Doctor Who Series 13: 6 Big Reasons To Be Worried

In just a few short weeks, Doctor Who: Series 13 (which will also go by the mysterious title "Flux") will land on our screens.

For obvious reasons, it's been a hell of a long wait for this new batch of episodes. Series 12 aired between January - March 2020, and while we did get a New Year's Day special in 2021, it's coming up on two years since Doctor Who was a regular TV fixture. Gone are the days when we'd get 14 episodes a year. Feels like forever ago!

Anyway, considering that large, pandemic-ridden gap, you'd think that the hype for Series 13 would be sky-high right now. Absence makes the heart(s) grow fonder, doesn't it? Well, not in this case. Based purely on the current state of the show, we're actually leaning more towards apprehension than excitement.

We'd love to say that we're full of confidence and hope, that we believe Series 13 will knock it out the park, through the time vortex, and into another universe. But at this stage, we can't - and here are several big reasons why...

As of writing, Series 13 is just over two weeks away. At this late stage in the game, hype for the show should be approaching its peak, and you'd expect to have seen quite a bit of footage from the series - trailers, clips, images, that sort of thing.

But in reality, this isn't the case at all.

We got a teaser trailer in July, which didn't really show us anything interesting. Then, we had a #FindTheDoctor online treasure hunt that took several weeks to complete, but rewarded us with nothing more than an audio message and a picture of a monster. Oh, and we just got a short clip of the Doctor talking about "The Flux". And that's it. That's everything we've seen - again, two weeks out from broadcast.

It's underwhelming, to say the least - we haven't even had a full-length trailer yet! And even outside the lack of traditional marketing, we didn't know who was writing or directing the episodes until right now. We still don't know about any guest stars, aside from Jacob Anderson. We don't know the plot. Fans have had to dig through CVs and leaks to uncover any information they can, but people shouldn't have to go hunting for scraps when we're this close to the premiere.

Look, the BBC wants to be secretive - that's fine, it's okay to be a little secretive. But this is too far. You aren't making people excited by doing this, and some of these decisions are baffling. Why hire the charismatic John Bishop, then tell him off when he tries to hype the show? Why bring back the Weeping Angels - you know, one of the most popular Who baddies ever - and not show us a single frame of them in action?

Obviously, this "lack of marketing" narrative will change over the coming days, but as of right now, it all feels a bit half-hearted. When you consider the huge marketing push Series 11 received, it comes across like the BBC has lost faith in the show.