In The Past
In 1963, a 6 year old kid, gasped, closed his eyes and hid behind the couch before cautiously peering around the corner. He was looking at a black and white TV set that had the scariest image he had ever see suddenly appear from right of screen.
“Exterminate! Exterminate!”
(No, not “Exfolliate!” as one wag once suggested)
Yup. It was the first sighting of a Dalek in the wild, that murderous creature invented by Terry Nation, who later went on to become sci-fi royalty with “Blakes7” before his death in 1997.
Today, the Daleks and the TV show they first appeared in, Dr Who are known the world over, and indeed, Dr Who is classified as the longest ever running sci-fi show on television.
The Resurrection
Resurrected in 2005 after being shelved in 1989, the driving force of the “new” Dr Who was Russell T. Davies who cast Christopher Eccleston (ex Cracker amongst other things) as the Doctor, and Billie Piper, who had made her name as a pop singer, as Rose Tyler.
It was an immediate success.
Over the last few years though, Dr Who’s very survival has been under supposed threat. This started with what is called by some, the Chris Chibnall era.
Despite Chibnall’s brilliant success with the series “Broadchurch” (using the same lead actress as the first – and only so far – female Doctor, Jodie Whittaker), many, including me, thought the story lines were weak and no match for the likes of Russell T. Davies, Mark Gattiss or Stephen Moffat. To be fair, these were very large shoes to fill, but nonetheless, my take is that Chibnall just isn’t cut out to be a science fiction writer.
So, Russell T. came back for the next series, writing out Jodie Whittaker, who to be fair, tried very hard with less than stellar material to work with, and replacing her with Ncuti Gatwa. Gatwa had received rave reviews for his acting in the TV show “Sex Education” (he also had a part in the “Barbie” movie by way of interest.
The hope was that with Russel T. being the show runner and writing, Dr Who would get back on even keel, especially as the Disney organisation was now throwing some $$ at it in a large way.
There were drawbacks to this collaboration, however. In Australia for example, long standing broadcaster of Dr Who, the ABC, had to relinquish the opportunity in favour of the streaming Disney channel, and I reckon that probably cost thousands of viewers. Only in the UK as I understand it was Dr Who on free-to-air television.
In The Now
But after two seasons of Gatwa, it was obvious the experiment was not working. Sure, the story lines in the main were better, but for me, the true Dr Who “feel” was not there, with far too much social comment and preaching in the scripts despite the extra money being thrown at special effects and staging.
Dr Who used to be about nonsense escapism from nasty monsters and aliens, all determined for Galactic domination, with occasional stand out episodes that did make a social point. “The Girl in the Fireplace” and “Vincent” spring to mind.
The stars of this golden era were undoubtedly David Tennant and Matt Smith, but Peter Capaldi also put in some memorable performances.
Towards the end of Gatwa’s two season stint, they even brought back David Tennant for a couple of episodes before at the very end, surprising everyone with the enigmatic entrance of Rose, who’s appearance has still not yet been quite explained.
So where does it go from here?
Into The Future
Today I read a piece suggesting all is not lost as Netflix has stuck its nose above the parapet and shown an interest in future seasons of Dr Who, which the BBC has strongly confirmed will continue regardless (it’s a cash cow for merch of course).
Of course if it comes to pass, then it means that Neflix will want it on its streaming system, but I doubt that the BBC would surrender its broadcast rights altogether – it is a government funded institution after all, just as our ABC is. And for that reason, just as Disney had to allow the Beeb to have Dr on its iPlayer (its version of our iView), so will Netflix have to bow to that consideration I suspect.
One also wonders if Netflix have an interest, whether Amazon Prime might also put its hand up, or even Warner with Paramount. In theory at least, there are serious dollars to be made.
If the future of the franchise is safe, what then needs to happen to make it successful?
Every single Dr Who fan will have their own ideas on this I don’t doubt. Popular ones will undoubtedly include bringing back Tennant and Billie Piper (Rose Tyler); Tennant is arguably the most popular Doctor since Tom Baker, if not more so, but sadly, ol’ Tom is a bit past it now, one suspects.
And with Gallifrey still existing, as is theoretically the Master, and even the Doctor’s daughter and Clara Oswald, plus UNIT, there is a mine of possibilities to play with.
Without question, it does need a strong lead (and sidekick), and there are many I think would / could qualify such as Benedict Cumberbatch with Sheridan Smith maybe, or even Alan Davies with someone new. Ben Miller is another possibility. I am sure you can think of many others.
But equally, it needs strong story lines with series wide arcs, and the best at that was in my mind, without question Stephen Moffat. Together with Russel T., they made a formidable pair.
Throw in a few new writers they could mentor, and hopefully they will get the whole thing back on track.
Conclusion
What are your thoughts on Dr WHo – past, present and future? Did they get it right with Chibnall and Whittaker? What about Gatwa? Where should it go from here? And what are your favourite episodes? Let us know in the comments.
One Comment
Doctor Who has been a social commentary since 1963 dude. The Daleks are Nazis for gods sake; was the ethnic cleansing by the fascist army not “preachy” for you?
Grow up…