Russell T. Davies Reveals New Information About Series 14 Of 'Doctor Who' And Beyond
Image Source: BBC
After a decade of 13-episode seasons, Doctor Who went to 12 episodes in Peter Capaldi’s run and down to 10 in Jodie Whittaker’s, and fans were very curious whether there would be some sort of bounce back. In the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, showrunner Russell T. Davies laid out what’s ahead for the show, including how long series 14 will be, when to expect series 15, and hints of “content”.
To start, Davies confirmed that the Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson-led series 14 will be eight episodes long, but will be followed by a Christmas special. With Christmas specials now confirmed for consecutive years they are back in full regularity, and that vague “festive season” can be put to rest. That means nine episodes in total, which Davies laments as shorter than “the last full season” which seems to be referring to series 12, which aired shortly before the pandemic hit. The 10 episodes of series 13, which while it amounted to a full Whittaker series, were split into six episodes of Flux and three specials: “Eve of the Daleks”, “Legend of the Sea Devils”, and the two-part “The Power of the Doctor”. If Disney+ lists episodes like HBO Max, Series 14 will likely contain the three 60th anniversary specials and Christmas special that precede it, making a much fuller-looking listing. He reasonably asks for patience as he has plans, which seems to indicate that this is a stopgap and that the show needs to recharge with all the new things about the production.
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And what do those plans include? No more gap years. These are years where there’s no regular series, only specials. While Davies’s first tenure ended with one due to David Tennant’s availability, more began to pop up when Steven Moffat took 2016 to make series 10 stronger, and seemingly focus on Sherlock. But in the Whittaker era, “Resolution” the first New Year’s Day special, was the only episode to air in 2019, as series 12 debuted with “Spyfall” exactly a year later. 2022 and 2023 are special-only years, so having things tighter after 4 gaps in 8 or 9 years will be quite a relief. And yes, “lots of content, on and on." Unless that means more social platform-exclusive content and/or the return of prequel shorts, the reported return of spinoffs is looking closer to reality. The article also reveals new crew members.
Doctor Who will return in November 2023 on the BBC and Disney+ with the three 60th anniversary specials. Gatwa and Gibson, who have just begun filming for series 14, debut in the 2023 Christmas special as the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday. Oh and one last thing: Those clouds behind Gatwa? A mask for spoilers. Have fun!
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Source: TVZone
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