- #END OF TIME DOCTOR WHO COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE MOVIE#
- #END OF TIME DOCTOR WHO COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE TRIAL#
- #END OF TIME DOCTOR WHO COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE SERIES#
#END OF TIME DOCTOR WHO COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE SERIES#
The series has been in a condition of permanent revolution since the moment its first producer, Verity Lambert, chose to ignore the strictures of her boss Sydney Newman against “bug-eyed monsters” and allowed the Daleks to trundle into view. It is a peculiar staleness that produces work like this.Īnyone hoping for a revolution in Doctor Who will not be disappointed. Meanwhile, the continuing vitality of the extended Doctor Who narrative has been demonstrated by the critical and popular success of Class, the Patrick Ness-created spin-off drama for teens that premiered recently on BBC3.
Both Moffat and Capaldi have a lot to deliver before the new regime takes over, and the actor could do so much more in the role if given the opportunity. Doctor Who audiences are not as shallow as some people seem to believe.ĭespite much criticism, the Moffat era has featured some of the finest writing in the show’s long history (not least the 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor) and Capaldi’s Doctor has appeared in some remarkable and edgy stories (Heaven Sent, for instance). They might also have forgotten that one of the most popular companions remains Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate, who was approaching 40 when she first took the role, and that another, Sarah Jane Smith, won over a whole new generation of children when the actress who portrayed her, the late Elisabeth Sladen, was already in her 60s. But it is equally arguable that the BBC has never quite learned to love its most unlikely success story, that it has always seemed slightly embarrassed by the popularity of this eccentric myth concocted by committee in 1963.Īny of the corporation’s executives who have forgotten this will perhaps also have forgotten that doubts about the age of the leading actor are a recurrent theme (Peter Davison was “too young”, as was Matt Smith). Change is at the heart of its story, embodied (literally) in the character of its hero. It is undeniable that Doctor Who has benefited from change. He has also, with Capaldi, lamented the BBC’s scheduling of Doctor Who to a later, family-unfriendly, autumnal slot during recent seasons, nudged to 8.25pm to make room for Strictly Come Dancing. Moffat has noted that overnight figures for television audiences are misleading in the digital age, with consolidated data (after catch-up, repeats, and so on) telling a more positive tale. Under Russell T Davies, Doctor Who reinvented the cross-generational television audience when it returned in 2005 and, by any standard of 21st century broadcasting, it continues to gain impressive ratings on a global scale. But the state of decay has undoubtedly been exaggerated. If nothing else, this points to a perceived staleness in the franchise. The implications are that Capaldi, undoubtedly a fine actor, is too old for a modern Who audience, and that Moffat is too baroque a tale-teller for tea-time family viewing.
#END OF TIME DOCTOR WHO COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE MOVIE#
Apart from the curate’s egg of the 1996 TV movie starring Paul McGann, it remained off-screen for 16 years.īill (Pearl Mackie), the Doctor’s new companion. No announcement, no ceremony: it simply disappeared. Within three years, despite the efforts of a new Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and an ambitious team of fresh writers, it would fade from production again.
#END OF TIME DOCTOR WHO COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE TRIAL#
When it returned with the gloomily-titled 14-part portmanteau tale The Trial of a Time Lord, the programme’s days were numbered. This was also the year when, following the first season of Colin Baker’s Doctor, the show was put “on hold” for 18 months. In 1985, the original Doctor Who Exhibition closed its doors on Blackpool’s Golden Mile. Like the recent announcement that the Cardiff-based Doctor Who Experience will close next year, this seemed ominous. No action figures, no lunch boxes, no sonic screwdrivers. In a recent visit to a well-known toy store, this particular middle-aged child was struck by the absence from the shelves of any Doctor Who merchandise. It is also because there are whispers of crisis around the 53-year-old series. This is not just because their hero, a stranger to latex and six-packs, will team up with a Superman-style character called The Ghost. When this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio, airs on BBC One on December 25, fans of a certain age will be watching with some trepidation.
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