They told me there would be more Who than ever before...

How, in your evident wisdom, did you interpret Mark Gatiss's recent remark about the slave being free, by the way?

IIRC it was mentioned in the Writers Tale that they wanted the character of Martha to have a platonic companion relationship with the Doctor to act as a buffer between the romantic companions as RTD didn't feel it was right that the Doctor would immediately fall in love with the next companion after loosing Rose, but Doctor would probably have fallen in love with Penny had she come to be. So we have much to be grateful for Catherine for

liars!!! its all a conspiracy!!!

We do!

Do I also recall correctly that they had some high profile name attached to the Series 4 lead cast as well at one point? Like, really high profile? I stupidly left my copy of the book on a train a long time ago and can't quite recall.

Of the nine actors who have left while Doctor Who was/is a going concern, we know for a fact there was stage management for Hartnell and Eccleston and attempted stage management for Colin Baker.

One-third of the nine announced departures definitely involved BBC manipulation. And people wonder why this latest story isn't being taken at face value.

I highly doubt that was an intentional lie, moreso a mistake on Moffat and crew's part, what with things not going as expected. He probably shouldn't have promised something that he couldn't keep, but it happens. People don't understand you don't just churn out television, but that there's actually a lot of hard work to it. But hey, it's easy to complain from behind the comfort of the television as a viewer.

Mark Gatiss' comment is quite obvious really, we all know Moffat has been overworked with Doctor Who and that he's had no choice but to continue working on the show (or let it be cancelled, more than likely). My evident wisdom is so fab rn.

BBC = 3 letters
Lie(z)! = 3 letters

Coincidence? Not a chance.

BBC more like Big Bleedin' Calumniations

Still won't even tell us the Doctor's name

I don't really know the full situation with Hartnell, but I guess he went along with the lies? But in the case of Eccleston and Baker they were the ones to blow the roof off the corporate spin. This latest quote comes directly from Capaldi himself so I am more inclined to believe it than if it were a line being fed from the PR department.

I work on the rather nieve assumption that everyone tells the truth until they give me reason to think otherwise. At the moment I can't think of a single time that Capaldi has lied and I see no reason for him to start now.

Yeah, I heard about this before. Good grief, that would have given me a lot to moan about.

Romantic Rose in Series 2 was just about enough for me. Knowing that we got 'just mates' for Series 4 instead was such a better direction I think. And one that was then sorely missing from the Specials.

Oh I don't remember that but I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't read the book the whole way through so maybe this is mentioned later on. My interest wained a little when they started re-printing pages and pages of scripts, but I definitely need to pick it up again, something else for me to do during the gap year

Yes, of course I would have questioned it with them. The whole point of why I'm questioning it now, with Capaldi, is nothing to do with his acting (which is great), it is the very fact that Tennant didn't come out and say 'I've been asked to do series 5, but i'm still deciding', nor did Smith when deciding on series 8. In both cases any and all information about negotiations and the fact they had both been offered another series was only revealed AFTER final decisions had been made and announced publicly.

They never ever usually announce anything about the details of the show until things are locked down and confirmed and neither do the cast, which is why Capaldi coming out and saying he is deciding whether to stay or go, and being allowed to say such a thing, seems very suspsciously like a face saving exercise to allow him to leave with his head publicly held high.

Im not ruling out the statement being true, I just doubt it at this time based on what we know. Can you really believe with the amount he seems to be absolutely loving it, he would even have to think about whether to stay if it were truly his decision?

Does The Writer's Tale happen to mention why he decided to drop the romantic element and go for a platonic relationship with Donna? I've heard quite a handful of information about the book but I've never read it myself.

I think the show skipped a bullet with that one though, as Donna was quite a popular companion and her bond with the Doctor did work, something people still remember today, but I'm not sure what people would have thought about another romantic companion. I think all my family exhausted themselves complaining about Rose as it was. :P

I don't know whether Hartnell did any interviews at the time, but the BBC's press release contained a direct quote attributed to him.

As for Capaldi, he is still under contract for at least another year. So he may well have been instructed to play the PR game. Announcing a definite departure now would have us speculating about a new Doctor too far ahead of his debut.

I never finished on account of losing the book! The day I lost it was when I was going to get back into it, as I'd somewhat drifted for the exact same reason I think.


I recall it being mentioned but it's been so many years since I've read what I did that I can't recall the details. It seems we're all in definite need of a read of this thing

I do agree though. Series 1 did platonic, Series 2 did romantic, Series 3 did unrequited, Series 4 did friends...it was the nicest change of pace in dynamic that felt much more like the first series to me - now just more confident in its ability to deliver. A nice balance of RTD's terrific character writing, but freed of some of the more soapy elements as well.

The press has already been heavily doing that for months since it was annouced Moffat was leaving, so dosen't matter

When Capaldi eventually does announce his departure, the BBC will want to manage the two announcements. They will be relatively close together, so it looks like Chibnall has a plan.

My sentiments exactly

@GirlyLetters
Can you imagine someone from the BBC saying to Capaldi, "We're kicking you out but tell everyone you've been asked to stay."? Ridiculous!"

@GirlyLetters
Peter Capaldi wouldn't lie about something like that and no-one would ask him to lie either. He has the option of being in Series 11.

I don't know if this is what you're referring to or if it was from The Writer's Tale, but I remember reading (probably on this forum) that Kate Winslet had initially been approached to play River.

I guess that would have killed the possibility of any future appearances for that character as I doubt Winslet would have been willing or able to take on a recurring role.

I would but I can't stand that Benjamin Cook guy. He's like a mini Russell Brand, you just wish somebody would remove his voice box. :P


I think it's a shame we didn't see a more platonic type of bond when Freema was on board. It would have worked so much better for her character rather than having her bogged down by the shadow of Rose. I kind of view Martha as the "companion who never was" because I think what we saw was far beneath Freema's potential as a companion.

Agreed, she had everything you wanted in a companion, but didn't live up to the potential because she wasn't Rose which irritated me how much RTD brought that up.

On another note i really want a companion who lets say isn't always morally correct, and then we see them grow as a person. I think that would be interesting to do.

I wonder if "@GirlyLetters" is aware of the lie in William Hartnell's announced departure? Or the lie Colin Baker refused to go along with? Or the lie about Christopher Eccleston leaving the "happy ship" because he feared typecasting?

Yes but part of the point is that both Colin and Chris refused to go along with those and Girly Letters is saying so would Capaldi. He's as honest and straight up as they come, Why would he roll over and spread the lie? He once said when being interviewed about Malcolm Tucker that he very seldom loses his temper, but one thing that made him do so was being jerked around professionally by people who took him for granted and made him do stuff he didn't want to do. I highly doubt that, actor or no, he'd be doing this round of promotion so obviously happily and cheerfully and being so enthusiastic about the future etc if the BBC had said to him "go out there and tell barefaced lies to save our face".

Yes, because people are complicated, and it's perfectly possible to love something to bits but only want to do it for a finite amount of time. He said just yesterday on Steve Wright that he has a dread of things becoming stale and going through the motions. His point is that (all other things being equal, and talking only about how he feels about it, not about external circumstances) he'll choose to stay if it still feels fresh and challenging, so that he is still absolutely loving it just as much a year down the line as he is now. And if it isn't, he won't.

Plus don't forget he might be getting offers to do something else he's always wanted to do, and at his age (I'm speaking from experience here) you do become conscious there's only so much time to get all your ambitions ticked off before it's too late!

I hope he stays, but I don't think there's anything fishy about his not being firmly committed.

Colin and Chris were already "out the door", so to speak. Their contracts had been fulfilled and they were no longer tied to the BBC.

Peter, on the other hand, is still contracted for an entire series and special(s). He can't just go "off message" unless he wants his contract terminated sooner.