The Single Biggest Mistake Every Doctor Who Series Has Made
7. Series 7: Ditching Two-Parters
Following the heavily serialised structure of Series 6, Steven Moffat went the other way for Series 7.
Multi-part stories were out, and standalone adventures were in. ‘Blockbuster’ was the buzzword, with the show exploring more genres than ever before. The episodes even got their own movie-style posters.
As a strategy to drum up week-to-week excitement while simultaneously silencing complaints about convoluted storylines, it seemed sound. But in hindsight, doing away with two-part stories wasn’t the best idea.
Every story now had to be crammed into a 45-minute runtime, even if they demanded longer. As a result, some episodes felt extremely rushed, with The Power of Three the most notorious example. The story of the ‘Slow Invasion’ would've been a perfect two-parter, with the moment the cubes reveal themselves serving as the cliffhanger.
The same is true of the series finales. Just imagine how much grander The Angels Take Manhattan and The Name of the Doctor would've been if they had more room to breathe.
Ditching two-part stories led to far too many mediocre and forgettable stories, and it's no surprises Series 7 is easily Matt Smith's weakest run on the show.