There is no way the Beeb would try to keep secret a Tennant regeneration. They'd advertise it well in advance IMHO - imagine the audience that would tune in to see the popular Mr. Tennant leave the show! No way would they "waste" his regeneration on a surprise. We'll know well in advance IMHO.

I'm not revelling in it at all, I'm simply stating the reality of the situation. I'm sorry, but there really is no room for debate on this issue - they cannot lie in a press release. They can't go around casually claiming that actor X will be in programme Y when it isn't actually the case. They'd get into serious s**t with the actors and their agents for doing that.

I don't know - I think they got their fingers burnt a bit when it was leaked that Christopher Eccleston was leaving after only one episode of season 1 had been broadcast. It made it very hard to invest in a Doctor that I knew was leaving at the end of the year.

So they may well keep it as a surprise or announce it mid-season.

Oh, I agree. I don't think they'd announce it at the start of the Season - but I do think they'll let speculation mount and announce it nearer the end of the Season. Plus they'll want plenty of publicity for whoever plays the new Time Lord.........eventually!

I really don't think his regeneration episode will be kept a secret. But of course, half the fun is speculating!

Not if it was pre-agreed with the actor (and their agent) in advance. I'd imagine Tennant would certainly be up for that, if he thought it best for the show. It's a press release, not a contract.

Seriously, of course there's room for debate, and of course there's room for the odd surprise - that's life, let alone ongoing drama! I'm sorry if this is upsetting for you, but this is TV - anything can happen...

Not upsetting for me at all. Look, I love plot twists and surprises as much as anyone, and I hope they do manage to keep certain things secret, but when it's already been officially announced that David Tennant is in season 4 and the specials (and if they've announced it then he has signed a contract) then it really is very very silly to keep insisting that it might all be a big ruse and Tennant could be leaving soon. You can carry on believing that if you like but unless he gets run over by a bus it's just not going to happen, sorry.

Nothing to apologise for, I don't want Tennant to leave, or get run over by a bus for that matter, I just think it's much sillier to insist that these things are set in stone because they're "official" and can't possibly be changed, or - much more likely - planned differently all along.

The fact that there's a press release means all parties involved agreed to the contents of the press release, no more and no less! The BBC can issue a press release stating that they're relocating Television Centre to the dark side of the moon if they like, it doesn't mean they're contractually obliged to start building the rockets.

Of course things could be changed, due to unforeseen circumstances (hence my 'run over by a bus' scenario) but to suggest that the BBC would release an official press release concerning the future of the show and blatantly lie about David Tennant's involvement is just ridiculous. For one thing, it would seriously damage their credibility with the press and mean that journalists could never trust anything they say ever again.

Here's the press release here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pre...r/03/who.shtml As you can see it includes comments by senior BBC figures - Jane Tranter, controller of BBC Fiction, and Menna Richards, controller of BBC Wales. Are they all jolly pranksters in on the ruse too?

And further to your earlier suggestion about Tennant and his agent being willing participants, that's equally ridiculous. No actor and agent would agree to such a thing. It would mean Tennant not being offered work because people would think he's signed up to play the Doctor for the next year or so.


No, it means that all parties agree that the press release is a statement of their genuine intentions with regard to the coming season and specials. There can't be any subterfuge or trickery involved because of the reasons stated above.
And coming up with a silly example like that doesn't alter the fact that you're wrong.

Sorry to keep banging on about it but you really are as wrong as it is possible to be on this point, and to keep insisting that it might all be a trick by the BBC just demonstrates an enormous lack of understanding on your part of how the BBC work and how television production in general works.

What would they do with his paving slab girlfriend?

Does the TARDIS have a patio room?

Well she's have to come along so that their 'bit of a love life' can continue

The final scenes in Last of the Time Lords was filmed before season 3 started airing. So how could the producers have decided that Martha was not popular no one had seen her.

My favourite guess for the end of season 4 is. Donna turns out to be Romana in hiding and Sally Sparrow is Susan also in hiding and the specials and season 5 has Sally/Susan as the Doctor’s new companion.

As for Dervish. Sorry ever since Princess Leia in Star Wars & Ripley in Alien you cannot have a popular female Character that is lady-like (as you put it).

Personally I like Strong females. My List of Faves

Princess Leia
Ripley
Servalan
Jadzia Dax
Seven of Nine
Sarah Connor
Susan Ivanova
Buffy
Willow
Cordelia Chase
Samantha Carter
Kara “Starbuck” Thrace

I am sure there are others but these are the ones that stand out for me.

I'm still waiting for him to come back as alt. Davros. .............. Like that's ever gonna happen!!!

Excellent list. I'd add Dana Scully, any character played by Ali Larter (she really should have become Sarah Connor in the SC Chronicles) and Kate from Lost.

Are you as gay as I am btw?

For goodness sake, RTD tricks the press and fans all the time with his "I'll never do that" statements. I'm positive the BBC have denied things in the past wrt Who that have turned out true. There is no sacred trust between the beeb and the press on this; the press regularly print any old nonsense just to fill the showbiz pages, and the BBC press office are happy to play the same game.


Just out of interest, have you actually read that press release? If you have, you'll have noticed that neither of those particular pranksters make any mention of Tennant's involvement in the show at all. It states that Tennant will star in the three specials, and it confirms that there will be a fifth series in 2010, but gives no assurance that Tennant will be in it.



Which wouldn't matter in the slightest if he already had work lined up (perfectly likely in this timeframe) or had simply decided to take a year out after three series in the Tardis, and one exhausting season on stage at the RSC.


No! It doesn't! That's merely your interpretation! You seem to be forgetting that a press release is simply an instrument of PR, designed to get across a story that the originator wants to published, that's all. It's not a legal document, it carries no weight, it enforces no obligation. You can call it a statement of intent certainly, but genuine intent? There's no guarantee of that.


No, it illustrates the fact that I could be right. You talk about credibility etc, and yes - a deliberately false statement would cost them some credibility - but credibility has a value like anything else, to be offset against the value of springing a genuine surprise on people, and generating hype and publicity later in the series. That has an immense value too, and if it costs the trust of a few hacks (who will most likely greet the news with a wry smile anyway) that's simply a judgment to be made by the BBC's press office, as part of their overall strategy.


This is going to shock you, but I don't work for the BBC or pretend to have anything to do with television production. You know what? I don't think you do either! It's almost as if we're just a couple of sci-fi fans posting on a forum for the sake of it, isn't it? That notwithstanding, I believe in the possibility of my "bum steer" theory, simply because (a) to me it's perfectly credible, and none of the generally less credible assertions you've made have remotely changed that, and (b) I like surprises - and so should you.

They wouldn't announce Tennant staying for another series in 2010 unless he was, simple as that. They don't have to announce whether he's staying or not, so coming out with a press statement like this must be assumed to be genuine. The BBC is already in trouble over the phone in scandal and them scaling back jobs, lying about the future of Tennants doctor to 'create a hype' would be set upon by the media within seconds. They would use it as proof that the BBC can't be trusted. Also, those other comments by RTD were storyline issues one way or another. This is about the main character, and his future. They never lied about Eccleston.

If you're asking for a young guy, perhaps Zac Effron from High School Musical, he could sing "We're soarrrrring, flyyyyyying" every time the TARDIS moves...



P.S. That's a joke, if Zac Effron every steps foot in the TARDIS I hope the Doctor has the good sense to take him back 65 million years and leave him to fend for him self.

In the lead up to the season one finale, the BBC 'accidentally' put up a web page showing an image of Adam which suggested he was the surprise enemy to be revealed in the final episode. It was only up for a few hours before being taken down again, but led to loads of rumours and speculation that Adam would turn out to be a new Davros.

Obviously, it turned out to be the emperor Dalek in the end. But I think its fair to say that Adam's story is far from over . . especially with his third eye and all.

They haven't announced Tennant is staying for another series in 2010. They've stated he'll be starring in the three specials in 2009, that's all.

Thinking about it, even that doesn't preclude Tennant's 10th Doctor departing in Series 4. The 2009 specials they've announced are "specials" after all, which - according to the press release being clung to by Mansun above - will see Tennant return to the Tardis.

Just for the sake of argument, consider this - Tennant could still feature in just one episode of series four, promptly regenerate into an 11th Doctor who remains for the rest of the run, and who then re-encounters the 10th (and 9th, 8th, 7th for that matter) in the three specials in some sort of multi-doctor special adventure. All the press releases would still be entirely truthful...

Oh wait, that's right, RTD said he'd never do a multi-doctor story, so that can't possibly happen...

That's an entirely different thing and not what we're talking about at all. Any statements made in an interview by RTD or David Tennant or anyone else involved in the production are fair game for speculation and debate. They can play word-games with journalists to their hearts content by phrasing things as cryptic double-meanings, leaving fans to work out what they're really saying, etc, but when it comes to an official press release by the BBC it is an entirely different ball game. There is simply *zero* possibility of such a statement being part of some elaborate ruse.
Name these false statements then. Go on, find me a single statement by the BBC which has lied about anything to do with Doctor Who. Not a piece of showbiz fluff made up by a newspaper, but an actual bona fide press release the same as the one I posted.
Yes, I have read it and yes, I realise they don't mention him but the fact remains that senior BBC figures do not put their name to a statement that is part of some elaborate prank designed purely to conceal a plot point in one single television programme. To think that such a thing is even remotely credible is utterly delusional.
I know, I never said anything about him being in the fifth series.
And if he already had work lined up, how exactly would 'the big secret' be kept? Don't you think people would notice if he was filming something else at the time he was supposed to be filming Doctor Who? Fans found out about him signing up for the RSC long before the announcement about the specials was made.
I know it's not a legal document with any obligation. I'm not suggesting anything of the sort and I don't know why you think I am. But the fact remains that the BBC do... not... lie... in press releases about TV shows. It simply does not happen, why is that such a difficult concept for you to grasp? The world does not revolve around Doctor Who and the plot twists that may or may not happen within the fictional reality of the show.
As I said before, I do like surprises and love it when the show can pull them off, but when there is an overwhelming amount of evidence and facts to suggest that a particular course of action is being taken I see little point in clinging to a ludicrous notion that it's all part of some deception to keep viewers guessing. You can keep a secret about Catherine Tate or the Titanic suddenly appearing in the TARDIS when it's filmed on a closed set at the end of a season, but in this modern information age it is utterly impossible to keep a major secret about recasting of the Doctor and expect it not to leak before broadcast. And to suggest that they'd go further than just keeping secrets, but actually tell blatant outright lies in an official statement about David Tennant's involvement, despite the whole world of trouble they would be causing for themselves through such a course of action, is beyond fantasy.

No, I have nothing to do with the BBC but I've read plenty of opinions and facts and details from people who do work for it and who know an awful lot about this particular subject. There's a lot of them over on Outpost Gallifrey for a start. If you still don't believe me I suggest you head over there and put forward your nonsensical theory that the press release (or any similar press release for that matter) might be a work of fiction. They'll soon put you straight on the matter!

OMG, you mean the experts at Outpost Gallifrey have spoken on the subject?? Well that's incontrivertible! Let me just double check the official line at Eye of Horus, and I'll get back to you. I'm on the phone to a spokeman from dr-who-online right now!



Honestly, if you're this intent on sucking any semblance of unpredictability from the show that's fine, up to you. I'll leave you to it. Personally, I prefer to have an open mind, and I've already outlined how they could stick to the letter of that press release and still write the 10th Doctor out at any point in series four, regardless.

Yes, I realise it's just a net-forum the same as this one but there ARE people there who work in the TV industry and are far more knowledgeable about this than either you or I. Why don't you try reading what they have to say before being so dismissive?
Oh for goodness sake, I am *not* trying to suck any unpredictability out of the programme. Have you not read everything I've said about how I do love it when they can pull off a surprise? I'm simply pointing out the fact that you are absolutely, incontrovertibly, utterly *wrong* in your repeated assertion that the press release might be a deception. How else is someone supposed to respond to a factually incorrect claim like that?

If you claimed that the TARDIS might be painted green with purple spots in the next season, and someone told you that was rubbish and it will stay blue, then you can cry all you want about how they're negating any possible surprises but it doesn't alter the fact that it's a very stupid idea not supported by a single shred of evidence.

You seem unwilling to listen to any sense, logic, reason, facts, or evidence on this point so I give up, believe what you like.

And yet the public love her and Billie has won heaps of awards and roles.


She's much better than that Treema girl whose character was so dull and worthless, she was dumped after ONE SEASON.


I think there will be a clean slate for David's Doctor and a new companion. No way will they cast someone who can't act again.

Again Freema (that is her name but you probably knew that ) wasn't dumped she's returning to Doctor Who and also making an appearance on Torchwood. Y'know sometimes characters are written out of shows for actual story purposes and not because the actor was rubbish.

You think Freema can't act, personally I thought she was great and actually made a character who was saddled with a rubbish '2nd best' arch and given very few good lines a lot better.

I find it hard to compare her to Billie: Billie is very good at what she does but I don't find the whole 'surface' acting thing very inspiring (i.e a lot of people loved her performance in DD but I much preferred Tennant's because he had stuff going on under the surface). But at least Freema could do 'funny' without coming across as 'smug' and 'confidence' without it coming across as 'over-confidence'... also Billie never convinced me that Rose was a working class londoner, her accent was quite terrible sometimes. Also the scene with Martha in the tardis in Human Nature was (for me) far better than anything that Billie had done in her two years (but then again Human Nature was better than anything in NuWho)

Great Post! Agreed with every word! (Well, all except the end part, I personally love ALL of "New Who".)

MUCH better than my other Post.
Last edited by Red-Eye : 13-12-2007 at 19:35

No I am not.