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Doctor Who’s new showrunner and Doctor will bring ‘radical change’, promises BBC boss

Doctor Who’s new showrunner and Doctor will bring ‘radical change’, promises BBC boss

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Piers Wenger, Director for Drama at the BBC

As is always the way when a Doctor and their showrunner leaves, there’s huge change a-coming for Doctor Who fans as reported by Radio Times.

Earlier in the year, Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall announced they were leaving the TARDIS for pastures new, leaving plenty of speculation on who will be the 14th Doctor, and where the series will go next.

Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Piers Wenger, Director for Drama at the BBC, has said that the change we will be seeing will be “radical” which does fit with the usual revamp that the show goes through whenever the main figures involve swap themselves out for new ones.

And there is even change coming before that as the show is trying something different for its upcoming 13th revived series, which will see John Bishop join the cast, as the whole season will be one continuous story.

“We’re gonna do the biggest story we’ve ever done,” said departing showrunner Chris Chibnall. “We’re going to go to all kinds of different places, and have all different characters and monsters, and it’s all gonna be part of a bigger whole.”

Fingers crossed it won’t be long until we find out what is next for the show with the news of who will be taking over still not out. Although we do know that Whoopi Goldberg is very keen on being the next person in charge of flying the TARDIS…

“I wanted to be Doctor Who and I still do,” she said at Edinburgh TV Festival. “I think it would mean an evolution into being American and I don’t know that that’s correct for Doctor Who. I don’t know I can usurp that. As much as I love it, I love watching it still in all the iterations. There are certain things that are blatantly all English. Doctor Who is like that to me. It’s like Marmite. It’s very English and needs to stay that way.”

The BBC is “a very long way from wanting to rest” Doctor Who, says Drama boss

The BBC is “a very long way from wanting to rest” Doctor Who, says Drama boss

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Doctor Who - Jodie Whittaker

Doctor Who fans can breathe easy, as controller of BBC drama commissioning Piers Wenger has insisted there are no plans for the series to take a break.

Speaking at a BBC Drama launch event, Wenger told the press that the BBC is “a very long way from wanting to rest” the sci-fi show.

The current series of Doctor Who – its 12th since the show was relaunched in 2005 – will draw to a close on Sunday (1st March), with star Jodie Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall having already confirmed their involvement in another run of episodes, to begin shooting in autumn 2020.

But with overnight ratings having dipped below 4 million, Wenger – who previously served as executive producer on the show from 2010 to 2011 – was asked if there were plans to “rest” the show after that.

“I genuinely – I worked on Doctor Who myself, I produced it for many years, and I can honestly say that I don’t think it’s been in better health, editorially,” he said. “I think it’s fantastic and… the production values obviously have never been better.

“It’s an incredibly important show for younger audiences, still watched by families in a world where there are fewer and fewer shows that have the power to do that, so it will always be an important show for us.”

He concluded:

“I think we’re a very long way from wanting to rest it.”

Wenger also suggested that the cost of producing Doctor Who is not as significant as some might think, since the show is “not just funded by the BBC” but is “funded by lots of international partners”.

The 13th series of Doctor Who is expected to air sometime in 2021, though series boss Chibnall has hinted that the seeds for future episodes will be sown in this weekend’s series 12 finale.

“I’m coming back for a third season [and] we are already planning the stories,” he said. “Once you see the end of this series, you’ll realise there are some stories we’re already setting in train for next series. We have very big, ambitious plans for our third series together.”