10 Reasons We're Entering A Doctor Who Golden Age
2. No More Gap Years
The Doctor often struggles to navigate the TARDIS with any regularity. And over the past few years, Doctor Who’s broadcast schedule hasn’t been much different.
In fact, it’s been nearly a decade since we've had two series broadcast at the same time of year in consecutive years – Series 8 in 2014, and Series 9 in 2015.
This has largely been down to the show’s punishing production schedule. Chris Chibnall recently revealed that they “just missed” an autumn 2019 slot for Series 12, and the decision to postpone Series 10 to 2017 was likely a similar story.
A 2011 interview with Steven Moffat regarding the split series approach for Series 6 and 7 is particularly telling. He said: “Why are we killing ourselves, and risking compromising the show, in order to go out in the middle of summer?”
The beauty of the current era is that the show is enjoying longer lead times than ever. The 60th anniversary specials wrapped well over a year ago, Series 14 is in the can, and Series 15 is already in pre-production.
Indeed, RTD has confirmed that his plan is for “annual Doctor Who”, with “no gap years”.
A regular series pattern is crucial to maintaining and growing interest in a brand, so this is fantastic news. If Bad Wolf can keep this up, Doctor Who is going to have a bigger presence than ever before.