No full season in 2016?

[Anthony Williams]

So we get the Chinball Wizard in two years... and one season of the Grand Moff in the meantime. Is this because Moff's last season needs extensive re-writes, or because he's busy on other projects this year (e.g. Sherlock). His tenure has been so full of delays...


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[SiHart]

Or maybe the BBC can't afford it this year?

[Alex]

This is bleak bleak news to wake up too. I always thought it was likely that Moffat would leave after season 10, but having Chibnall take over depresses me greatly. And it's not just his Who work that leaves me feeling pessimistic, but his Torchwood episodes, and the appalling second season of Broadchurch.

Oh well. Maybe he'll quit after a year or something. One can but only hope.

[Leah Betts]

What's this crazy idea that Chris Chibnall is a safe pair of hands? If he's a pair of hands they're the kind that come to life, scuttle around of their own accord, and then attempt to resurrect the ancient evil by which they're still possessed!

[Darren]

I'm just glad it isn't Mark Gatiss taking over.

I was very excited about Moffat taking over from RTD because his standalone episodes were wonderful, but as show runner he has almost ruined the show, imo.
Chris hasn't impressed with his scripts (apart from Dinosaurs..) so maybe as show runner.....

Perhaps part of the delay is down to scheduling. BBC One last year had Who and Strictly running back to back, two of their biggest shows. They may want to split them up again. Plus ITV will by that time have X Factor and the Voice, A lot of competition.

[Darren]

Well, well, well. It's going to be a long year.

Just start from the beginning with Rose.

[MacNimon]

So we get the Chinball Wizard in two years... and one season of the Grand Moff in the meantime. Is this because Moff's last season needs extensive re-writes, or because he's busy on other projects this year (e.g. Sherlock). His tenure has been so full of delays...


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Yay...Ant's back!


I think the main reason there will be no full series this year will simply be down to finances. The budget may only stretch to, say, 10 episodes a year on average so when we have a few complete seasons there will always be a transmission break at some point soon afterwards...

As for Chibnall, his work on Who & Torchwood may not be spectacular but it's not awful either. I'm as happy to give him a chance as opposed to anyone else...we simply don't know what he'll bring to the series. And just because his DW work has been pretty average doesn't really matter too much...it's the fact he already has a background in this type of series as well as Broadchurch which they'll probably consider to be most important.

Just look at football managers, for example...the best managers were often mediocre/average players in their playing days but just seem to know how to get the best out of players when they move to management, whereas often the great players seem to struggle when they move up the ladder. Let's hope this is the case here...

[Stuart Wallis]

Yay...Ant's back! I think the main reason there will be no full series this year will simply be down to finances.

Well it is an Olympic year, and there's the Euro footie - both expensive to cover...

As for Chibnall, his work on Who & Torchwood may not be spectacular but it's not awful either. I'm as happy to give him a chance as opposed to anyone else...we simply don't know what he'll bring to the series. And just because his DW work has been pretty average doesn't really matter too much...it's the fact he already has a background in this type of series as well as Broadchurch which they'll probably consider to be most important.

Just look at football managers, for example...the best managers were often mediocre/average players in their playing days but just seem to know how to get the best out of players when they move to management, whereas often the great players seem to struggle when they move up the ladder. Let's hope this is the case here...

It wouldbe nice to think so, and after the (IMHO) pretty sorry time weve had under the present showrunner, I'm really trying to be positive.

[Andrew Curnow]

I wonder where this leaves us for a Christmas Special in 2017.... Not that I want to think too far ahead, obviously!

[Dino]

Panic in the offices of BBC Cardiff.
Panic in the offices of BBC London.
See, we could be in denial about this and "Well what would the Daily Mirror know?" and I really hope it's wrong. But if true then he's going to go down as an even bigger "What if?" than Colin Baker.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/p...or-who-7245477

[gabbie]

Is it true? Quite surprised. What is going on at the Beeb?


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[Dino]

In the issue just gone, there was a good joke in Private Eye.

"I'm Sorry I Haven't A Who

Hilarious panel show in which senior BBC executives have to devise ever more hilarious excuses for not having Dr Who on the telly this year. Last week BBC's controller Charlotte Moore won the game by blaming the Olympics and the Euro Football finals.

Eye rating: Don't terminate!"

[Rob McCow]

If there is a reason for not having Doctor Who on, what do you think the most likely contenders are?

- BBC Not enough money
- Moffat is busy
- Capaldi is hibernating
- Moffat can't think of anything, literally any story ideas at all
- They've almost come up with a good reason to bring the Hath back, they're working on it, just need a bit longer

[Si Hunt]

I think a contributing factor is something you haven't mentioned Steve - the fact that the last series starting in the Autumn saw it slip in the ratings from the King of Saturday Nights to a show which was struggling to compete with Casualty. I think people will look at that and think that (i) it needs a rest and (ii) it always got more viewers at Easter didn't it?

So combine those ideas and note that the last episode went out at Christmas anyway, and everyone is pretty tired and Moffatt needs to leave and we have to do Sherlock this year and so let's aim for NEXT Spring to give everyone a breather, have time for the show-runner handover, give it a rest and get it back to a time of year where it doesn't need to compete with the X Factor.

Si.

[Stuart Wallis]

- Moffat can't think of anything, literally any story ideas at all

That hasn't stopped him before...

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

There's obviously a financial saving to be made if they film a series this year and don't show it until 2017. At least we now know that the final Moffat episode will be the 2017 Christmas special. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with if it's not going to end with a regeneration.

My husband is firmly of the opinion that the BBC have made a big mistake by not having any new episodes this year and I have to say I'd have preferred to see at least one mid-year special such as we had in 2009.

[Rob McCow]

It would have been nice to have had something this year. Even if they did the Matt Smith style episode split between years.

Perhaps the question should be, how did RTD manage to do 13 episodes a year for four years running, on top of Torchwood and Sarah-Jane Adventures?

[Stuart Wallis]

And bearing in mind that he was considering a Rose spin-off series on top of all that. Far more output than just Who and three or four Sherlocks a year.

[Dirk Gently]

I would of liked to see at least a trio or so of specials like we had for Tennant if we couldn't have a full series. A one off every 3 months would have been better than nothing.