davblog on vox

We all knew it would happen sometime (not even John Nathan-Turner went on forever) and there have been rumours flying around for a while, but yesterday the BBC confirmed that Russell T Davies will be stepping down as executive producer of Doctor Who. He'll stay on for the four specials to be broadcast next year but will be gone before the show's fifth series in 2010.

I don't think anyone can deny that Davies' run of the show has been phenomenally successful. Ok, actually, I know that people can (and do) deny that, but a moment's reflection will hopefully demonstrate the stupidity of that opinion. Over the last four years Davies has resurrected Doctor Who and turned it into one of the most successful BBC programmes of all time. People have warm nostalgic feelings for the "old Doctor Who", but it was never anywhere near as successful as this new version. Of course there have been some dodgy new episodes (quite often in the episodes written by Davies himself) but no-one can doubt that it was largely Davies' vision of the show that has made it the success it is today.

I'm not as in tune with Doctor Who fandom as I used to be. But from what I've seen there seem to be two main objections to Davies tenure on the programme:

1/ It's not as good as it used to be

This is, to put it plainly, bollocks. Certainly the old series produced more than it's fair share of top quality TV, but if you actually sit down and watch the old series (and I mean a whole series, not just your favourite stories) you'll quickly realise that there was a lot of rubbish there too.

A related complaint is that too much has changed - from the format of the shows (largely single 45 minute episodes as opposed to four 25 minute episodes) to the emphasis on London (or, rather, Cardiff pretending to be London) or the "soap opera" aspects of bringing in the companions' families. Well, yes, things have changed. But the audience has changed too and people want different things from their Saturday evening drama. Yes, it might annoy the die-hard Who fans or the science fiction audience. But it's not made for them. If the BBC relied on pleasing those people then there's no way the show would have been as successful as it has been.

2/ Davies is gay, and therefore the spawn of the devil

Amazing as it seems in the twenty-first century, this is the second most common complaint about the new series that I've heard. Yes, Davies is gay. People are. And they don't hide it any more. And it's a perfectly normal part of society. Deal with it.

Davies is handing over Stephen Moffat. Fans of the show should be pleased with this as Moffat has written some of the most popular recent episodes - The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace and Blink (surely forty-five of the best minutes of TV ever broadcast). Older TV fans will also remember his earlier work like Press Gang and Joking Apart. And, in common with Davies, he seems to be a long-time fan of Doctor Who. The BBC story quotes him as saying:

I applied before but I got knocked back 'cos the BBC wanted someone else. Also I was seven.

Interesting times ahead for Doctor Who. Moffat has a big task ahead of him following in Davies' footsteps. But I can't think of anyone else who I'd rather see taking over.

Russell T Davies was interviewed by the Independent last Sunday and he happened to mention that Richard Dawkins will be appearing in this series of Doctor Who.

The evolutionary biologist and best-selling author of The God Delusion will appear as a guest star in the new series of Doctor Who, which began last night. "People were falling at his feet," says Davies, creator of the BBC's flagship show. "We've had Kylie Minogue on that set, but it was Dawkins people were worshipping."

Slightly unfortunate choice of words with "worshipping", but this sounds like really good news to me. And it would be a great nod to the older Who fans if they could squeeze in a cameo by Dawkins' wife too.

As is becoming traditional (well, this is at least the second year I've done it) at this time of the year, it's interesting to look around for hints about when the new series of Doctor Who will launch. Normally it's about Easter, but Easter is about as early as it gets this year - and it's definitely not starting this weekend.

Of course, it won't start until Torchwood has finished. And there are still a few episodes of that to run. But the BBC seem to have noticed that issue too and from this week, they'll be showing two episodes a week (on Wednesday - as usual - but also on Friday), so that means that Torchwood will be out of the way in just over a week.

The BBC Doctor Who site isn't giving anything away yet (well, yes, it's giving away Doctor Who wallpapers - but you know what I mean) but a couple of days ago they ran a news story saying that the trailer for the new series will be shown on Saturday 22nd. Since when was the broadcast of a trailer such big news?

Obviously the show won't start on the same day as the first broadcast of the trailer. So we can say that the earliest it will start is Saturday 29th March. But then I saw this post on TV Scoop (which I found via Planet Dr Who) which claims that David Tennant and Catherine Tate will be guests on the Jonathan Ross show on Friday April 4th. It seems likely that this appearance will be promoting the start of the new season. So that's where I'm sticking my marker.

I reckon the new series will start on Saturday 5th April.

Update: Looks like the CBBC Newsround site is the first one to confirm that date.

How many obvious errors can you spot in this Sun story: Jennifer could be Dr Who

Ab Fab star Jennifer Saunders is set to be the first female Timelord – for just one episode.

The comic actress is in talks to become Doctor Who as David Tennant, 36, will leave after filming three specials in 2009.

TV bosses are keen to get a woman on board the Tardis for one of those shows.

A source said of Jennifer, 49, best known as Edina in Absolutely Fabulous: “She’s in the running and we all think she would be fantastic.”

Kylie Minogue is in the Christmas Special that previews tonight.

Bit puzzled by that last sentence too. Has someone got their Tuesdays confused?

I'm really not sure how I feel about this.

Actress Billie Piper is to return to Doctor Who, the BBC has confirmed.

She will star in three episodes of the sci-fi drama, reprising her role as the Doctor's companion, Rose Tyler.

Rose's return will mean the Doctor has three assistants in next year's series - Donna, played by Catherine Tate, and Freema Agyeman as Martha.

I don't dislike the character of Rose as much as many people seem to. I just think it goes against the idea of Doctor Who to have companions leaving and returning so quickly. She's only been gone for a year. Doctor Who is about the Doctor. Companions come and go. They're less important. The audience shouldn't get too attached to them.

But we'll see how it goes. Maybe it'll work out ok.

Old gits like me may well remember Survivors with some affection. It was a BBC TV programme that ran between 1975 and 1977 that told the story of the small number of people who survived a plague that killed off most of the people in the world. For my teenage self it was essential viewing. A few years ago I bought the first series on video and I've been patiently waiting for the DVDs to drop to a reasonable price before buying them.

But suddenly, out of the blue (well, I assume it's not really out of the blue, but I was take n completely by surprise), the BBC have announced that they'll be remaking the series. No details on when it'll be shown, but I'd guess there's a good chance it'll be in the Saturday evening "Doctor Who" slot.

Watching my videos a couple of years ago I thought that the themes were more resonant now than they were thirty years ago and that it deserved a wider audience. Seems I wasn't the only person who thought that.

This took me by surprise. Sounds interesting.

Apparently, Pavarotti has asked for his ashes to be scattered in the Atlantic Ocean.

And when that's full...