Why Doctor Who Series 13 Nearly Got Cancelled

It’s hard to imagine Doctor Who ever being cancelled (again) but that’s the fate Series 13 (aka Flux) almost suffered. Here’s Ellie with the full story!

#DoctorWho #Series13 #JodieWhittaker

[Grandmama-Rainey]

I miss the Christmas Specials. I think Jodi didn't get the storyline she was worthy of. She was so much better than she was allowed to show. I'm glad we have a new showrunner!

[Kelse]

It would have been Chibnell's fault not Jodie's. She was very badly let down by him in terms of his stories etc.

[Zestieee]

As much as I didnt like Chibnall's run, I can only be glad that the team managed to not get the show cancelled.

[milosradmilac]

I am an Orthodox Christian from the part of the world that celebrates Christmas two weeks AFTER everyone. I want a Christmas special instead of New Years one.

[roganmuldoon]

Alienation of a large segment of Who fans had nothing to do with it???? Really?

[vikingofvegas]

I thought it could've been cancelled due to the massive fall in quality and the fans no longer watching

[SuperMinion]

Despite the tough working conditions I’m happy they were able to do Doctor Who Flux personally it was my fav season of Jodie’s run. I only wish the season could have been longer than 6 episodes but it’s understandable due to the conditions of the pandemic

[aaronbill]

I saw a video yesterday talking about the production of series 4, and in it RTD spoke about laying out the foundations- the very earliest writing- while series 3 was still in production. I find it kind of concerning that Chibnall dropped one of the biggest plot twists (for better or for worse) in the history of the show and then didn't already have plans in the works for where to go with that. That he didn't start thinking about the future of the show until series 12 was already airing and the pandemic was just beginning in the west.

[ftumschk]

Strictly speaking, he was only talking about Series 13 potentially being shelved for logistical reasons. I'm not sure this would have meant that Doctor Who as a whole wouldn't continue, even if it meant appointing a new showrunner and casting a new Doctor.

[djashley]

What also needs to be remembered is that until RTD came along again there were no plans for a sixtieth anniversary special of any kind. The original plan for Power of the Doctor was to end mid regeneration and then go on an extended hiatus.

As such I do wonder if we'd have been in a similar situation at the end of Resolution to the end of the McCoy era and the TV Movie, where we just left the Doctor heading off for new adventures.

[TheHartonGroup]

I feel bad for Jodie, she got a raw deal with Chibnell’s horrible writing. I’ve never hated doctor who until I had to sit through the “Timeless Child” story arc.

[Wolfinc]

I have to disagree with this. While every Doctor does DESERVE an epic send off, it does not mean they should get one.

Look at the Classic series: Hartnell’s body wore out. Troughton was forced to regenerate by the Time Lords. Pertwee was the first “epic” regeneration, by conscious choice. Tom Baker fell to his death. Davison sacrificed his life for his companion (OK, pretty epic…). Colin Baker (actually McCoy, but anyway) hit his head in the console. McCoy gets shot by a gang, simply walking out of the TARDIS.

Regenerations do not have to have an epic story to occur. Most stories in NuWho are epic, and of grand scale, so when a regeneration happens, it is usually during such an event. Tennant (first regenerates), because he was shot by some nameless Dalek, while running to reunite with Rose. That was a surprise, and a good one. Hurt regenerates into McGann, as his body wore out, as does Smith.

As Tennant says in “The Next Doctor”, “I hope it wasn’t something silly, like hitting my head on a brick”, or words to that effect, when pondering how he “regenerates” into The Governor from The Walking Dead…

I’d prefer that regenerations happen as the story calls for it, rather than the story being about regeneration.

Cheers,

[the_once-and-future_king.]

Oh so it was the _lockdown_ that almost got this beloved show ended?

Not the fact that Chinballs can't produce for sh*t, and Jodie could not embody that dark undercurrent that every Doctor has to some degree?

[Lord-ManPower]

Chibnall can take 70% of the blame and Whitaker can take the other 30% of the blame for the shows demise.

While they are both talented in other areas, their strengths did not work with Doctor Who.

The first season of Broadchurch was excellent television and Whitaker was great as a grieving mother.
She was also good in Black Mirror and Attack on The Block but she just wasn't Doctor material and never came across as The Doctor in her 3 seasons in the role.

These are just my opinions but I know I'm not alone...

[Sir-Cuntington]

He's gone buddy, but look on the bright side, He's gone buddy!!!

[bamherolive]

I assume from the title of the video, we’re looking for a different answer than “because everything about her time as the Doctor was dreadful”…

[diannholland]

If they had the budget for it, And I DOUBT that they did, They could have done a 2 parter with each character stuck in a house. The Tardis is GOD KNOWS WHERE. But each time they open a door, it goes out to nothingness. One of them discovers a way to chat to each other via Phone of laptop. and the Doctor has to figure out how to get them out of that situation. It would have been timely, and the fans would have thought that the characters were going through what they were. Just a thought, Silly I know.

[nwong]

Listening to Chibs speak at Gallifrey One and hearing the RFS podcast interview, I have much more appreciation for him. There was a lot of hurdles and restrictions he had to work with. While his tenure wasn’t the best, upon rewatch and understanding the global, political and network restrictions, I have a new appreciation for the Jodie era.

[paulcarbonaro]

The irony is that 'Chibs' led the fan campaign against DR WHO in the mid-'80s, even appearing on tv with his complaining. Then, when he achieved the ambition of becoming the (revived) series' showrunner, he ran it into the ground! Even when he wrote some episodes in the years before, they were all awful, a taste - I guess - of what was to come. Because they were so bad, when Chibs became Showrunner, I feared the worst. And those fears proved true.

[hyprstrike]

As a mid-thirties lad having grown up around "Classic" Doctor Who, there's been a number of points in the last decade where Doctor Who has fallen off (in my opinion).

All three showrunners of the revived series have made some erroneous calls with the show, but out of the three of them - Russell T Davies has made the *least* of them.

Steven Moffatt turned the show from being about The Doctor and their adventures through time and space, to being about a singular companion to a point that the show's intro was adjusted to tell it from her perspective.

That's not the only thing that Moffatt screwed with. There's a number of instances of retconned lore on enemies and the like - and at the time, I thought "it can only get better from here" with respect to Chibnall running the show.

I unfortunately had to witness the show being further degraded (in my opinon) under the leadership of Chibnall as showrunner, because it's like he took what Moffatt was doing and said "hold my beer".

Between Matt Smith and Jodie Whitaker's runs as the the Doctor, I've always said that their portrayal of the Doctor isn't bad -- it's the writing -- and I maintain that stance.

In fact, restrospectively, Smith's portrayal was great, Whitaker's portrayal was good (could be better in parts, her snarky attitude sometimes is a bit jilting) - but Capaldi's portrayal was the closest to The Doctor I've seen since David Tennant.

The last decade of who has yielded some absolute trash (in my opinion) to be added to the extensive history of the show (like, the Timeless Child - wtaf?).

It's incredibly disappointing to see Jodie leave the show to see how her portrayal of the Doctor could have improved without Chibnall nosediving the show. But we'll never see that because most new fans tend to put the blame on the actor portraying the character rather than the folks making captains calls on the narrative.