Please can the BBC explain the scheduling stupidity of Doctor Who?

Season 1 Mar - Jun 2005
Season 2 Apr- Jul 2006
Season 3 Mar - Jun 2007
Season 4 Apr- Jul 2008
Season 5 Apr - Jun 2010
Season 6 Apr - Jun Aug - Oct 2011
Season 7 Sep 2012 Mar - May 2013
Season 8 Autumn 2014

So from a show that began around Easter it will go into the Autumn.

Now BBC are you happy this time? Can you keep to having Doctor Who at a roughly same point of the year again? Or you going to mess around again in 2016??

And why so late in the year anyway???

I think Steven Moffat said he preferred the autumn because that is traditionally when classic Who was aired. And that is true - it was very much an autumn/winter programme. It was always dark when Doctor Who was on (when I was little).

Another version of events is that when production began to hit problems in 2010/11, it was a way of buying a bit of time by moving the show to later in the year.

I guess you can take whichever version of events you prefer.

I did prefer the April start date, personally. With the Christmas episode bridging the gap, it never felt it was too long to wait before the next Who. Now the Christmas episode will essentially become a part of each season (especially with the reduction to 12 episodes) and then a long nine month gap before the next episode the following September.

As someone who grew up in the 90's so didn't have who as a kid and only was introduced to it properly in 2005, I think of the spring start with a constant run as the traditional format and would be glad to see it return. thought it worked well when David tennant regenerated into Matt smith at christmas, and then there was only a short wait to see his proper debut story, whilst there was still a buzz about him, and would have been nice to have the same for capaldi. overall I just hope from now on they can PICK A REGULAR TIME FOR IT TO RUN AND STICK TO IT EVERY YEAR, WITH NO SERIES BREAK! I don't think it's much to ask really, they managed it for the first five years after the comeback

Hello

if this is true and stuck to then I will be happy, as i said, I don't think a regular unbroken run is too much to ask

Oh thank goodness it is not just me.
I think (though I am a sports fan)
It is nice to have a strong Sat evening show Spring early Summer, before Football World Cup/Euro Championships, Wimbledon, Olympics, Commonwealth Games, School Holidays.

But if it is to go back to being an Autumn programme fair enough.

However, would it be nice for a few years to have an Easter Special say Paul McGann? or BBC2 or 4 show a vintage Doctor Who story?

an easter special would at least break up the gap somewhat, but with the current doctor. doing one with mcgann every year and then seeing episodes of the current doctor either side of it would confuse every casual viewer and a lot of people would come to actually dislike mcgann because of it aka 'tut, I thought it was a real episode, but turned it off when I realised it was just another one with that other guy'

Dear lord, I love Paul McGann. Always have done. But I am so sick of hearing his name in relation to Doctor Who.

yeah, the moment for him on screen long term has passed...by about 18 years

personally i would like a may-ish start so that the series would end August and then we'd have roughly the same amount of time between the series and Xmas special, and the Xmas special and the following series.

Having said that, the BBC never air any good TV in the summer because most people are on holiday.

It's better to have a series in Autumn than no series at all. Doctor Who was originally aired in the Autumn time anyway not easter, which is why our 50th anniversary special aired in Autumn.

It's people like you why Doctor Who fans get slated in the media for being bad fans. Doctor Who is in the best interest of the BBC or else it wouldn't be here for an eighth series. What other current BBC shows have run for over eight series?

So pleeeeaaase can you and others stop moaning about waiting 5 more months and be patient like everybody else! You know, I know, we all know Doctor Who is worth the wait!

The whole point of this forum is to moan about what we don't like and celebrate what we do. If we didn't none of us would be here and are evenings will be a lot more boring! We're not incompetent, we know what we say will have no effect, we're just exercising our freedom of speech and having fun at the same time!

Also Doctor Who may be at the BBC's convenience but that is entirely based on viewing figures, and as a result how happy the viewers are- therefore if they get better feedback through a spring airing, that's when they'll air it in future.

Actually, Who was originally on all year round. They gradually cut the season length when they went colour.

All this waiting is starting to grate, I admit. Take Name of The Doctor. We had that massive cliff hanger at the end, then had to wait months for the 50th to air to see the resolution. The wait between the 50th and Christmas special wasn't too bad. Now though many will probably forget we have a new face as The Doctor when series eight does eventually air.

Don't even get me on the series splits either. Whoever thought of that, needs to go live down a dark sewer for the rest of his/her days.
In that respect, I am pleased the powers that be have finally seen the light and knows that idea was a complete turkey.

If the BBC keep to their word and from series eight onwards we have uninterrupted runs and more importantly, we know when each series is due to air, then fair enough I shall be happy.
On a side note though, I do think an Easter special would cement Capaldi as The Doctor. I know that's the current rumour, but im not holding my breath.

Somebody close to the production team mentioned that they're filming episode 1 first because it's 'needed first.'

But I wouldn't look too much in to it.

I like it in the autumn, it's dark outside so I'm not eating out or on day trips and missing it. I just prefer the event with DW of sitting down at the time of broadcast and watching with the nation (but with the added functionality of a pause button to deal with unexpected phone calls etc).

I also would love an easter special if it was logistically possible - I want the actors and other staff to have time off to do other things so they don't feel trapped, but am just greedy.

When I became a big time Fan as a kid (1982) we had a January start and two episodes a week so the series was over in a few months and the wait for the new season seems *interminable*. Pleasure deferred.

Personally, I rather liked the Series 6 structure in 2011 when we had episodes in the spring, a summer break, then episodes in the Autumn; then not a long wait until the Christmas Special. Thought that worked well.

However, liking the idea of Doctor Who having a regular unbroken Autumn run every year; actually I think that's pretty much ideal.

Surely the big issue with showing it in the major summer months is that the viewing figures would drop off massively if there was great weather, because the available viewing audience ends up being so much smaller than in the autumn, when families are much more likely to be at home rather than out enjoying the sunshine!

I'm fine for an unbroken Autumn run every year.

Whilst I would rather it was spring again, the 'unbroken' bit is without a doubt the most important.

I'd be interested to hear the BBC's reason for returning to a straight run after three years of mid-season breaks. Anything to do with the 10% drop in viewing figures between season 7a and 7b?

Dear non-british viewers of Doctor Who on this forum,

Serious Question - does the shift back to Autumn have any impact (to sports, holiday season etc. in your countries?)

As an aside - the BBc can show doctor Who whenever they want, I'll just watch repeats in the meantime ...

Nope, it was because the break in series 7 wasn't originally intended, and that since series 6 (which moffat decided to split because he thought it would be good for the storyline) they have wanted to get back to having an unbroken run (plus the stuff Moffat said in 2011 about getting Who put on during the dark autumn evenings)

My guess is, that if they only started filming this week, they might not have that many ready by spring...

Sounds reasonable. I know there are stories about the show falling into 'production chaos' in the preparation for season 7 (hence one season across two years) but I thought Moffat liked the idea of the mid-season break as a way of boosting interest and viewing figures mid-season. Glad we're back to a straight run, though.

Even with the decision to have a cliffhanger episode the BBC/Moffat/Whoever got it BADLY wrong. The 'Clffhanger Moment' was surely the revelation that Amy wasn't Amy. Even though I called it on another website (invisitexted just in case one of my suggestions finally turned out to be what was happening) it was still a HUGE sucker punch moment, moreso if you didn't expect it obviously, and AGMGTW was the payoff for the cliffhanger in its content and would have proved a much bigger start to part two of the series than the almost throwaway episode that followed it.