Doctor Who was never the zenith in sci-fi or fantasy, televisual or otherwise. But since it became a worldwide hit the show has switched its sights from British tea-time treat to large scale epic. In some regards that's a good thing. As teachers always tell us aiming high is the only way to get anywhere in life and the show now exudes a confidence it never did before; the scope is wider and it's happier having the action on-screen sit within part of a much bigger universe. But all that good work could be undone as it's, if anything, aiming too high; it's trying to compete with the biggest of all geek shows, Game Of Thrones. HBO's medieval-fantasy is one of those shows that acts as much of the argument for TV's dominance over film; it's just that good. And three things will stop Who ever coming close to. It doesn't have the budget to visually match it, there's not a detailed game plan and, biggest of all, the Doctor has to appeal to a family audience and not just genre fans. And why should it try to beat the adaptation of George R.R. Martin's epic? It's survived for fifty years as a kooky British curio and is at its best when it embraces that. This isn't just wild speculation on our part either; Steven Moffat has directly stated he wants to compete with the HBO juggernaut. And on the UK License Fee dictated budget in an early-evening BBC One slot that ain't going to happen.
