Doctor Who- this might be the last straw even for me.

[TinselAngel]

For fucks sake

Juno Dawson as a writer.

I stopped watching it ages ago. But this doesn't surprise me.

Didn't Dawson write a novel for the Dr. Who series back in 2018?

I genuinely don't know anyone in the UK who still watches it.

Ruined it for me once they started with a female Dr.

I quit them too.

Struggled on through the female Doctor series because I really, really wanted a female Doctor to be good. I even watched the new David Tennant and Catherine Tate ones because they used to be my favourite pair (tbf, the second one was fun).

Constant disappointment - I think I finally learned my lesson!

Was it lacking sex and drug references?

So, we giving it another season,or two,before it's "McCoy-ed" ? I look forward to it coming back in ten years, when things have kept rebalancing

The ratings tell their own story.

Since the revival in 2005, the series average viewing figure up to season 8 was 8 million or just under, only season 6 being markedly lower.

For the latest season the figures per episode were between 3.38 and 4.08 million - and that's the total for overnight, catch up and all other devices. (The Christmas special was a bit better at 5.91 million aggregate.)

In other words, the audience has at least halved in 10 years.

Quite.

Season 2? Isn't it on season 102 by now?

Me, but I'm struggling. The look at us, aren't we so woke and inclusive instead of actually writing something good is driving me nuts. Combined with Ncuti Gatwa's bloody awful overacting, he's even worse than David Tennant. But I've loved this program since I was a tiny child, when Tom Baker was able to camp it up in a comedic fashion without the overly ernest over-the-topness tedium we're getting now.

I think the writers need to decide who the Doctor Who audience is. It was always a children's programme years ago but since the David Tennant series it's lost its way. My 10 year old son loved it, he bought all the figurines, dressed up as David Tennant and looked forward to the Christmas special. There was great anticipation over who was going to be the new Doctor - then it all seemed to go wrong. Incomprehensible storylines that even I couldn't understand - too many characters - it's no longer a children's programme and as much as the BBC hype it up, it's just lost its way. Simplify the storyline and decide who your audience is BBC!

I’m a lifelong Dr Who fan. But without any other consideration I would be dismayed at this instagram post a few hours ago from any script writer:

I'm not normally a betting person but I'm wondering whether William.Hill gives odds on TV series being cancelled/not being renewed.

It happens a lot on streaming services, for a start. And Disney, who are now involved, have been ruthless - The Acolyte and Andor being cases in point.

I might have a flutter on no more Doctor Who after this next season.

Old enough to remember the Pertwee doctor although Tom Baker is “my” doctor. Lost me at McCoy. Enormously enjoyed the reboot, all the way through to Matt Smith who I thought did a great job at playing an old soul in a young body. It lost me at Peter Capaldi era, which was a disappointment as I love Peter Capaldi. I tried again with Jodie Whittaker as again I like her as an actor and wanted a woman to be a great doctor but lasted about four episodes. I enjoyed the Donna episodes but I watched the first Ncuti Gatwa episode, went WTAF (a musical section?!) and haven’t watched since.

The production seems to keep going for “bigger is better”, whereas IMHO all the better Who storylines are about dealing with the smaller scale individual, relatable, scary things whether you’re a child or adult. Like Blink or the Empty Child, or seeing Cybermen walking down a British street.

i think RTD has run out of story ideas (some of his early reboot ones were excellent) and the show needs a rest now.

‘My 10 year old son loved it, he bought all the figurines, dressed up as David Tennant ‘

I don’t think many more dc will be doing this, in the light of recent events…

The BBC are in a time warp / parallel universe of their own, shared only by the Graun, and maybe some of the wider reaches of Reddit.

I'm also a lifelong Doctor Who, and long term RTD fan. I was really pleased when I heard he was coming back. I've no objection to there being trans characters per se, trans people do after all "exist", as we're often reminded. I could cope with the drag artist (although if I were one I'd be asking why they only get to play villains), it's the sheer relentless unrealisticness of Donna's "daughter" (absolutely everybody stopping in their tracks to exclaim how beautiful he is) I can't forgive and it feels like the whole thing has been "queered". As if RTD is so frightened of being cancelled over Barrowman etc he's gone way overboard the other way.

They need to drop it for a few years and reboot properly. I'm sure there's some timey wimey way to wipe out everything after Matt smith or at a push Capaldi.

It's such a shame about Jodi Whittaker, that she got rubbish scripts. Like a pp I watched the Donna specials and enjoyed them, and the first of the Ncuti Gatwa but it just didn't work, which was also a shame.

Old enough to remember the Pertwee doctor although Tom Baker is “my” doctor. Lost me at McCoy. Enormously enjoyed the reboot, all the way through to Matt Smith who I thought did a great job at playing an old soul in a young body. It lost me at Peter Capaldi era, which was a disappointment as I love Peter Capaldi. I tried again with Jodie Whittaker as again I like her as an actor and wanted a woman to be a great doctor but lasted about four episodes. I enjoyed the Donna episodes but I watched the first Ncuti Gatwa episode, went WTAF (a musical section?!) and haven’t watched since.

I think you're me. Agree with everything here. I loved the Matt Smith/Amy/Rory/River storylines. Wanted to like Jodie's doctor but she was just too daft and bumbling.

DH and I now play Dr Who bingo:

White woman with black man? Check
Black woman with Asian man? Check
Gay or lesbian couple? Check
Trans character? Check
Someone in a wheelchair? Check
Three legged dog (so three legged dogs don't feel left out)? Check
Interesting storyline? Uh.....

It's like they want the audience to drop so they can make a point about how they're too good for the ignorant general populace or something.

And don't get me started on the timeless child nonsense which RTD has inexplicably decided to run with.

I've no objection to there being trans characters per se, trans people do after all "exist", as we're often reminded.

Cassandra the plastic surgery addict was transgender according to a throwaway line in the show - she talks about having been a little boy.

I wonder what RTD thinks of the character now, given the whole redesigning Davros thing.

After the episode with Meep asking for pronouns I will never watch it again.

I’ve not watched it since about 1968

See here if you don't know about the pornographic fantasies Dawson markets at twelve-year-olds.

It's a win-win either way.

Viewing figures are great = a sign of approval of the show's messaging.

Viewing figures are terrible = just goes to show how right-on and superior they are to everyone else.

There are always two modes - the majority is for us (and we're just waiting for the rest of you to die or educate yourselves), and the majority is against us (we are oppressed and the fight against fascism is hard). If one mode isn't working then the other one is there as a backup.