Series 7 Postponed?

4 Specials only for 2012?

Not sure what to think here. I guess I'll worry about it if it's confirmed by the BBC.

It seems too soon for another specials year.

Interesting that Private Eye blames bad budgeting and the Wenger/Willis partnership for some of the backroom troubles. For over a year I've been hearing a lot of gossip about how poorly they've handled the show.

I never really accepted all that guff from Moffat about the Series 6 split scheduling to be honest. Often thought there was something odd about it and it was merely an exercise in bean counting and ironing out production problems.

Wonder how much truth there is in that then? No smoke without fire I say.

Sam Hodges, Head of Comms, BBC-1 and Fiction, tweets: "#DoctorWho is returning. Fourteen new episodes have been commissioned with Matt Smith as The Doctor"

Frank wrote:Interesting that Private Eye blames bad budgeting and the Wenger/Willis partnership for some of the backroom troubles. For over a year I've been hearing a lot of gossip about how poorly they've handled the show.

I never really accepted all that guff from Moffat about the Series 6 split scheduling to be honest. Often thought there was something odd about it and it was merely an exercise in bean counting and ironing out production problems.

Wonder how much truth there is in that then? No smoke without fire I say.

I always found it odd that they managed to lose two experienced producers and Ed Thomas. Can't be a happy ship.

Hah! Private Eye forced their hand. 14 new episode!

Rich Flair wrote:

I always found it odd that they managed to lose two experienced producers and Ed Thomas. Can't be a happy ship.

Me too.

Rich Flair wrote:Sam Hodges, Head of Comms, BBC-1 and Fiction, tweets: "#DoctorWho is returning. Fourteen new episodes have been commissioned with Matt Smith as The Doctor"

I saw that but didn't know who Sam Hodges was! Steven Moffat has also tweeted "14 eps + Matt DEFINITELY. I've got a plan and I'm NOT TELLING YOU WHAT IT IS. Now hush or River shoots you with her Spoiler Gun.#formaqueue". So that's good!

They better hurry up and start filming them, normally filming starts in July, I think it was August last year. I wonder if next year's episodes will be in Autumn, meaning they can delay filming until January.

Rich Flair wrote:They better hurry up and start filming them, normally filming starts in July, I think it was August last year. I wonder if next year's episodes will be in Autumn, meaning they can delay filming until January.

Mr. Moffat, he have plan. He run series in Autumn.

Frank wrote:
Mr. Moffat, he have plan. He run series in Autumn.

That's what I suspected when the midseries break was announced.

I think I've alluded to an unhappy ship on more than one occasion over the past year or two. Private Eye sales will rocket!

Looking at it, right now, there's no tweets around saying along the lines of; "14 episodes of Doctor Who will be broadcast in 2012".

There was, from the Radio Times. Except they've now changed it to remove the reference to 2012.

Exactly. Typical PR disaster looms................

The Co=Ordinator wrote:I think I've alluded to an unhappy ship on more than one occasion over the past year or two. Private Eye sales will rocket!

Looking at it, right now, there's no tweets around saying along the lines of; "14 episodes of Doctor Who will be broadcast in 2012".

I believe you're on to something there, C=O. It'll be 14 episodes of Ganger Doctor. They really do kill off the real Doctor.

Thank you for your contribution Sir.

From Sci-fi Bulletin. A BBC spokesman ended the day by confirming that 14 new episodes have been ordered, but that it was not yet known how many would be aired in 2012. ”The new commission is a big commitment, not many other shows have such a commitment so far in advance. We do not know yet how many will air in 2012.”

Hrmm. Well, I'll wait for an official announcement that confirms everything. I think it would be a mistake to do a gap year so soon, especially with all the new interest the show's garnered of late. They need to strike while the iron's hot. But we shall see...

And from The Guardian.

I always suspected that the reason for the mid season break was to do with freeing Moffat up for Sherlock. I wonder how much of this is also to do with that?
Having said that, the last seven weeks haven't been easy for Doctor Who from a scheduling point of view, from various football matches to being opposite Britain's Got Talent. The fact that it's rated so highly is despite, not because of the BBC scheduling skills. And an autumn broadcast, especially supported by the ratings strength of Strictly Come Dancing may help the show.

But in all honesty, I expect that it's a combination of all these added to the 20% cut in BBC finances which mean the BBC simply can't afford a 14 episode series to be broadcast in one go, nor in the same financial year any more.

That said, I do hope this isn't true.

I think that another gap year would be terrible so soon. Every 5 years or whatever is fine, but a gap after just two series? Not a good move, people have only just got used to Matts Doctor, don't take him away for 18 months!

How about Autumn 2012 striaght thru to Late Winter 2013? There's a massive hole in the Saturday night schedules in January & February. To be honest, I'd really like that.

The more I think about it, the more likely I think Autumn 2012 start for series 7 becomes.

Perhaps slightly later with the Xmas Special in the middle of the series.

I guess that depends on one's definition of Autumn Rich. But I reckon this may be a long overdue change in production schedule as much as anything else. July/August to March/April guarantees loads of location work in the coldest and worst of the Welsh weather.

Imagine if you could change it to, for example, February/March to October/November - with filming for the Christmas Special 2011 taking place say at the start of Autumn, thus allowing plenty of time for post-production.

The Co=Ordinator wrote:How about Autumn 2012 striaght thru to Late Winter 2013? There's a massive hole in the Saturday night schedules in January & February. To be honest, I'd really like that.

When I read "Late Winter" I instinctively thought December, which would be awesome. Fifteen months of Doctor Who! But I must say that does sound like a plan going over the winter.