I can’t see a thread about this on here and I would like to see what everyone else thinks of it.
The Sun is reporting that Ncuti Gatwa may well be leaving Doctor Who this season and they’ve even gone as far to say that its rumoured Doctor Who will be axed for 5 years!
Personally, I don’t see that there’s any reason to believe these rumours. They’ve been spouting similar rumours before because they get clicks from all those haters who hope the series gets cancelled so that they can say they’ve been right all along.
The people who engage with this type of “journalism” are the same types of people who actively get their dopamine boosts from seeing IPs/franchises fail/“flop”, because it’s an easier (and instantaneous) method for them to get that dopamine boost as opposed to actually engaging with the material (like most of us here do).
I do not click on articles from The Sun but have seen it via alternate means. While I 100% agree that there is a certain political bias from this newspaper & they have often come out with crazy rumours I do think there is some truth here, but dressed up to fit an anti-woke agenda.
Do ratings matter so much in today’s entertainment landscape? Probably not & viewing habits have changed. However it does feel like the show hasn’t captured the public imagination in the same way that previous eras have. Why is this? Maybe the show has had its time? It still has die-hard fans but isn’t the popular entertainment show it once was. Maybe RTD is chasing an audience that no longer exists? Maybe the format needs a shake up? Episodic ‘adventure of the week’ tv can still work, shows like Star Trek Strange New Worlds show that. But when you only have 8 episodes & need to reintroduce the main character plus their companion, tell fun stories within approx 45 minutes & have an arc with a big 2 part finale, plus taking into account that your lead actor playing the character the show is named after isn’t available to fully commit to all episodes. Well for me that’s a problem. & I feel that the return of RTD hasn’t been as big a success as hoped for. I also think RTD jumped into spin-off territory far too quickly. This new reboot should have been established first before introducing extra shows.
RTD had promised no gap years, if it was the plan all along to wait until after S2 before any decision was taken by Disney to fund more I find it difficult to see how a 3rd season can be made in time to avoid any gap year. Also, & this is the part of the article I believe may have some truth to it. Ncuti’s career is in the ascendance, if no decision has been made is he & his agent really going to wait? Really going to say no to lucrative offers from Hollywood? There must be some frustration on his part. So his rumoured departure has nothing to do with the success or otherwise of the show & more to do with potential career opportunities passing him by. There have been reports of last minute filming, months after the show has officially wrapped. This may well be reshoots, a regeneration scene? One left open ended for whatever happens next?
Will the show be cancelled? Maybe, As most people here know, I do not enjoy this era but I’m not wishing for it to be cancelled. However, if Disney pulls out I can’t see any other streaming service jumping in to fill the gap. From a business point of view Netflix or Amazon may well think, if a giant like Disney doesn’t believe its financially worth supporting then why should we? Will we make any money from it? Maybe it will carry on in-house, well with BBC & Bad Wolf. But then all the overseas broadcast rights will have to be renegotiated. & this will take time with the BBC not in as good a negotiating position as they were pre-Disney deal.
Maybe the Flux format is the way to go if it continues on TV? It might return as a movie? There have been so many rumours over the years about a big screen version. Who knows what will happen. Personally I hope it continues, partly because I would see no incentive from the BBC to bring it back a few years later. Whatever happens I do feel the show needs new blood, a younger showrunner & more diverse writers rather than going back to people that have been involved in the show in various ways for years. If it is going to carry on in-house the BBC should be bolder, take a chance on someone new.
That’s a well-put comment. You bring up several real issues and uncertainties with the current iteration of the show. Doctor Who has been going on for 20 years, which is very long for a TV show these days, and it’s clearly struggling a bit to maintain momentum in the modern TV landscape.
I can maybe see it taking a break for a few years but I would be surprised if the BBC ever fully cancelled it again. I don’t have the data so could be wrong but I’m pretty sure it still consistently does well enough to make them money, even if it doesn’t necessarily do as well as it used to
Maybe, but I am not sure the BBC really value the show like they should, if they ever did. Currently there is a huge auction going on of Doctor Who props, costumes etc. A lot of the money is going to Children in Need but if the BBC really valued the show all this stuff would be kept, maybe touring the country or a permanent exhibition like the BBC had a few years ago.
Comes as no surprise tbh. Just look at what happened to the Torchwood SUV, even when the exhibitions were open. Private collectors probably take better care for it.
It’s truly astounding how people will just believe any tabloid without a second thought. No questions, no suspicions, nothing.
Not even getting into the fact that that headline literally are saying the quiet part out loud by saying “woke storylines”… it’s nonsense.
And people wonder why our world is the way it is. When we can’t even have the literacy to notice what is absolute bullshit journalism. Unless the BBC (and I guess by proxy, Disney) themselves say something, the show is fine. Ncuti is more than likely not going anywhere. Anything can happen sure but let’s stop the doomer mindset of “The show is getting cancelled?!?!?!” already
They didn’t even bother putting it in any of the exhibitions (like they did with other props) and sold it pretty much immediately once the show got rid of it. Ended up being found a few years ago in some garden, all grimy and not taken care of.
It’s just the fact they didn’t even try to preserve it at all at the time. I think costumes and desks etc will be better/easily taken care of by collectors. But imo this is something they should’ve kept at least
Especially since this mindset constantly pops up and nothing has happened. The show was getting cancelled after Eccleston and then after Tennant and at least twice during Moffat’s run and it seems annually since Chibnall took over.
