Since pre-production is already kicking off either now or very shortly, unless you want a total hatchet job ready for say November, there's going to be no Who this year.

Yes, he's the best choice and safe or not, I have a feeling we're going to have a great era from him as well.

Sorry, but for me, it makes sense given his CV as to why the BBC would go for him.

I don't feel in the least bit threatened. I have my views, and, whilst I'm open to having them challenged, being personally abused, being called a troll or having my views dismissed because I might watch other television programmes which are too low brow for some posters, isn't going to change them. Reasoned argument as to WHY Moffat is a good writer or Showrunner might, but sadly that is hard to come by on this forum.

And yes, facts are being twisted. It was a pro-Moffat poster that introduced him to this thread, not an anti-Moffat poster.

Keeping a show going because of "overseas" revenue is never a good idea, a programme becomes a parody of it's original intent and I think that's what happened to Dr Who.

Whether that will change under the new guy... Seems unlikely since it's still the BBC and they are more commercially minded than ever before.

They are making Doctor Who this year. The series will be shown next year. There simply isn't time to make a series for broadcast this year considering the other commitments of some of the team. Contacting the BBC about this will merely make you look foolish.

Contacting Auntie and asking politely when the new DW series is airing fair enough-however,doing stuff like the infamous "Day of Action",* demanding a new series this year, will simply make you sound like the Simpsons's Comic Book Guy.


"Worst Program De-lay Ev-er!"

*http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv5...nessyears.html

That was tried back in the 80's. Contact Ian Levine and see if he can help you with that.

Reeks of a desperate shambles. Unfortunately I doubt many people will be that bothered with the lack of DW this year. I'm not sure it'll even be missed from the schedules when a new show arrives in the autumn slot.

And bring a hammer and 80s TV! Don't forget to load "Doctor In Distress" on your
Ipod!

I'm a little like you about Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who episodes in Season 7. Not a fan of Dinosaurs although Power of three wasn't bad. I did like Hungry Earth and Cold Blood.

I was hoping Toby Whithouse might have been the showrunner purely because I liked Being Human and he seems very creative but Chris Chibnall is also a great choice.
He seems a solid pair of hands .
Besides Broadchurch he was a show runner for Law and Order which I've enjoyed and I loved his Torchwood series 2 episodes. I think he can write for characters.
I really hope he goes down the drama rather than light hearted comedy route with the Doctor but I guess we will have to wait and see. I would really love to see Peter Capaldi stay for his first series but I suspect he may bow out next year which would be a shame

I've seen several people online,on hearing there was going to be a "big news story" about "Doctor Who", wondering if it meant a DW feature film, recovered lost episodes, or Capaldi leaving. Instead it was Chibnall taking over.

Chibnall taking over is a big news story and I wouldn't rule out Capaldi leaving either.

Yes, facts certainly are being twisted.

Evidently. It may come as a surprise, but good TV producers are hardly queueing up to work on Doctor Who. In fact, it's probably at the lower end of anyone's list.

Chibnall isn't just the next executive producer either. He's got an awful lot riding on his back, and if he doesn't turn the ratings around it really isn't that unlikely the show will go back into indefinite hiatus in five years from now.


God, it seems like a lifetime ago that people and the press were constantly talking about a rumoured film version in the works. I really can't imagine that ever happening now. I can't even imagine any further TV episodes will be shown live in cinemas. That bubble burst a couple of years ago.

It always suggests to me something you might need surgery to remove from your foot.

I can't say I'm thrilled at the news (I watched Camelot), but there are worse candidates out there. At least it wasn't one of those.

I don't really post in this forum any more but I just wanted to express my thoughts on the news about Chris Chibnall.

As far as I'm concerned, this is the death blow to Doctor Who. Russel T Davies was a fantastic writer/producer. Steven Moffat was even greater: a truly brilliant creative talent.

As for Chris Chibnall, I found every one of his episodes completely dull, and I absolutely hated Hungry Earth/Cold Blood. It was utterly, utterly dreadful. I wish I could get back the time I wasted watching those dismal episodes. I can't understand why Mr Chibnall has been invited back to write more episodes, let alone why they've given the whole show to him.

For me, this is the end of Doctor Who as a mainstream show. It has always been a cult classic, popular with the fans, and always will be. But if Chris Chibnall takes over, there will no longer be a wide interest in the series. It will revert to pedestrian and mediocre. I can well imagine it being moved to BBC2 in a few years' time when it becomes apparent that all the excitement surrounding the show has completely died up.

My choice of previous writer would have been:
1. Simon Nye ("Amy's Choice")
2. Neil Gaiman ("The Doctor's Wife")
3. Paul Cornell ("Human Nature", "Father's Day")
4. Tom MacRae ("Girl Who Waited", "Rise of the Cybermen")
5. Richard Curtis ("Vincent and the Doctor")

By the way, I've never seen Broadchurch and know nothing about it, but get the impression it is popular. As far as I'm concerned this is irrelevant. If Mr Chibnall's previous Doctor Who episodes were bad, they're not going to get any better. Mr Mofftat was producing gems like Blink and Empty Child before he took over. We have nothing like that with Mr Chibnall!

Chibnall is a 'name' at the moment, because of Broadchurch. Yet series 2 of that was a bloody mess, and everyone knows it. It doesn't matter how good Tennant and Coleman were in it, not to mention Eve Myles, it was written so dodgily...

And bless, nothing takes me back to the 80s more than the belief that fan pressure can move mountains (or copies of Doctor in Distress)

Chibnall - who knows? Moff's already shown there's a difference between writing for the show under another showrunner, and actually doing the job itself. But hoping it goes lighter not darker, if the new generation are expected/allowed to join the party.

I will keep an open mind as usual

Thoughts?. How about don't judge until you've seen what he can do. After Moffat's episodes in the RTD era I thought he was a brilliant choice to take over RTD, and he has been pretty bad as a showrunner and arc writer in my opinion, so I don't think you can judge anyone's suitably based on their individual episodes.

...and then when it goes lighter . people will compain its not dark enough.


Poor Chris

Well yes this is all very good and I agree that no one should be judging him yet. In fact no truly worthwhile or fair judgement can be made until the end of his first season. But the reality is that people are going to be discussing the merits of his appointment and what might come to pass and will be doing so for the next 2 years. It's what fans do.

And I understand your Moffat comparison (although I of course disagree...I think he's been a fantastic show runner) but being realistic is it not understandable that due to his highly questionable record with the show thus far that people are going to be concerned about Chibnall? Because he's actually starting from a negative position going in to what many would agree is one of the toughest jobs in television. At least Moffat had proved himself prior to his appointment by not only writing some good episodes but some out and out classics. Even being very generous to Chris Chibnall you would struggle to argue that his contributions thus far have been anything more than average . Now consider how many have said that Moffats work suffered from the pressures of being showrunner (again its a matter of opinion...I think on occasion it did) and apply that to Chibnall. It is an obvious concern. Is it likely the the additional pressures of running the entire show is going to in fact elevate and improve his writing? Highly unlikely. So this 'reverse Moffat' observation is a quaint one but it doesnt really stand up or make much sense.

Even Moffats most vocal detractors on here and elsewhere felt his work prior to becoming showrunner was very good and that the problems started when he took on the entire show. Now would anyone argue that Chibnall is in the same league as RTD or Moffat as a writer? Really? Because he isn't. So throw the additional crazyness of being showrunner on top of everything else and its understandable that some people are wondering if its a good move. Maybe this lone showrunner template needs to change. It nearly broke RTD at times. Moffat has clearly struggled. Outside of Doctor Who the issues Joss Whedon ended up facing with his Marvel work had what many would consider a negative effect on his work with Age of Ultron and has caused him to step well away from the MCU probably forever. Would a team approach work more successfully? You could have someone leading the way but with more support to stop the many issues that seem to come with the role. .

Am I the only one who likes my Who darker and more mature? Stories like Inferno, The Caves of Androzani, Genesis of the Daleks, The Deadly Assassin, The Curse of Fenric, The Ark in Space, The Brain of Morbius, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Pyramids of Mars, Earthshock, Tomb of the Cybermen, Reign of Terror, The Mind Robber: all very dark and mature stories and some of my favourites. Even RTD impressed me with some of his darker scripts (Midnight, The Waters of Mars and Children of Earth). And going into Big Finish my favourites are Jubilee, Davros and The Holy Terror.

I find that when the show goes for a lighter approach it struggles to really keep it under control.

Agree, I actually love the dark tone of the PC era.

Well I hope he doesnt read these forms because there are two and a half years before we can really make an informed decision, and yet for a few already the decision seems already made.