Doctor Who Christmas special cancelled

[C8H10N4O2]

I haven’t seen this mentioned yet or any other discussion since the last main thread here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5313615-was-anyone-else-aware-that-the-new-dr-who-series-was-starting-tonight

Bare bones Beeb article is here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c621ln7vx7qo

Times article has more analysis:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/d4394dfa-d867-4f05-b4ee-05c838083f0b?shareToken=64a751c967e4fd4ad83a8f5328e6d5c9

The Times article syncs more with a lot of the discussion on the thread here - Ncuti deserved better storylines and scripts and the Disney money and special effects were a distraction rather than an enhancement. As the article points out - some of the most popular episodes of all time were low budget episodes which focussed on good stories, strong characterisation and tight direction.

I wonder who will take it on and if it will recapture the spirit of the earlier Davies’ revival.

Thanks for the Times link. I saw the BBC article earlier and wasn’t too upset as RTD is seemingly on a one-track mission at the moment.

I am more bothered about the franchise as a whole, as a lifelong fan, but am not sure how it can be successfully regenerated 😉 again - it would need some kind of pull for an audience and it’s quite a dated nostalgic thing really. The New Who worked for those of us who watched Old Who as children but we’ve had that now.

I liked Ncuti (apart from the weekly weeping) so wouldn’t mind it ending with him. Billie appearing and opening up a can of WTF worms is actually a good place to leave it.

I have nothing to add other than I loved Dr Who when I was a child and enjoyed it even more when it was rebooted and I watched it with my own children. The peak was the Amy/Rory/Matt Smith time IMO. Fantastic, often quite complex stories that were well written and worked on numerous levels.

It somehow seriously lost its way and forgot it was supposed to entertain in an intelligent way.

It seemed to become more about weird, preachy, forced storylines where a 'lesson' could be learned, rather than entertaining. A bit moralising, like some US sitcoms of yesteryear ended up.

I think its time it was shelved.

It definitely lost all subtlety and a lot of creativity in recent series. I love Ncuti and was really looking forward to his Doctor and felt he was let down, under used and there was too much reliance on special effects over creativity in the ideas.

The original RTD reboot was great and had a very good run. A rest followed by a show runner coming to it as a long term fan, as RTD was in his initial reboot could bring new life back to the show.

I thought Ncuti was a good actor, but the story lines were poor. I bet he regrets taking the job on now. It was all muddled, and interesting storylines and characters weren't given a chance before we raced onto the next thing. God of the week makes no gods scary or challenging any more. I hope they take a decent break and come back fresh again.

I thought RTD was quite dismissive of something he is supposed to love , as i heard him say on tv recently, it was all flashy with the Disney money but no real story Ncuti deserved better, anyway im sure it will be back maybe a year or so break will reset it.

It’s actually a relief to know they won’t be stringing it out any longer. The idea of a Christmas Special with no established Doctor in place would have been absurd.

(Lifelong fan, who was alive for the first ever episode, though probably didn’t take much notice for a while. Agree NG was poorly served. I still think of 73 Yards often …)

Funnily enough I know the exact person and production company who should take it on. But they need maybe another ten years experience to be a viable option.

I’m sad we’ve got another Christmas without a special, but agree RTD does seem to have lost his spark with it so glad a fresh person will take over.

Ir does of course leave a bit of a hole in the Christmas Day tv listings again, it was notable there was no “event” tv for Christmas Day last year for the bbc, and this does seem to be the one they rely on.

This. ^ It's not been good since Matt Smith left. The Chris Ecclestone and David Tennant years were great, as were the Matt Smith ones. Peter Capaldi - not so good IMO, and after that utter shite. It's tripe now, and the old Whovians have left in droves. It needs consigning to the history books now. It's been shit for years. There are a number of reasons people have stopped watching. The fact it's shit now is one of them, but there are some others. The woke agenda and box ticking being a main reason.

I think im the only person who liked Peter capaldi, I thought he was a great Doctor a bit older than previous,

The woke agenda and box ticking being a main reason

What do you mean?

We all loved him ! Peter Capaldi, David Tennant and Matt Smith. Those were the best Dr Who years. It’s been terrible since then, boring, unrealistic dialogue, and annoyingly preachy in a really patronising way. Completely ruined it.

David Tennants Doctor was quite whiny and preachy wasn't he?

Moffat is being quite funny about answering questions, maybe he’s planning to take over. Who knows. Just sick of the wokeness, David Tennant was hugely overused and the whole rose/donna and bi generation thing was really weird. If Moffat doesn’t come back and pick it up then it just needs to be shelved permanently.

Yes, but Ncuti was just a cry baby. They ruined the doctors persona.

Absolutely agree, couldn’t watch the last few years of it.

Exactly this, and NO, David Tennant was not whiny and preachy @Lomonald

The preaching and woke agenda now is off the scale.

It is the BBC they have and will continue to ruin anything profitable. And Dr Who is immensely profitable.
They did it with Death in Paradise. And will do it with Strictly.
They interfere with the format that made it very successful. And by doing so kill it stone dead.
No doubt before long Traitors will get the same.
The other thing they do is over egg things. By turning everything into a celebrity version. Too much.

My son’s particularly the younger one who is now 22 were absolutely obsessed about Dr Who. The youngest wouldn’t got to nursery unless he has a Dr Who T-shirt on and had all the various Dr Who screwdrivers. I loved it as a child in the 70’s and loved the reboot but I gave up with Jodie Whittaker although I did watch a couple with Ncuti and particularly enjoyed one where someone was stood on a landline for most of the episode.

I always particularly enjoyed the episodes woven round real events and people and would often do research after the programme to learn more. However I remember watching an episode with Jodie Whittaker centre round Rosa Parks. Great but then at the end we had Jodie lecturing everyone for about 5 minutes about what had happened to Rosa and all about the civil rights movement. It felt like a school programme and I felt like I was 6 again in a lesson being expected to take notes for the test at tge end. Really spoilt it. Pretty much gave up there and then.

i didn’t & I stopped watching it then, really.

The James Bond franchise is also on hold - and that's about the same age isn't it. At least the Beatles are still going if you count Paul and Ringo's new albums out this season.

I don't have anything else to add just didn't want to ignore you.

Dr Who has been absolute shit as has everything produced by the BBC over the last few years.
They turn everything into a drab history of inclusion and shove as many people with disabilities, races, flags and extreme body shapes as much possible into every episode of everything no matter how irrelevant and ludicrous to satisfy their quite frankly woke agenda.
Its beyond tedious.

Yes, the first time round I stopped watching at Sylvester McCoy. The second time round at Peter Capaldi.

@Gettingbysomehow

Dr Who has been absolute shit as has everything produced by the BBC over the last few years.

They turn everything into a drab history of inclusion and shove as many people with disabilities, races, flags and extreme body shapes as much possible into every episode of everything no matter how irrelevant and ludicrous to satisfy their quite frankly woke agenda.

Its beyond tedious.

100% agree with you.

Some people don't like to admit this, but it's true, and a LOT of people are saying it. The constantly falling viewing figures are proof that people have had enough.

Used to love Doctor Who but it's been awful for years now.

It's been particularly bad for the last 5 years.

The messaging was even worse than the storylines.