10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Doctor Who
7. Chris Chibnall Had A Five-Year Plan
The Timeless Child twist cemented the Chris Chibnall era as the most divisive time in modern Who, but interestingly, the decision to shake-up the Doctor's backstory was something that the BBC supported him on from the very beginning.
“I knew from the start,” Chibnall told Radio Times in 2020, adding that the Timeless Child concept was included in his initial pitches to BBC execs.
It's quotes like this that fuel a myth that began right at the beginning of Chibnall's tenure, with fans often bringing up his supposed "five-year plan," for the show - even though there's zero evidence that Chibnall said such a thing in the first place.
And that's because he didn't, with the five-year myth actually stemming from a 2017 quote by James Strong, who directed several Doctor Who episodes under Russell T Davies, and also collaborated with Chibnall on Torchwood and Broadchurch.
Strong - who was clearly just speaking in broad strokes - said that Chibnall's Doctor Who undertaking was a "five-year project," which was then spun by various outlets and fans as "Chris Chibnall has a five-year plan!" and thus, the myth was born.
Now, could Chibnall have had a firm, half-decade gameplan for the show? Sure. He clearly had the Timeless Child mapped out way in advance! The misconception here isn't that he didn't have a five-year plan - it's that he publicly stated he did.
At the same time though, there's always an element of "making it up as you go along" in television, because you have to adapt as the audience responds - and with the Timeless Child controversy and falling ratings, we wouldn't be surprised if Chibnall has changed course along the way.