Since 2005, the return of Doctor Who has been an unqualified success. Its executive producer and chief writer, Russel T. Davies, has helped bring it back to the limelight, with the show earning several major awards from the British and Science Fiction communities.
Because RTD has wanted to work on other projects, the BBC raised the question, can Doctor Who continue without him? RTD, it seems, is also uncertain as if he wants to give up control over the show he helped relaunch. While many Doctor Who fans (myself included) think it might be time for him to move on and let others work on the show, it seems like this will not be happening anytime soon.
Instead, RTD will be able to take a break from Doctor Who, putting the show on hiatus in 2009. To make sure Doctor Who will still have some sort of presence on tv in 2009, there will be three specials produced for that year, and then the show will return with a “full season” in 2010. David Tennant, the 10th Doctor, is scheduled to play the Doctor for the 2009 specials. There is no word as to whether or not he will continue for the 2010 series.
While this means we have some sort of idea where Doctor Who will be in the future, there are many questions which have not been fully answered. Ian Levine, former adviser to the show during the JNT years, had heard the BBC were considering a cancellation of the series for 2009, and I suspect this is probably the truth. RTD probably would have ended his time as executive producer in the 2008 season, and the show would have, with RTD’s exit, been stopped. After all, JNT faced a similar situation in the 80s — if he quit as executive producer, he was told the show would end. It does not matter the show is a success. The BBC is afraid to let others handle the show, because they do not know how successful they would be. The show costs a lot of money to produce, and so they want it to be an unqualified success to justify that expense. However, we do not know, when 2010 comes, if RTD will still be the executive producer, how many episodes will be made, or even if they will be shown on Saturday evenings (Doctor Who’s traditional time). Back in the 80s, when Doctor Who was given an eighteen month hiatus, the show never recovered. I fear the same will be the case here.
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