Series 7 news & rumours *spoilers*

[J.R. Southall]

Are we going to play 'guess the name of the Christmas Special'...?

I know what I've heard it's going to be called, but it's only a rumour and might well not be true. Can't wait to find out!

[SiHart]

I hope it's not the rumoured title I'd heard because it's rubbish... but would keep the Christmas special books theme SM had last year.

[Dave Tudor]

'The Snowman' (possibly Abominable)? 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas' (well, it's set in Whoville, after all)? 'The Box of Delights' (now that WOULD be a good title for a 'Doctor Who' story!)?

Or what's that other well known book that features a Christmas-y theme? Ah yes - 'Doctor Who and The Bible'.

[SiHart]

Doctor Who and the Bible

[Si Hunt]

I heard a rumour it was "The Lion, The Witch and the TARDIS".

Si.

[SiHart]

Yes that's what I heard. Not very good.

[J.R. Southall]

I heard a rumour it was "The Lion, The Witch and the TARDIS".

Si.

Crikey, I hope not! The rumour I heard was The Box of Delights.

[SiHart]

The Box of Delights would be better but confusing for anyone around my age!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I'd love it to be The Box of Delights but The Lion, The Witch and the TARDIS would tie in with the small amount I know (or at least think I know) about the special.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

The Doctor returns at Christmas in...

The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe


Thoughts?

Trailer can be viewed again here

[J.R. Southall]

I'm growing rather fond of it. It's a bit of a mouthful, and quite clunky, but that ungainliness seems to me like the perfect embodiment of the eleventh Doctor. So - especially as I'm hoping that this particular Christmas Special is simply ridiculously Christmassy (and why not?) - it's kind of appropriate and, in an odd way, 'charming'.

[Awesome Wells]

It's that second thing, innit? Because we're conditioned to hearing the CS Lewis title, it sounds better as a single syllable ("The Doctor, the Bitch and the Wardrobe"?). Still, who gives a hoot about episode titles, anyway? It's what's in the grooves that counts.

[J.R. Southall]

Just heard something from a friend of mine, that might or might not prove to be rather important going forward into 2013. Although technically this is in the public domain, it might also be considered spoilerific, so I'm going to wrap it in spoiler tags:

Joe McGann hosts a Sunday morning radio show, at the end of which he takes questions from listeners, which inevitably include a few "Is your brother coming back to Doctor Who?" - and always with an answer in the negative.

However, this morning: "Funnily enough, there have been developments, of sorts." Said Joe, "E-mails have been exchanged in the last few weeks...I'm not saying that Paul's going back, but - let's just say that he's better disposed to the idea having talked it over with the 'bigwigs'..."

Make of that what you will!

[SiHart]

14 episodes shooting from February. One full series plus a Christmas special. And anniversary special mentioned too.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

This business of the suggested longest ever production block is intriguing as the current record is held by 2007-8 which included Voyage of the Damned, all 13 eps of series 4, and The Next Doctor so to beat that they'd need to do at least 16 episodes.

Perhaps...

Series 7 part 1 (6 episodes)
2012 Christmas Special
Series 7 part 2 (7 episodes)
50th Anniversary Special
2013 Christmas Special

?

Although I believe the comment implied a full series worth of episodes in 2013 so even this maybe selling it short?

[Si Hunt]

I struggle to see why Dr Who On-line are interpreting this as "a lean time for Doctor Who". I struggle with the Maths but what more can they do than start on 14 new episodes in eight weeks time?

Si.

[SiHart]

It's the same as most years, only it's coming a bit later in the year. What's so lean about that?

[Si Hunt]

God knows. People are strange. There's a 50th Anniversary Special, which we all kind of were expecting but we've never had confirmed so actually we're getting 13 episodes and a xmas special as usual PLUS another special. Not bad, I'd have said.

Si.

[SiHart]

Doctor Who fans do like to have something to worry about.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Doctor Who fans do like to have something to worry about.

Amen. Quoted for Truth!

[J.R. Southall]

Series 7 part 1 (6 episodes)
2012 Christmas Special
Series 7 part 2 (7 episodes)
50th Anniversary Special
2013 Christmas Special

I think this must be as near as dammit what we can expect from Matt's comments (which I've read but haven't actually seen yet). I think it's a bit of a shame if there isn't going to be a greater presence for the series in the anniversary year itself, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a touch more than what we're hearing (including a BBC2 docudrama about the creation of the programme?), and I do believe the 2013 Christmas Special will have to be filmed as a completely separate block, as it will presumably have a brand new Doctor and/or showrunner (if Matt's comments about leaving 'after next year' are also true). But yeah, what else can there be?

[SiHart]

Matt said he was doing the Christmas special for next year, so I think we can assume he's going to be in that.

[Larry]

II think it's a bit of a shame if there isn't going to be a greater presence for the series in the anniversary year itself, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a touch more than what we're hearing (including a BBC2 docudrama about the creation of the programme?), ?

TBF, right now we don't really know what's going to happen the way series 7 looks like being broken up into two halves suggests this will now be the way the series will go in future. I'm assuming that the first half of series 7 will be shown around Aug to October with part 2 some time around Easter perhaps earlier. When they talk about longest recording block it is possible that recording for series 8 will start almost straight away once filming for series 7 has ended probably unlikely but I'de be very surprised if there is not a full series of episodes for the end of 2013 and early 2014.

Having said that I suppose you can't rule out the possibility of any 50th Anniversary special being like Tennant's final year with 2 or 3 hour long arc specials being made that are shown say Nov 23'rd and then on Christmas andNew years day.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Having said that I suppose you can't rule out the possibility of any 50th Anniversary special being like Tennant's final year with 2 or 3 hour long arc specials being made that are shown say Nov 23'rd and then on Christmas andNew years day.

The one interesting comment that Matt came out with at a Q&A yesterday was when asked if he would do a series of specials before leaving just as Tennant had done he emphatically said no.

[Nyder]

I thought the comment about the next series by Marcus Wilson in the latest DWM was quite tantalising!

We've got a couple of returning monsters, some old fan favourites....but we're going to move them on a bit. 'That's how they were done in the 60s or 70s. Here's what we can do with them now!