A new report is claiming that, despite reports to the contrary, ratings for the last season of Doctor Who were a big disappointment to the folk at the BBC and as a result, change is coming for the 2020 season.
The report from a source at the BBC is that the fist change for the series is to put it back on the Saturday night schedule rather than the Sunday one it sat in last year.
“There is a feeling families are freer to watch on Saturdays than Sundays, when kids have homework to finish.
“While the show rated well overall, there were concerns over the decline in audience. Returning to Saturdays is being discussed as a likely option,” said the source.
The series saw a drop from 8.2 m on the first episode to 5 million on the series finale. The number rose to 7.1 million for the New Year’s Day special.
While the elephant in the room may well be the fact that Jodie Whittaker played the first female incarnation of the Doctor, few people are addressing it as the issue… except actress Alex Kingston who played the character River Song through the Tennant, Smith and Capaldi series.
“To be honest, at first I was a little conflicted because I just thought, ‘All those little boys, how are they going to handle it?’” Kingston said on This Morning.
“But then I thought when Peter Capaldi played the Doctor, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, how are those young kids going to be able to relate to – sorry Peter – somebody who could be their grandfather?’
“But, they all totally embraced him and it’s because he is the Doctor and Jodie is the Doctor because it’s the same spirit inside so it doesn’t matter.”
While the issue of sexist fans has been blamed on all the shortcomings of the last season – a narrative that seems a little to easy to apply if you ask us – there’s no denying that many, myself included, just felt that Whittaker wasn’t a strong enough presence to play the character and the writing was sub-par at best.
Whatever the truth, we could be back in our Saturday night seats for the Doctor’s return in 2020.
In other news, it looks like Doctor Who is about to be come a fully-immersive experience.
The BBC has announced today that Doctor Who fans will soon be able to step inside a virtual reality version of the TARDIS in an upcoming immersive VR adventure called Doctor Who: The Runaway.
Viewers will join the Thirteenth Doctor on board the TARDIS in this animated interactive story from the BBC and Passion Animation Studios. Fans will get the chance to be the Doctor’s champion and help her on this exciting adventure, as they find themselves at the centre of the action facing a deadly threat.
Jo Pearce, creative director for the BBC’s digital drama team, said: “Fans will experience the TARDIS like never before in this thrilling new interactive story. As ever, the Doctor is full of warmth, wit and charm – helped by a wonderful performance from Jodie – which puts fans at the heart of the story as they immerse themselves in this beautifully animated world.”
Zillah Watson, head of BBC VR Hub, said: “Our team at the BBC VR Hub has been creating new experiences with the goal of helping to usher virtual reality into the mainstream, and Doctor Who is exactly the sort of series that can help more people to try this new technology. The show has been pushing boundaries for over 55 years, and VR enables Doctor Who to explore a whole new dimension of storytelling.”
Featuring new original music from series composer Segun Akinola, Doctor Who: The Runaway has been written by Victoria Asare-Archer and directed by Mathias Chelebourg, whose previous VR films include Alice, the Virtual Reality Play and The Real Thing VR. It has been produced by the BBC’s digital drama team, BBC VR Hub and Passion Animation Studios.
Finally, a new image has been doing the rounds online that it is being claimed is the new costume to be worn by Jodie Whittaker next season:
Source: The Daily Mirror, BBC
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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