was three years younger when he started as The Doctor and Peter Davison was around the same age.

Re: Doctor Who
 

It was either him or some Trans person.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Does his colour or gender really matter?

RTD possibly chose him for his acting talent but all anyone seems to see is oh he isn't a white male blah blah blah.

Re: Doctor Who
 

that means he is nice and cheap and will be doing this as a high profile performance to boost his career (or sink it)

Re: Doctor Who
 

That show has been nominated for a number of Baftas over its 3 season, so an actor in a show that's highly acclaimed may not be that cheap, especially if a multi year contract is signed for a 60 year old much loved show.

Re: Doctor Who
 

We'll see. Does the BBC still have to publish a list of everyone who gets paid more than £250,000?

Re: Doctor Who
 

To the BBC ? Absolutely.

White males wasted their time if they applied, they had no chance, they dont tick the current PC/Woke boxes.

I'm sure its entirely coincidence that they choose a woman last time, and a gay black guy this time - not to mention they threw a black woman [only] into the timeless madness [that completely broke his/her/its entire backstory] as well as turning a companian lesbian. No agenda or PC/wokeness in any of it (or sleghammered into the stories either). :dunce:

Re: Doctor Who
 

The next Doctor will probably be a black disabled female with testicles.

Re: Doctor Who
 

I am going for middle eastern non-binary

Re: Doctor Who
 

If this one turns out as bad as the last one, Im going for "Cancelled".

Re: Doctor Who
 

It's not going to happen. There are too many people who think it is infallible and it is very popular with the Americans. The problem i have with Dr Who is that it can be completely shit and people will still watch it and they'll keep making it. It is compounded by the fact that it is the BBC (and tv license) so there is no accountability and they can make/do whatever they want and dont have to worry about losing money. It makes no difference to them whether anyone watches it or not.

Re: Doctor Who
 

That's not how the BBC operate. They still want to make money and for their shows to be a success. Currently it's not doing well in the US. Viewing figures have been terrible, much like here in the UK.

If they feel it's doing bad then they will cancel it. They did it before. By the time Who ended in 89 its budget was so small and they really didn't care about it. If RTD can't get back some of its circa 2010-2015 popularity then it may not be around for too much longer.

Re: Doctor Who
 

I don't know whether this is US or UK viewers. I have checked several websites which corroborate the data however none of them say whether they are US or UK figures or global total. I would assume they are UK viewing figures.

Re: Doctor Who
 

That's definitely UK figures.

Re: Doctor Who
 

From memory these look right for UK figures.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Tom Baker and David Tenant the stand outs.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Looking at it very broadly since the series came back in 2005 you are looking at the high 7m if not 8m as an average and it is on the last two seasons that it has dropped to around 5m. The optimists may say it is a pandemic related drop so we'll have to see if the trend continues with the next season. You would like to think they have taken the hint with the declining viewers and listened to everyone's feedback but I think these types of producers and writers like to double down (Supergirl, Discovery and Grey's Anatomy are prime examples) and dig their own grave and just keep going until the series get's cancelled. T

Re: Doctor Who
 

If it was pandemic related surely the figures would be higher as everyone was at home.

Re: Doctor Who
 

I agree but i am just giving you the excuse the BBC spin doctor will give so they dont have to acknowledge there is a problem and can brush it aside.

Re: Doctor Who
 

I’m not sure you can put it down to any one thing. There are doubtless some who object to a female Doctor. There will be others who object to clumsily-grafted equality and diversity-type material (though it’s debatable whether Chibnall has really done any more of that than anyone else involved since 2005]. If there’s one major factor influencing the decline it’s that the stories just aren’t as good. That, after all, is what casual viewers stick around for.

Chris Chibnall can’t write for kids. He thinks he has to constantly explain what’s going on, so huge amounts of the dialogue become narrative. He conceives stories that aren’t going to fit in the allotted time and so ends up telling them in shorthand. Some of the jumps ahead in the action the other week were ridiculous.

Back in the classic era the BBC used to assign an available staff producer to run the show for a few years at a time. These guys were just BBC men making BBC shows. Sure there were variations but classic Who is overwhelmingly consistent in its production style and storytelling from 1963-1989, varying more with the fashions of the time than with the style of the producer. In the new era, the lead producer firstly isn’t an in-house BBC appointee, and secondly as “show runner” they don’t do precisely the same job as the classic producer did. Now, they do much of what the classic show’s script editor would have done, as well as writing a significant portion of the material directly. There is much greater variation between RTD, Moffat and Chibnall Who as a result. That explains why the show can have taken such a nose-dive over the past 3 years despite being run by a BAFTA-nominated writer. The production environment relies heavily on the skills of the lead producer and in this case the lead producer doesn’t know how to write child-friendly sci-fi-fantasy as well as he knows how to write gritty, brooding crime drama.

The light at the end of the tunnel here is that the incoming show runner is RTD whose skill in this area, and affection for the show, is unparalleled. Furthermore, the BBC, for the first time ever, has contracted out the show to an independent production company, run by RTD. This means he is free to exert influence while not needing to be as tied down by it as he was in his original run and should give him the freedom to oversee production while letting other get their hands on. In other words his influence may be slightly lessened but he’s likely to stick around a lot longer. Which, I think, is a very good thing.

Incidentally, I will make one prediction about the new era: RTD might appeal to the “unreliable narrator” mode of film storytelling, and ask us all to remember exactly who it was who filled us all in on the Doctor’s backstory … before eventually rowing a lot of it back.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Re: Doctor Who
 

Also announced were David Tennent and Catherine Tate returning as The Doctor and Donna as well as Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott.

60th is already shaping up to be cool.

Re: Doctor Who
 

Who is a “trans” person, or will play a trans person ….who knows. Shark jumped.

I won’t be tuning in.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/...trans-26981287

Re: Doctor Who
 

Yasmin Finney is a trans person.

And if you can't deal with a person that's not the exactly the same as you acting in a show where the lead character is an alien, they visit made up planets and has included sentient plants and stars, then I'm not sure it's the show that has 'shark jumped'

Re: Doctor Who
 

There is no jumped shark. She is an actress playing a role. If you can't handle a trans person being in the show then I'm glad you'll give it a miss.

Also that article is incorrect in stating she will play Rose Tyler. Yes her first name will be Rose but NOT the actual same Rose Tyler we know. Rose will apparently be Donna's daughter.

Re: Doctor Who
 

That link says she is playing the same Rose played by Billie Piper though. How does that work?

Are you sure Stephan ? cuz it seems like the box ticking thing the BBC loves

Thankfully is looks like you are right. imdb has her listed as Rose Temple Noble

Re: Doctor Who
 

The BBC press release doesn't say whether or not it's the same Rose or a different one. All it says is this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/20...-yasmin-finney

Re: Doctor Who
 

I just hope imdb is right and they do not try to have her as the same one

Re: Doctor Who
 

That link is wrong. They have just assumed she is playing Rose Tyler.

Re: Doctor Who
 

yeah the Noble bit makes sense now I have thought about it

Re: Doctor Who
 

Oh look, the BBC ticking another box. :rolleyes:

Re: Doctor Who
 

And which box would that be?

Re: Doctor Who
 

I assume you are not really that stupid, just playing dumb. :dozey:

Its right there in the title "Doctor Who casts its first trans actress".

Re: Doctor Who
 

Are they ticking boxes or is it just people thinking that, as black qnd trans actors have been chosen for roles?

What if they simply auditioned and were chosen for the part as they were the best and the showrunner really liked what they bring to the table.