HUGE news - Moffat out, Chiball in!

There you go again David!  You are indeed a proficient news bearer!

Chibnall wrote some of the best episodes of Torchwood (and "Cyberwoman", but all his other episodes were excellent).

Chibnall, hmmm? I didn't see that coming. He's not a bad writer, and I love what I've seen of Broadchurch, but he's hardly as skilled as either Davies or Moffat. I do hope he breaks with New Series tradition and lets someone else do the headwriting.

Here's hoping Capaldi makes the leap between showrunners.

Yes, as I mentioned in the first post

I thought "The Power of Three" was quite good, even if it did fall apart at the end (does anyone know if the original cut is available to the public?)

I think Chibnall, like Gatiss, is better suited to "real world" storytelling. It's funny, you'd think having all of time and space at your disposal would improve your storytelling, but for some writers it's like they seize up, overwhelmed, and go "Uh... Monsters!"

Pulp fiction is best when used as a means to an end, not as end within itself. Doctor Who, being firmly enmeshed within the pulp tradition, tends to struggle with this. Say what you will about Davies, he at least tried to focus on the human side of things.

I hope not too - he will have that thrown at him ALL the time if everything isn't up to scratch. He was happy to attack the writers on national TV back then - he'll have no right to complain about his stuff being attacked in turn.

For anyone who doesn't know what we're talking about - Chibnall on a BBC panel show as a younger fan an he's not too kind about Colin's era.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=irIqTPQqgvQ

Ugh. I was dreading this. At least it's not Gatiss, but Chibnall was the other name that I didn't want to take over. All of Chibnall's episodes have been average at best for me. I think the Power of Three is about the only episode of his that I enjoy, but even that falls apart before the end. Maybe it'll be different with him as a showrunner, he'll be able to do his own thing, so I'm hoping that I'll be pleasantly surprised. I'm still wary, though.

Also, I'm not at all surprised over the Series 10 news. With the Coalhill spinoff, it was obvious they were producing it in place of Doctor Who this year.

"BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore said: “I have decided to schedule Steven’s big finale series in Spring 2017 to bring the nation together for what will be a huge event on the channel. 2016 is spoilt with national moments including the Euros and Olympics and I want to hold something big back for 2017 - I promise it will be worth the wait!”

I'm not sure us sci-fi fans care too much about the Euros and Olympics, Charlotte.

I'm fine with the wait. Charlotte makes it seem like she decided it but there's been a clear desire from both Moffat and Capaldi to get the show back to 7pm. Spring 2017 was always the earliest this could happen.  6 years is plenty for a head writer. I'm not sure Chibnall is in the same league as RTD or Moffat a a writer AND a showrunner (the new person would need both, not one) but we'll find out. As I said, there was no obvious choice so whoever was announced was always going to be facing a backlash from some quarters. 

Oh, this isn't good at all.

I have nothing agasint the man personally, but I've found his scripts either to be very bad or have a lifeless 'constructed' quality to them . I know his name is hot in the industry right now, but I couldn't think of a worse choice.

Maybe he'll suprise me.

Oh, I don't like being negative. But.....this is how I feel. But, for me, it feels very much like the end of the revival series. Time to become a cranky old bugger and say Doctor Who is Big Finish for me now.

No full series this year, :sigh: Still, I'll enjoy the ride to the Christmas special and it's probably best with the ratings in the UK this year. Make people want Doctor Who again, what is wrong with the Motherland one wonders?