Source: https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/doctor-who-christmas-axed-107069.htm
So after what seemed like an eternity, BBC has confirmed that Doctor Who’s Christmas Special has been officially cancelled and that the series will be put on competitive tender, which basically means the show is on indefinite hiatus until somebody comes up with the money to pick up the slack. As such, this effectively means that Russell T. Davies’ Bad Wolf production studios will NOT be continuing the series further.
How ironic that the man who was responsible for Doctor Who’s return after a long hiatus would also be the one to kill it… or at the very least, seriously damage it.
If it had just been a matter of lack of interest, it’d be one thing. But these past few years have been defined by longtime devotees expressing concerns and complaints about the degrading quality of the show, only to have those concerns pushed aside or written off as toxic fandom or hate drivel. And so what ends up happening is that the audience who stuck to your product through good times and bad times, supported this brand with all their hearts, only to be spurned by the people who ran this show into the ground… well, they took Gordon Ramsay’s advice and fucked off elsewhere.
Now Doctor Who is off the air. For how long is another story. They have to find somebody who is willing to put in the money and that’s going to be a tough sell after the Disney failure. And even if someone picks up the slack, who knows how it’ll turn out on the other end? There’s casting, scripting, production concerns, marketing, things of that nature… stuff that has to be figured out before they can even begin to commit something to film. If we’re lucky, it might be a couple years before we see the TARDIS on our screens again. Then again, it could be a far longer wait and it’s all dependent on when the BBC can convince someone to pick up the slack for what is, for all intents and purposes, damaged goods.
They may not cancelled the show outright, but uncertainty over the future is not something you can sugarcoat. People will assume the worst unless you give them a sign that moves are being made in a positive direction. BBC hasn’t done that. Marble Mouth Davies sure as hell hasn’t done that, as he continues to speak in circles, talking about a lack of a script despite claims to the contrary from various people involved in production. You may as well have just cancelled the whole thing and get it over with. Make people forget about Doctor Who for a bit and then when you’re ready to bring it back, remind them of what made this series so beloved in the first place.
And actually stick with it.
Back when the show was first pulled off the air back in the 80s, the writing was mostly on the wall. Falling viewerships, reduced budgets, lack of support. The show was on its last legs and the best thing to do was to end it before things got worse. You could hardly fault anyone for wanting it to end when it did.
This time, though? The wounds were self-inflicted. They had the budget, they had the interest, they had a partner in Disney that was willing to bring the franchise to a higher level… but the product they were putting out sucked and nobody wanted anything to do with it. And it’s not like the franchise is dying out. There’s still a dedicated fanbase of Whovians out there. Doctor Who remains a viable and popular franchise. There’s a vested interest in seeing this property thrive.
It’s just that nobody wanted to see this version of Doctor Who… nor did they want to support the showrunners who looked down on the fandom for not liking their grand vision. It’s impossible for me to feel sorry for them. They drove people off with their bad television and worse behavior… and now they’re reaping what they sowed.
Now… as sad as some might be by this news, I’m not at all disappointed. Granted, I’m not exactly doing a victory lap or anything like that, but I believe that a pause would be beneficial to the franchise. Put the show on hiatus for a bit; something about absence making the heart grow fonder. And then when it comes back in… who knows how long, it’ll come back with a renewed sense of purpose, a fresh outlook on things, and hopefully, something that will excite and please audiences to support this next chapter and keep it going for several more decades. In the meantime, they can find another showrunner (or possibly another money mark) and they can rethink what this show can be and where they’d want it to go.
Like I’ve said before, there’s a lot of franchises that could benefit from a break in content dripping. Doctor Who could come back stronger than before and with a renewed focus on what made this series endure for more than six decades. There’s a want for new product.
Keyword being new.
The question invariably becomes how long this pause will last? Like I said, it could be a couple years… but it could possibly be even longer. It’s also obvious that the television landscape has changed drastically over the past couple decades and there’s no telling how much further it’ll change down the road. According to Star Trek, television may not even be a thing by the time we hit the 2040s. Will it even be a thing when we reach the 2030s?
There’s cause for concern, sure. But there’s also reason for optimism. And on this rare occasion, I choose to be optimistic about the future of Doctor Who. There’s no show on air at the moment, but there are other avenues to pursue if you’re willing to look. Big Finish, I’d imagine, will still be a thing. Comics and novels continue to be produced. Merchandising is still a thing. Conventions and home video releases… restoring long lost missing episodes are still milestone events.
There’s no TARDIS on your television at the moment… but that doesn’t mean it’s totally gone. I know we’ll see the Doctor again one of these days. But in the meantime… we wait.
This will be the last Doctor Who-related post you’ll be getting from for a while unless I come across something of importance or interest. If nothing else, this will certainly be the last time you’ll be seeing that Doctor Boo banner accompany these Whovian posts. In the meantime, I can still watch the old shit and that holds up nicely. Plenty of stuff from the classic era that I’d like to catch up on. I can still get my fix without a new show on air.
So can you.
Later.
