Re: Series 7 Postponed?

by The Browncoat Cat Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:13 am

As I have said elsewhere, I really would not mind if they made 14 episodes for 2012, but only showed 6 and the Christmas Special in 2012, if it meant the rest were held over until 2013. Imagine it, two series of 10 episodes (one in the Spring, one in the Autumn) plus the Christmas Special in the Anniversary year, with the second series of 10 ending on Saturday, 23rd November, 2013 with a humdinger of an anniversary story.

by **Johnstone McGuckian** Sun Jun 12, 2011 2:47 am

So they effectively try to do 20 episodes a year? Interesting.

I have heard that the bosses at the BBC are interested in doing more 20+ episode long series, American style. It'll be very interesting to see what comes of this.

by Kate Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:11 am

Its a smart move. They may well do something similar to the yanks and have start date coincide with the return of the school year and have breaks for the holidays. It does probably mean good bye to the Christmas "special" though.

by **The Co=Ordinator** Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:41 am

Have to say that losing the Christmas Special wouldn't bother me one iota.

by Rich Flair Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:31 am

They'd still have it, it would just be in the middle of the series not a standalone special.

by **Johnstone McGuckian** Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:06 am

None of the chirstmas specials have ever been anything 'special'. If nothing else, the Christmas theme ruins what probably could have been a good story. I wouldn't miss them too much, but I'm sure that the ratings figures would.

by Rich Flair Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:44 am

Johnstone McGuckian wrote:None of the chirstmas specials have ever been anything 'special'. If nothing else, the Christmas theme ruins what probably could have been a good story. I wouldn't miss them too much, but I'm sure that the ratings figures would.

I agree (with the exception of The Christmas Invasion, The Runaway Bride, Voyage of the Damned, The Next Doctor and The End of Time).

by **The Co=Ordinator** Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:42 am

The Christmas Invasion still stands head and shoulders above the rest. A case of diminishing returns ever since.

by **Johnstone McGuckian** Sun Jun 12, 2011 12:56 pm

I'm the opposite, I find that they've improved each time. None of them are worth anything above 3/5 though.

by The Browncoat Cat Sun Jun 12, 2011 1:01 pm

Johnstone McGuckian wrote:None of the chirstmas specials have ever been anything 'special'. If nothing else, the Christmas theme ruins what probably could have been a good story. I wouldn't miss them too much, but I'm sure that the ratings figures would.

The Christmas setting has only ever really worked for Christmas Invasion and A Christmas Carol. Voyage of the Damned sort of works as a Christmas story, but given how much else the people of Sto got wrong about the Earth, it would have been funnier if the shore party had beamed down into the middle of June. There was absolutely no reason why The Runaway Bride had to be set on Christmas Eve, likewise The Next Doctor and The End of Time.

by **Patrick** Sun Jun 12, 2011 1:32 pm

The Browncoat Cat wrote:
The Christmas setting has only ever really worked for Christmas Invasion and A Christmas Carol. Voyage of the Damned sort of works as a Christmas story, but given how much else the people of Sto got wrong about the Earth, it would have been funnier if the shore party had beamed down into the middle of June.

An ironic observation, considering they filmed it in the middle of summer.

by stanmore Sun Jun 12, 2011 1:41 pm

I think Christmas would be a bit s*** without an episode of Doctor Who in the middle of it...

by Lee Carey Mon Jun 13, 2011 8:23 am

stanmore wrote:I think Christmas would be a bit s*** without an episode of Doctor Who in the middle of it...

Totally agree.

I have to ask why some people believe the BBC would get rid of the Christmas episode when, for the last four years its garnered ratings of 12 million and been the most watched drama of the year?

I was at the BFI screening of the brilliant A Christmas Carol last year, and the head of BBC drama was genuinely enthusiastic about it. As were the audience. The only people I've seen who disliked it have been Doctor Who fans.

by Rich Flair Mon Jun 13, 2011 8:49 am

It's a staple of Xmas Day, and they won't be getting rid of it.

by **The Co=Ordinator** Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:22 am

Don't personally see the logic in it if the series will be broacsting either side of Christmas.

by Rich Flair Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:28 am

If it's broadcasting either side of Xmas they'll still have a Xmas Day, therefore they'll still want a Xmas special.

by Lee Carey Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:32 am

The Co=Ordinator wrote:Don't personally see the logic in it if the series will be broacsting either side of Christmas.

Which may be an indication that either all this talk of some of series seven being broadcast in 2013 is false; or if it is split, half will be shown at the beginning of Autumn 2012 and the other half in the spring of 2013, leaving a suitable gap for the Christmas special.

The 'announcement' from the BBC is nebulous. Either 14 episodes have been commissioned including this years Christmas special, meaning the BBC being uncertain that all 14 won't be transmitted next year is true because one will be transmitted this year. Or the 14 episodes included the 2012 Christmas special, meaning we have 15 episodes to look forward to! Possibly. Or the series will have a six, one, six structure. Who knows?

The only thing I can say is that I still think any delay in the filming of series 7 is down to Sherlock, no matter what the rumours say. Gatiss has just tweeted that they've finished the first story of series 2 having started it mid May, with the next about to start. It's likely that they won't start on Mofatt's story until mid July, meaning it's unlikely they'll start the Christmas special until the middle of August at the very earliest.

by **The Co=Ordinator** Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:15 pm

The Christmas Special will not start filming before September. In an ideal world, Moffat would like it to be after the tranmission of episode 13.

And Moffat is quite possibly doing something on top of Who & Sherlock.

by **Dave Webb** Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:10 pm

And the filming of Sherlock is, to some extent, in the hands of Peter Jackson. He has managed to strip leading men from Being Human and Spooks, as well as Sherlock, while he makes the two Hobbit movies.

Martin Freeman must have quite a punishing schedule over the next few years, so is it likely that this is the last we will see of Sherlock for 18 months or so?

by Rich Flair Tue Jun 14, 2011 2:05 pm

No full series in 2012, says Danny Cohen.

http://twitter.com/#!/lizo_mzimba

by **The Co=Ordinator** Tue Jun 14, 2011 2:37 pm

Well i guess we knew that. Still a PR shambles by the BBC.

by barnaby morbius Tue Jun 14, 2011 3:40 pm

we need to record a record to make them think again!

anyone got sally thomsett's phone number?

by **Zoltar** Tue Jun 14, 2011 7:53 pm

barnaby morbius wrote:we need to record a record to make them think again!

anyone got sally thomsett's phone number?

Nope. We could try sending out an SOS.

by **Dave Webb** Wed Jun 15, 2011 12:22 am

With a bit of luck, someone will remember that the country is hosting the Olympics in 2012, or suggest that the BBC is waiting to see if the world ends (I'm getting a T-shirt with "Two raptures and one Mayan calendar: still standing" on it, or perhaps a slogan that's catchy instead) before showing a whole season of Who.

Then we can all concentrate on what's really important: why is cricket not an Olympic sport?

by **Zoltar** Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:11 am

Dave Webb wrote:With a bit of luck, someone will remember that the country is hosting the Olympics in 2012, or suggest that the BBC is waiting to see if the world ends (I'm getting a T-shirt with "Two raptures and one Mayan calendar: still standing" on it, or perhaps a slogan that's catchy instead) before showing a whole season of Who.

Then we can all concentrate on what's really important: why is cricket not an Olympic sport?

Surely fewer episodes in 2012 is the apocalypse!

by Sponsored content