10 Urgent Remedies Needed For Doctor Who

Okay, let's face it: Doctor Who is in dire trouble. Forget the 'anti-wokers' or those who still haven't moved on from the end of Tennant/Smith/Hartnell/insert-previous-Doctor-actor's-name-era here. Instead, the one thing that really matters is people just ain't watching. It's not like people didn't give the first female Doctor a go either, with over ten million viewing her pilot episode, before the worrying decline that has seen viewer numbers halve.

But what can be done? It's not like the show hasn't been here before, and it has always managed to not just survive, but also to thrive. Still, the situation this time is as dire as it has ever been, so there's no option for half measures.

With Jodie Whittaker signed up for another season and head writer Chris Chibnall looking set to stay on, the 'soft option' of axing the first female Doctor or chief scribe looks to be off the table. The cinematography and sound mixing have never been better, and the acting on the whole has been fine, so changes here don't look to be the answer. Instead, the major adjustments needs to come from two sources at the core of the shows problems: the poor writing and lack of publicity.

Without action, this once great show may come to an unfortunate end.

Now this one may seem a little 'break glass in case of emergency', but we are in crisis mode, people! Bringing back previous Doctors has worked a treat for anniversary specials, although the one time he was brought back for the purpose of boosting ratings was a bit of a bust. On that occasion, the second Doctor Patrick Troughton returned to assist the sixth Doctor Colin Baker in his first season. Considering the season was put on permanent hiatus shortly after this episode screened doesn't speak well for the experiment.

This is not to say it can't work now though, especially considering the popular options available. David Tennant is much loved and would be a guaranteed temporary boost to the ratings which would hopefully be maintained. Matt Smith had his fans and may be a more viable option, but the coup de gras may just be Eccleston.

The fact that Eccleston left so hastily was a great shame, and even though we got the best Doctor ever as his replacement, he was still gone too soon. There would be so many story arcs that could open up with this move, and it wouldn't have a retread feel about it that Tennant's return may be lumped with. If all those options fail, then an expansion of Paul McGain's 8th Doctor story would be an arc that could get fans excited.