It’s been a dark year for ‘Doctor Who’ fans. Outside the annual Christmas special there has been promise of no new series of the show until 2017. Thanks to a slip of the tongue from Peter Capaldi however, we might just have a more solid date for the show’s start.
In talking to fans on set whilst filming Series 10, Capaldi said that it would probably be airing in April.
“We’ll be on at Christmas, and then it starts again in April, I think,”
This aligns with the BBC’s comments that the show would likely air in the Spring, and would see a shift back to the airing patterns adopted by much of the revived series. Up until series six the show aired from late March/early April to June or July, before recently moving towards later timeslots. Series 9 began airing in September, and due to the BBC’s major winter show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ often lasting hours, kept getting pushed back later into the night.
This saw a decline in ratings for the show, with many parents in particular unhappy that their children would not be able to watch during the later times. It is telling then that last year’s Christmas Special aired at 5:15pm, the exact same time as when the show began in 1963, and much earlier than any episode in the show’s history for years.
Hopefully a move back to Spring will see ratings rise again. I for one enjoyed watching ‘Doctor Who’ in its Autumn/Winter timeslot as it feels more effective at that dark time of the year, and had it been aired prior to ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ could have likely done well. Still, last series saw the tone darken significantly, which was a storytelling treat, but it’s all about finding that balance between the content and when it’s appropriate to air said content. This is after all a show initially aimed at kids.
If Peter Capaldi is to be believed though, that means we only have 7 months until the show returns. With spinoff ‘Class’ set to debut in the meantime, and a Christmas Special on the way, that wait doesn’t seem so bad at all.
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