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Chris Chibnall may leave the series in 2019 (and take Jodie with him).

posted 6 years ago by [deleted]
3 replies | jump to latest

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/2018/11/21/doctor-who-jodie-whittaker-chris-chibnall-leaving-season-12-2019/

It sounds like there may be some trouble behind the scenes of BBC’s Doctor Who.

A new report from British sci-fi magazine Starburst reports that sources within the BBC say that showrunner Chris Chibnall may leave the series in 2019 following Doctor Who Season 12. The report suggests that Chibnall has not been happy with the way the show has been run behind-the-scenes.

Should Chinball leave, the rumor suggests that star Jodie Whittaker will exit with him. Chibnall and Whittaker have a previous working relationship from Whittaker’s time on Chibnall’s Broadchurch and, based on the report, she’s not interested in sticking around if Chibnall departs.

Chibnall’s planned departure may also be causing some creative improvising around how Doctor Who Season 12 will be structured. The BBC currently demands that a full series of 10 episodes a year be released. Chibnall reportedly believes that schedule is untenable.

The Doctor Who fansite Outpost Skaro reports that Chibnall and the BBC have come to a compromise and will have Chibnall oversee five or six episodes plus a Christmas Special in 2019. But if the BBC is unable to find a new showrunner promptly, the responsibility to oversee the remaining four or five episodes would fall back onto Chibnall in 2020.

The Outpost Skaro report also suggests that the full series every year schedule isn’t working for Whittaker either. Whittaker had her first child in 2015 and the report suggests that her desire to spend more time with her young child will likely lead Whittaker towards ending her run as the Doctor during the 2019 Christmas special.

The BBC has not commented on these rumors. If the decision for Chibnall and Whittaker to leave is made, the news will likely break officially before their final season premieres.

Sounds like Chibnall is a bit of Diva, first oh can't do a Christmas Special not enough new ideas, now oh can't do 10 episodes a year, gees dude diva down a bit, get a writing team in to help. If Jodie is leaving because of her wanting to be with her child, then that's something she should have considered before she agreed to come on board after all she spoke to David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi about it (so filming schedule must have come up). Though if it is behind the scenes stuff going on then maybe that's just her excuse (a poor one), after all maybe it takes a certain type to put up with the bullshit, Christopher Eccleston couldn't handle all the behinds junk either so who knows.

For reference: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/jul/21/doctor-who-christopher-eccleston

Eccleston said he left the show "Because I could not get along with the senior people". "I left because of politics. I did not see eye to eye with them. I didn't agree with the way things were being run. I didn't like the culture that had grown up around the series. So I left, I felt, over a principle."

[–] Sueps (24) 6 years ago

Well, onwards & upwards! Things may improve. I haven't taken to JW as the Doctor anyway, and while the episodes have improved I've not had that "can't wait till the next one" feeling.

Although many people liked Ecclestone in the part I found him a bit so-so, and after David Tennant took over and made the part his own I kept forgetting about CE altogether! I was worried about Matt Smith taking over, but within a couple of minutes he WAS the Doctor as far as I was concerned. I did very much like Peter Capaldi too and was hoping for someone new with a bit of character to bring their own take to the part when he left.

As you say Jovay, if CC and JW can't handle the workload they shouldn't have taken it on. Doctor Who is a national treasure and shouldn't be treated in such a cavalier fashion!

[–] peter_t_2k3 (986) 6 years ago

I'm a bit dubious about this article as every year we get many rumours. I know Chibnall originally had something like a 5 year plan.

If he cannot cope with 10 episodes, the previous series had more than 10. I'm not one of these people complaining its not on enough compared to the likes of the walking dead. The two are different shows and the BBC is unique due to the way it works with the license fee. However I do feel 10 episodes is a decent amount for a series and fear that less would lead to a viewer decline.

Chibnall seems to have wrote the majority of episodes this series and from my own personal opinion and from what I've also seen online, the higher rated ones seem to be written by other people. Maybe he needs to write less and the workload would be easier in turn

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Bunch of snowflakes to the core. How is it that back in the 80's and 90's a showrunner for a TV show could churn out more than 20 a year and not complain, hell if they networks decided to order less than that the showrunner would be concerned they were going to be cancelled. Not being able to do 10 shows in a year is just pathetic. And missing her kid, gee how many women in the real world go to work 5 days a week for the whole damn year they manage to do that, but she can't... More proof they should never have replaced the Doctor with a woman.