Doctor Who Break In 2012 - All Part Of Steven Moffat's Grand Master Plan

[Rich Johnston]

The Private Eye story about Doctor Who production problems leading to a reduced seventh series airing in 2012, seemed to be at least partially, backed up by a BBC report. Which has not sat well with showrunner Steven Moffat.

Neil Gaiman tweeted "Er? is it my imagination or are you being shafted by BBC online news?"

Moffat replied "It?s not your imagination. Unbelievable, unacceptable. The scheduling of Dr Who has got NOTHING to with Sherlock. On the plus side THE BBC SPELLED MY NAME RIGHT!!!!"

Moffat had previously tweeted "Dr Who: misquotes and misunderstandings. But I'm not being bounced into announcing the cool stuff before we're ready. Hush, and patience."

What can we take from this? Well, one reading is that there is a feeling that Doctor Who should air in the winter months, when it's cold and dark outside. A recent episode that aired during a thunderstorm in London felt far more appreciated as a result than episodes that aired, lit by glorious sunshine. And splitting a series around Christmas would certainly achieve that wish, with the rest of the seventh series airing from January 2013. And, yes, leading to a eighth series of Doctor Who running through November 2013, the fiftienth anniversary of the show...

[penhapus]

If Moffat wanted to shunt the whole thing to the Autumn he could have done so from day one.

Something is not right...

[drachenfells]

I really dont see what the fuss is about. So its later in the year? so what?
When you have to wait 15 years like some of us did then you have a right to winge a bit about a wait.
I trust Moffat to know what he is doing.

[penhapus]

Budgets have been cut across the board; even for the critical + rating winner big guns like Who and Sherlock; programmes only appear on the financial books when they're broadcast, not when they're made. This is why ITV are sat on a few (probably awful) drama series.

[drachenfells]

If Moffat wanted to shunt the whole thing to the Autumn he could have done so from day one.

Something is not right...

But he didnt want that, not for this series as he wanted a mid point cliffhanger.
No cliffhanger in the next series at midpoint, no reason for it not to be shown over winter.

[toodoor]

If Moffat wanted to shunt the whole thing to the Autumn he could have done so from day one.

Could he? RTD could have i am sure, but a new show runner may need to prove themselves first before the high ups let them mess with the established order of things.

[rambobloodaxe]

Could he? RTD could have i am sure, but a new show runner may need to prove themselves first before the high ups let them mess with the established order of things.

But he's not exactly an unproven showrunner. He's provided BBC with quite a few successful shows like Who, Sherlock, Jeckyl, and, lest we forget one of the best sitcoms ever, Coupling.

[Matt D]

If Moffat IS delaying things then he really has to realize that I have a 9 year old here and he'll be 10 in Feb and increasingly older thereafter and there's a closing window here so episode delays are not appreciated by either of us.

[drachenfells]

But he's not exactly an unproven showrunner. He's provided BBC with quite a few successful shows like Who, Sherlock, Jeckyl, and, lest we forget one of the best sitcoms ever, Coupling.

But at the time he took over he had not done Who or Sherlock. Jeckyl was a hit but it was a mini series not a yearly program.
And while i agree that Coupling was great, it wasent a huge saturday teatime BBC 1 program, so as such he had very little experiance running something like Who.

[drachenfells]

If Moffat IS delaying things then he really has to realize that I have a 9 year old here and he'll be 10 in Feb and increasingly older thereafter and there's a closing window here so episode delays are not appreciated by either of us.

Why is there a closing window?