What we're getting next year episode wise

[Zbigniev Hamson]

The schedule really has been all over the place since the "Specials year" hasn't it. A year of 4 specials (which just turned out to be 1 in Easter, one in November and a 2-part Christmas special), then a normal season the year after, then a season split in two the year after that, then a really short season late in the year the year after that, and now God-knows-what for next year. And all this time Robin Hood and Merlin just delivered 13 episodes a year, at the same time of year, like clockwork. Makes you wonder what monkeys are in charge really

[Perry Vale]

Off-topic, I know, but was it just me or did Merlin start using the same locations as Robin Hood towards the end? A couple of times the location looked like Robin's hideout!

[Si Hunt]

I think last years episodes were the first half of a season because when it came out on DVD it said it was on the box.

Si.

[Si Hunt]

Just one thing, though: are they not filming anything at all between now and April? Because I was under the impression that they were back to work in January (I'd heard rumblings of an almost two-year sustained recording schedule with very little in the way of breaks - a couple of weeks or so for Christmas and precious little else), and if that's the case, then it leads me to surmise two things:

1. The reason they've been able to pinpoint April as filming for the anniversary special itself is because that's when they were able to organise the resources for it; in other words, during the general run of a production, they engage actors who are available for the episodes they are filming, rather than filming the episodes around the actors' availability. This leads me to suspect that the actors they are engaging for the anniversary special are ones particular to the special rather than the most appropriate (and affordable!) ones available. (Ex-Doctors, in other words...)

And 2. If there's to be two-and-a-half months to three months filming before the anniversary special commences production, then it's not unlikely that there would be a run of three or four episodes leading up to the anniversary special itself. If filming continues on for several months after the anniversary special wraps, it's not entirely impossible that there might also be further episodes on the Saturdays between the 23rd of November and Christmas.

Of course, I might very well be wrong about this and they might well be on a break now until April, but if filming does recommence before then, we will at least be fairly sure that one 90-minute special isn't all we are getting during the rest of the year.

This filming is, insofar as I can make out, appended to Series 7 rather than being the beginning of work on Series 8, so it's likely that it would be regarded in terms of "documentation" as something akin to the Specials Year, standing outside of the normal run of Series scheduling and box sets.

I wish they'd just tell us and be done with it.

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

I notice that DWM (at least the comments from Marcus Wilson) refer to (in respect of what we're referring to as the end of season 7) as "the 2013 season" and "episodes 7 & 8" rather than 13 & 14 - and all of them should be completed by now.

Don't get me wrong - although I like to moan & grumble as much as the next man, I don't really mind if the bald truth is that they can no longer manage more than 7 or 8 episodes a year. Whether it be due to finance, or time, or actor availability, or showrunner schedules, whatever the reason, I can understand if things have changed - hell, it might just be that Moffat pointed out that RTD worked all the time, and that he was only going to take the job if he could also have a life, that's quite legimitate really.

I'd just, as Si says, prefer them to say - nobody other than the fans really care, and for the fans they've the perfect mouthpiece in DWM. There's little point keeping to a 13-episode production schedule in an attempt to put up a smokescreen, if they then spread the episodes over 2 years.

[Rob McCow]

Or even if they put it onto random. We don't know how many episodes of Doctor Who we're getting this year, next year or any year from now on! It could be five, it could be seventeen - we simply don't know!

I was really hoping that they'd start a new season of 13 in September / October. That's a bit greedy though.

[Milky Tears]

SPOILER!?

DOOOOOMED!



ETA (see Si's post below)

They took it down just after I posted the link. Here's the text...

2013 Programming will include:

Series 7 Part 2 (8 Episodes /Spring 2013)
50th Anniversary Special (1 x 60mins / Autumn 2013)
An Adventure in Space and Time (1 x 90mins / Autumn 2013)
Doctor Who Revisited (11 x 25mins / throughout year)

[Si Hunt]

Page doesn't exist, can you paste it into spoiler tags please?

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

I can't believe that's much of a surprise to anyone - nice to see what I presume are a selection of old series episodes (what else would be 25 minutes long) and hopefully the absence of a Christmas Special is simply an oversight, but other than that... Was anybody still expecting much more than the remaining 8 episodes filmed plus an anniversary special?

[Si Hunt]

What someone somewhere thinks on Twitter:

Cast your mind back to 2008. Doctor Who was at the height of its success with the eagerly anticipated 13-episode fourth series airing in the spring, each story followed by companion show Doctor Who Confidential. Spin-off Torchwood had already aired its own 13-episode series at the start of the year and The Sarah Jane Adventures followed in the autumn with 12 more episodes. That’s a whole lot of Whoniverse for any fan to indulge in.

Fast forward to 2013 and it’s the most important year in Doctor Who’s history as we approach the big 50th anniversary. A time for the BBC to go all out and give fans a massive Doctor Who feast. So what have we got? By the looks of it, less episodes than any other year since Doctor Who came back (excluding the 2009 gap year). And lest we forget Doctor Who Confidential and the spin-off shows have either been axed, ended or are as good as dead.

If we had followed the production template laid down successfully by Russell T Davies under his tenure (followed by Steven Moffat initially) then here’s how the past couple of years would have played out:

2012 – 13 episodes + 1 Christmas Special
2013 – 13 episodes + 1 Christmas Special + 1 Anniversary Special
Total minimum episodes = 29
Now based on the info available at the time of writing, here’s what we’re actually getting:

2012 – 5 episodes + 1 Christmas special
2013 – 8 episodes + 1 Anniversary Special 9 (+ 1 docudrama if you count it, I don’t)
Total minimum episodes = 15
As you can see, it’s a reduction of half the episodes. Hardly befitting of what is meant to be Doctor Who’s biggest year in history! Granted we don’t have all the information available yet (as usual the BBC says absolutely nothing until the last minute) but all the evidence so far is pointing this way. Perhaps I wouldn’t be quite so alarmed if the production team didn’t make so many false promises and send out many contradictory and confusing messages.

For instance, when Series 6 was split Moffat originally told us it was so we never much more than 3 months away from a new episode. The following year went completely against that and we had to wait nine months for Series 7 and got a mere 5 episodes and then another wait until Christmas. Moffat also told us Series 7 was moving to the Autumn so that the show could air when it was dark and cold outside. So what happened? Well Part 1 aired in September when it was still light in the evenings, and Part 2 is now back in the once traditional spring spot, when it will be warmer and lighter in the evenings.

As for the 50th anniversary, Moffat promised us the biggest year ever. First of all he teased “why talk in the singular” and now we have recently learnt it’s one 60-minute episode. He also told us categorically that Doctor Who wasn’t being reduced. And I quote two interview extracts:

“We’re making more episodes than ever before; we’ve got other things planned for the big year…”

“You’re not going to reduce a show like this. The opposite is going to happen, in fact.”

I don’t know what is going on behind the scenes to cause all this misinformation (or downright lies, however you want to dress it up) but I have several theories:

Moffat

Moffat has stated in many recent interviews that he struggles with writers block and delivering his scripts late. He’s admitted to causing production delays several times now. Moffat also strikes me as a perfectionist, but he no longer has the luxury of time he was afforded when he wrote during Russell T Davies’ tenure. One or two stories per year is how I believe Moffat would prefer to be writing and it might explain why his output is not as strong (in my humble opinion) since he took over.

The BBC budget

The BBC licence fee was frozen in 2010 and the effects on a budget-heavy show like Doctor Who can’t have been good. Perhaps these splits have been the only way that Doctor Who could continue without a noticeable decline in quality. By spreading the money over two years, it ensures the show still has decent production values. However, it seems doubtful the BBC would reduce Doctor Who deliberately given the huge merchandising and increased overseas profile.

Less Who is good for the show

For this one I refer to this quote from Steven Moffat:

“I’ve been well up for anything that we can do to shake up the transmission pattern, the way we deliver it to the audience and how long we make the audience wait, simply because that makes Doctor Who an event piece. The more Doctor Who becomes a perennial, the faster it starts to die. You’ve got to shake it up, you’ve got to keep people on edge and wondering when it will come back…”

Cast burnout

Now we know that each series takes around 9 months to film and Matt Smith has spoken about how gruelling it is. It’s understandable when you add in all the promotion as well. Perhaps keeping Smith on board necessitated a break.

Sherlock

Sherlock was originally blamed for the Doctor Who delay by BBC Controller Danny Cohen. Moffat was quick to deny it. However, perhaps there’s truth in it after all and Moffat is just unable to cope with running two flagship BBC shows. Notice how Sherlock is suffering too with two year gaps between three episode series.

A combination of all of the above

Perhaps there’s not one simple problem going on behind the scenes, rather elements of all of the above points.

Conclusion

I’m full prepared to accept that we don’t have the full picture yet, and I’m hoping this is a case of the BBC just keeping quiet, but the signs are not looking good. Hopefully I’m wrong…

[Andrew Curnow]

There may well be a lot of truth in that. And you know, speaking personally I don't really mind that much if the number of episodes per year goes down, and I can see there will always be perfectly valid reasons for it (I think I've probably already said this earlier in the thread).

BUT what really niggles me is when, against all that, we get (IMHO) stupid comments like, "We’re making more episodes than ever before" and "You’re not going to reduce a show like this. The opposite is going to happen, in fact". If there's one thing the Moffat era has done very badly, it's the hype - I think RTD was a lot more 'savvy' in that regard, whereas nowadays we get nonsense like "every Dalek ever" and the like, which inevitably leads to disappointment. Better to say nothing, than say something which is clearly going to come back to bite you in the arse. If we got an April run this year and an Anniversary special in November and an Origins documentary, without them coming off the back of quotes like the above, we'd probably all be thrilled - now, somehow, we feel slightly hard done by.

[Dino]

I'm sticking my neck out. 60 minutes will still be better than Dimensions In Time!
Even if it's only one Doctor in it.

[Si Hunt]

I'd be perfectly happy with 8 episodes this year and then an hour long special. It makes me laugh when people on Twitter are saying "Let's keep our fingers crossed for an extra full season in the Autumn" and the like. Just when do they think they're going to make it?! What they have done is to spread out the episodes to affect no doubt neccessary cuts in episode count without anyone really noticing massive year-long breaks.

It slightly defeats the point when the fans go doing Maths to technically work out what episodes we could have had. Doctor Who has been seemingly ever present since it came back, that's what's important. I certainly haven't ever thought "Wow, remember Doctor Who? It's been ages since it's been on". It's still always seemed like only a few months away from the next episode at any time. Maybe they shouldn't have bothered and just said "Ok, let's take it off for a year" and let it die. We should be grateful that whatever cuts had to be made have been managed so skillfully.

Si.

[Dino]

I think they are talking out of their backside. Will believe it when see it. There doesn't seem to be that much physical evidence. And when you click on the link it has an ADT Insurance pop up. But still..

http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2013/01...leven-doctors/

Oh great, that link title doesn't give anything away...

EDIT: Actually no, it's just hype without sources! Carry on. Nothing to see here.

[Stuart Wallis]

It makes me laugh when people on Twitter are saying "Let's keep our fingers crossed for an extra full season in the Autumn" and the like. Just when do they think they're going to make it?!

Well let's just say if they were making more episodes for the autumm, they'd probably be making them as we speak.

[Anthony Williams]

My problem is entirely down to the hyperbole. If someone organized a birthday party for me, and promised "more cake than ever!" and that "cake will take over the room!", only to find that there was two thirds of the usual amount of cake, plus one slightly larger cake, I'd be bloody disappointed.

And it seems that, despite all the hyperbole, we're getting two thirds of a series and one slightly longer episode. Without the hyperbole coming from the production team, I would have been very excited. Instead, I'm just disappointed.

[SiHart]

Here's the full poster... (note the Will Include)

[Si Hunt]

I'm not complaining exactly but I find it odd they are trying to tell the Special in 60 minutes. Only 15 minutes longer than a regular episode. That's not much time at all.

Si.

[SiHart]

Again, as has been mentioned elsehwhere, this is just a poster at a toy fair. Would they annouce all their plans there, without a big fanfare? I think everyone is getting too worked over this, though I'm willing to be proved wrong.

[Simon R]

The Christmas specials are an hour so that's all I'm expecting. 90 minutes would presumably cost lots more.

[Si Hunt]

If they go and announce a new season for next Autumn now, a lot of people are going to look really silly.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Wha ist Doctor Who Revisited? I had not heard of dat?

[Anthony Williams]

I'm not saying that we're NOT going to get more than we know we're getting, because we simply don't know yet. BUT, if it turns out that we only get what's been announced so far, then I'll be disappointed. And that's entirely down to the hype that's coming out of Cardiff. Here are a select number of soundbites from the Grand Moff:

“We’re going to make it the biggest year of the show ever, on a global scale hopefully."

"The BBC is taking it very seriously ... there’ll be a lot of Doctor Who over the course of the year... It’s certainly our intention to do justice to the scale of it."

“I’ve got various plans, but all I can say emphatically is it will be huge."

"I will absolutely guarantee that you’re not going to feel disappointed or short-changed. It will be a quite remarkable time for Doctor Who."

"We've got an awful lot of stuff to announce before [the 50th anniversary]. We don't aim to have one event, over a year in the future - we want to make Doctor Who an event every single week. And we're going to pull that off, so... patience!"

“Contrary to some rumours you may have heard, there will be the same number of episodes.”

"Very soon now, Doctor Who is going to enter production for the longest sustained period we've ever attempted, and the biggest and best and maddest time ever to be a fan of this wonderful old show is rumbling towards us."

“The plans are quite extensive, and changing all the time.... [We] will hit that year very, very hard indeed.”

"It is certainly not a reduced episode count... Do you think the BBC would really let that happen? With an average audience of 10 million? You're not going to reduce a show like this. The opposite is going to happen, in fact."

[Simon R]

Presumably things have changed since all that was said for reasons we don't know about. Hopefully they'll be revealed so we can at least understand the situation.

[Stuart Wallis]

If they go and announce a new season for next Autumn now, a lot of people are going to look really silly.

We're all quite used to looking silly here...