10 Doctor Who Controversies Fans Can't Agree On
6. Does The Series Numbering Actually Matter?
And now we come to one of the latest debates within the fandom.
It was announced last year that Ncuti Gatwa’s first series would not, in fact, be named Series 14. Instead, we were meant to refer to it as ‘Season 1’, with the numbering resetting akin to how it did when the show relaunched in 2005.
The issue most people took with this is that, unlike the 2005 relaunch, the show hasn’t been off the air for 16 years, nor were we likely to see any significant status quo changes like we did between McCoy and Eccleston.
There’s also the frustrating issue that the show already has a ‘Season 1’ – the very first season in 1963.
To play devil’s advocate, Doccy Who is now hitting a huge international audience that may not be familiar with the show, and ‘Series 14’ is a daunting jumping-on point. It's possible this wasn't even a Russell T Davies decision, and was a Disney-enforced change as part of the new streaming deal.
OUR VERDICT: Understandable reasoning, but we aren't fans. We know RTD’s hands were likely tied on this, but like many others, it’ll be Series 14 to us.