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**Chris** · 09-05-2022, 15:53

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.

09-05-2022, 15:53	#686
Chris Trollsplatter Cable Forum Team Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 36,928	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.