10 Fixes For Doctor Who's Future

Once upon a time the most controversial thing you could say about Doctor Who’s airtime was "Is 8pm a bit too late?"

But the Disney era took things to a whole other level, with episodes dropping on streaming at midnight or 8am, ahead of the main BBC1 broadcast.

Though they never came out and said it, it’s pretty clear that this messing around was all down to Disney, perhaps to prioritise American viewers or to make streaming the main product.

We can get nostalgic now about watching Sutekh’s return in the early hours or following Belinda’s journey while eating our Cheerios. But at the time the gap between the streaming drop and the television broadcast was a total headache, requiring you to dodge spoilers for potentially 18 hours or more if those rather inconvenient midnight and 8am drops didn't work for you. Not to mention fragmenting the audience like this made each episode feel less of an event.

So for the love of god, just have the streaming drop coincide with the UK broadcast going forward. That's how it was for the 60th anniversary and you didn't hear anyone complaining, so why fix what isn't broken?

It also feels like a return to the autumn/winter months would be beneficial for Doctor Who, especially when you look at the ratings success of The War Between the Land and the Sea, which launched with overnight viewing figures higher than almost any episode of Doctor Who from the last few years.

It's worth a go at least, with the added bonus of more people at home watching telly when it's cold and wet also a factor.

It does also feel like dark, cold nights are perfect for Doctor Who, doesn't it?