Doctor Who Social Club

Written by: Matt Jones

Directed by: James Strong

Slightly misleading headline, IMO:

“It’s had a bit of a rough time lately, and I think everyone just needs to chill out and wait for what comes from having space… and time.”

“I am not the next Doctor. I am Rose Tyler in hiatus,” she said. “Sorry, that’s a really cryptic answer, but because I’m not currently filming Doctor Who as the Doctor, I can’t lie and say otherwise. I’m sweating. I hate this.”

She continued: “I think you’ve all got to be very patient because it’ll be worth it when it comes. And I think that we need to celebrate the fact that the [revived] show has … been around for a very long time, it’s massively successful, and it’s impacting so many people’s lives positively.”

Written by: Matt Jones

Directed by: James Strong

Written by: Mark Gatiss

Directed by: Euros Lyn

Written by: Tom MacRae

Directed by: Graeme Harper

Chris Chibnall:

“I think the biggest thing you can say about all of that is it’s very easy to miss the point ‒ that this is primarily about money.”

“It’s not really about all of the things that everybody is banging on about and moaning about or what or getting emotional about.”

Written by: Tom MacRae

Directed by: Graeme Harper

Written by: Steven Moffat

Directed by: Euros Lyn

Written by: Toby Whithouse

Directed by: James Hawes

Written by: Russell T Davies

Directed by: Euros Lyn

Written by: Russell T Davies

Directed by: James Hawes

Written by: Russell T Davies

Directed by: James Hawes

As per his Substack-newsletter:

I’ve thought about approaching the BBC again about Doctor Who but they’ve never taken me seriously before, so I’m not convinced they’ll start. It’s probably worth a try.

I would open cold as if the show is new. Strange and eccentric young ‘inventor’, amnesiac, with an odd TARDIS machine that can go anywhere and is bigger on the inside. That’s all you need to get started.

I expect they’ll opt for the young Doctor full reboot, which would be a mistake. You have a universe. You have lore in the bank. That’s good to have as long as you don’t rely on it. In fact, barely even mention it. It’s so easy to do a young ‘Doctor Who?’ showing up in a field where he’s found by some kids who think he’s Jesus. Amnesiac…TARDIS stolen…whodunnit…etc… Kids who get into the show will be excited to discover there’s a huge back story to get into – but who am I to say?

As far as being saddled with a lot of dangling threads goes, ‘they’ could just reveal that Gatwa’s Doctor was an unstable bi-regeneration who tried to make the most of his brief mayfly existence but just sort of flickered along, barely there. When he glitched out, he reached for a familiar face and got Billie Piper off the telly. She then tracks down David Tennant’s Doctor, going mad with his earthbound ordinary life round at Donna’s. He can’t stop attracting terrifying, vengeful enemies from space so he’s on the run when they meet – and fuse back together with a lovely Rose and the Doctor scene to wrap the whole RTD era in a neat bow, while the Doctor’s understanding family cheer them on – then it all goes wrong – and new-new-Who picks up from there with nary a backward glance.

You don’t even need to show any of that – but it’s all there for a Big Finish.

Edit: Grant Morrison is a Scottish writer. Their work includes New X-Men, which many consider one of the defining runs of that team and All-Star Superman (which inspired the 2025 Superman movie). They have also written for Doctor Who before, mostly comics for DW Magazine.

They also created the SYFY TV show Happy!

Now that Old Nu Who is available to stream in the US again, do we have the numbers to resume our retrospective journey?

I'm thinking I'd stick with the Sunday schedule, and pick up where we left off, with "The Christmas Invasion".

Who's on board? Do we have enough interest to make it worthwhile?

Carole Ann Ford, who played the Doctor's granddaughter Susan in the early seasons of the show, and cameoed again in the most recent series, offers her thoughts on the current hiatus.

She's a cheerful lady, but it's hard not to read some disappointment between the lines that her historical return to the show was all but cut, with slim chances for a do-over. Ford turned 86 on 16 June.

BBC director-general Matt Brittin has announced that 550 of the planned 1,800 to 2,000 job cuts at the corporation will be taken from BBC News and TV and radio-related roles.

The 57-year-old has also announced the BBC is to axe programmes and cut content spending by £80 million, and added it would “review our broadcast TV channels and radio network portfolio” as more of its audience moves online, while attempting to sustain “output” and “audience value and impact”.

The BBC has not indicated which programmes would be axed under the plans.

[…]

In response to the announcement, head of media and entertainment union, Bectu, Philippa Childs, said it is “far from ideal” that the cuts are taking place at the same time as the BBC’s charter renewal.

She said: “I’m not sure how you can make informed decisions about the long-term future of the organisation when it will be in a substantially diminished place at the end of the process than the beginning.

[…]

“The charter renewal must put the BBC’s funding on a secure, long-term pathway or it risks death by a thousand cuts.”

So that's fairly dire for anybody hoping the BBC can shoulder a show like Doctor Who without substantial external funding.