What “No Full Series” Might Mean & Why It Might Happen
Guest contributor Craig Sightings ponders the rumour about the show in 2016.
Dampening current excitement for Series 9 was the report that there will apparently be “no full series of Doctor Who in 2016” from UK publication Private Eye. While the exact details have not been clarified or even officially confirmed by the BBC at the time of writing this, I’d thought I’d try and lay out what it might for the show and why it might happen.
What might not having a “full series” mean for the show?
No episodes at all in 2016
At an extreme level it could mean there will be no Doctor Who at all airing in 2016. This one seems very unlikely though. Doctor Who was declared the BBC’s biggest seller this year, so no episodes would be unfathomable from a commercial standpoint. On top of that even with breaks and past delays we’ve always had something to watch in a year. Going from a couple years of complete series runs to nothing at all would be a brutal pill to swallow and risk harming the fanbase.
Special(s)
This of course occurred before in 2009 when David Tennant and Russell T Davies prepared to leave their respective positions on the show and we transitioned over to Steven Moffat and Matt Smith. We saw an Easter special, then another much later in the year, and to finally wrap up, a two-parter spread over Christmas and New Year. We could see something similar, but maybe spread out more equally throughout the year. This wouldn’t be a terrible option, as at least we would have something to look forward to every few months.
A Split Series, or Mini-series
We saw the first option with Series 7 when it was split across 2012 and 2013. Part One comprised 5 episodes and a Christmas special from Autumn, and Part Two contained the remaining 8 episodes from Spring. So there is a precedent and it could happen again. History does have a habit of repeating itself. Perhaps a second option would be a mini-series like Sherlock. So three 90-minute stories shown over three weeks, possibly interconnected with an arc.
Why it might happen
Moffat Overloaded
Private Eye claims the reason is down to Moffat’s commitments to Sherlock. As many readers know Moffat is also co-showrunner of that show, along with Mark Gatiss. Sherlock has a much more sporadic schedule than Doctor Who, with two year-plus gaps between runs. Doctor Who has admittedly also seen a changing schedule since Sherlock took off. Now any delays to either show, past or present, could simply come down to the fact Moffat is only one man and only has so much time to work on both shows. It’s certainly not an unreasonable assumption to make. If this is the reason though expect it to be played down.
Budget Cuts
The BBC licence fee that UK TV viewers currently have to pay by law has been making headlines of late with the government forcing the BBC to make budget cuts left and right that will cost the corporation billions. Moffat has been very vocal about his opposition to this, but we’ll try and keep politics out of it. Obviously Doctor Who is not a cheap show to make so it may be affected by these incoming cutbacks necessitating a reduction of some kind. Perhaps this is the only way that it can continue without a noticeable drop in quality. The way the BBC works means that for all the money the show makes commercially though merchandise and worldwide sales, it doesn’t get it all back, sadly.
The Imminent Dawn of a New Era
Could we be seeing the dawn of a new era of Doctor Who? As far as we’re aware Moffat is signed on for all of Series 10 (whatever form it’ll take) and Capaldi still seems very happy in the role so it may be too early to say we’re transitioning over to a new Doctor and showrunner in the same way as 2009. But logically we can’t be far off Moffat stepping down. Series 10 is, in all likelihood, Moffat’s last. He’s already comfortably overtaken RTD. This split format or whatever happens may allow at least Moffat to transition. This time there still doesn’t seem to be a logical successor to Moffat… maybe that’s the problem.
In Conclusion: Don’t Panic Yet!
As stated earlier, nothing has been confirmed yet and chances are we fans might be getting worked up over nothing (as if we would!). But I hope I’ve helped to briefly clarify things as it stands and tried to look at it logically. Thanks for reading.
