Well...he will! And then we'll see what the next man/woman does. Whoever that might be.

Series 9 is in my top 3 series of C21 Who so am not jaded myself. I can understand people who aren't enjoying current Who being frustrated, but do find the Moffat bashing I see online a bit OTT. He's not actively seeking to eff people off...

He's done the show a favour by staying on with no clear replacement to take over from him currently. The only other option would probably be to put the show on a real hiatus.

I for one am grateful for what he's contributed to the show. He's made a lot of mistakes along the way (I still can't stand The Beast Below), but so have most creative minds behind DW. In my opinion stories such as Heaven Sent, Listen and Day of the Doctor belong up there with DW classics like Inferno, Pyramids of Mars, The War Games and The Caves of Androzani.

I felt this too but I didn't watch classic only like some episodes, but as someone whos watched series 1-9 series 8 was okay but series 9 takes a massive tone shift to me, although it did have only some funny moments.

I actually liked The Beast Below especially since I started watching late 2009, infact I liked all of Series 5 and Series 6 except the opening episodes. Why do people hate The Beast Below, genuine question?

The Beast Below, for me, was a gnat's crotchet from being a classic. I really liked it at the time and still do now. The mistake, of course, was using children as part of the plot. All a bit daft with the whale refusing to eat them. And the role of the queen was rushed.

But the scenario was pure classic Doctor Who for me and, as a child of Pertwee (not literally, my mother to my knowledge never met the man) it had great appeal.

The two faced thingies were a gimmick, but scary. It's a shame they couldn't have been integrated into the story slightly better. But they worked well to add to the Orwellian feel of the society on that spaceship. At once an authoritarian regime and also a democracy of sorts, but predicated on collective denial. Really rather interesting.

It was crying out to be a good old fashioned four or six parter with lots of boring filler. Sorry. Not boring filler. I meant time to flesh out the themes and build the reality of the backdrop society.

I'm rather hoping Moffat remembers that this sort of simple non-timey wimey but interesting story is perfectly valid. Unfortunately he's conscious of its poor reputation and joked in DWM once about his son telling him it was rubbish. Bloody kids.

Kill The Moon is a similar premise. But Beast Below works better. (pity about Kill The Moon - it was quite a good scary story until the egg business was revealed).

It felt quite lifeless and rushed to me, with the Smilers being a gimmick that didn't really add anything to the episode and Liz 10 being an incredibly annoying character. And while I generally don't agree with criticisms of Moffat's scripts being complex for the sake of it, this is my one exception. I know at the time I had pretty high expectations going into it because of how much I loved The Eleventh Hour, but even now it's an episode I struggle to really have much interest in. The biggest plus for me was Karen Gillan in a night gown the entire episode, but I shan't go there.

All perfectly valid criticisms your lordship. One imagine's the Doctor was averting his gaze as he held onto her ankle and she floated above him in just her night gown. I trust you'd have done the same.

I wasn't really sold on the show with The Eleventh Hour - I thought at first I was just missing Tennant and Tate. But then then The Beast Below happened and I remember thinking Doctor Who was in big trouble. The episode was just awful from start to finish, and I remember thinking how little I cared for Amy and even the new Doctor. Little did I know then i would have another five years of feeling pretty much the same way.

Capaldi says he thinks this series will be his last. No idea why he thinks that.

He wants Susan returning so maybe if he puts his foot down demanding it ll happen.

Gawd... reading this thread... it's more gloomy than series 9!

I loved The Eleventh Hour, the show really hit the ground running with that one, and I thought The Beast Below was great too. (Except for the Lancashire insult! ). It (and Matt) really sold the "old Timelord in a young body" vibe, and the Doctor's exceptional observational skills - noticing the things that other don't. A good episode for me.

'
Because Moffat is likely leaving and he thinks they might want him to go as well, a first if he is asked to leave since all nuwho docs had a choice to stay or quit

He said he has no idea what DW "Will be" after series 10,

No was I. highly overated episode IMO.

Personally I think. next to something like Heaven sent, its weak.

With you there. And in TBB we saw the Doctor get involved as soon as he sees an upset kid. Sweet. i think it's rather underrated myself. And I love the scene where Matt loses his rag with the humans. Another early indicator that he could mix whimsy with intensity. Still love the bit where he adjusts his Bow tie just before being covered in Spacewhale vomit!

Tom Baker never left just because of a new producer. It was a year or two later he got tired of the role.

"If this is just the mouth then I'd love to see the stomach!"
"ROOOAOAGGHHH"
"Though not right now."

Brill

We are (almost) of one mind. Eleventh Hour and The Beast Below were great. Lots of fun. Good stories. Some scares. Eleventh Hour was exceptional.

And ok Michael_Eve, I will begrudgingly admit that the Doctor's motivation for getting involved was cool. And that sequence was a masterful example of naturally including humour into a plot. It was funny without too being too overt a gag and it gave Amy a character development moment.

If there was one thing I am hoping from Moffat for series 10 it's that he looks back at series 5 and thinks "Blimey! Let's do that again."

"This is not going to be big on dignity!"

I wish he had before he wrote in the War Doctor.

Nothing against John Hurt because he did a good role I just hated the way Moff felt he wanted to solve the 13 different doctors limit. I could have done without the whole War Doctor as that should have been McGann and the whole 10 using energy to heal the hand because even RTD never really said if that was using a regen up.

But no Moff had to make out if it was. Id be happy if Capaldi was the 12 doctor and he has 1 more regeneration left before its solved.

Regardless of that the first 5 minutes were fantastic.

Me I did like it apart from stroppy Amy.

BiB Yes, I noticed that, too.

The thing I hated about TBB, apart from the fact that it seemed a bit odd that the children were sent to be eaten but weren't eaten, was the fact that the Doctor couldn't think of anything to do to the Beast except lobotomise it.

I thought of a few things - whizz off somewhere in the Tardis and find an alternative means of power or use the Tardis to pull the spaceship to an habitable planet for example.

But my genius Doctor didn't think of that. Why not?

Anyway, its long, long ago and far, far away, but, yes, like Mulett, it was the beginning of my dissatisfaction.

Do people really "hate" things in pieces of fiction, Granny?

OK - so let's get this thread back on track. The main things I want to hear rumours or confirmation of are as follows:

1. new companion/s (actor and character)
2. returning characters (mainly Missy, River, UNIT, the Paternoster Gang)
3. writers
4. broadcast dates
5. the likelihood of a regeneration
6. returning monsters
7. new monsters
8. Clara (I’ll need as much forewarning as possible if boring old Clara's coming back)

They do today when they are no longer mellowed after several whisky macs, but, in fact have a bit of a headache due to said beverages.

Bit of a headache? Only one cure for that. Whisky mac.

Clara is Queen Victoria on ITV. You're safe from that one. But I suspect you already knew that.

Rumour is JK Rowling writing and Peter Jackson directing.

Broadcast dates: 2017.

Returning monsters: Daleks. Cybermen.

Regeneration: All but guaranteed. In my view. 3 series. That's what they do.

New monsters: Same as series 9 - lots of cool looking monsters. Given minimal screen time or motivation.

Returning characters: Paternoster gang. I bet. Why not? Also Clara's father in a grim story about the Doctor telling him about his daughter's death, hampered by the Doctor's inability to remember who his daughter is. This one will have a grey colour pallet and be mostly standing in gloomy rooms talking. For a change.

New Companion: We already know that. It's going to be feisty young woman. Who's feisty. (tried to find the recent excellent post about Ms Feisty but the search facility is simply not working properly. If anyone else knows what thread the excellent "Ms Feisty" post was in please link it.)