SPOILERS Series 10 Spoilers + Rumours

{Spoiler}

2016 Christmas Special: The Doctor grants a boy his wish to become a Superhero i.e the Superhero might be a figment of the boy's imagination or a dream come to life, Matt Lucas's Nardole from the 2015 Xmas special returns, and will play a recurring role in Series 10, Moffat has described Nardole as occasionally sinister, and supposedly he acts as a sort of butler to the Doctor, Mark Gatiss has praised the script as one of his favourites that Moffat has written.



A Star In Her Eye is the title of the first episode, Bill is studying at university. The Doctor is working undercover in some sort of capacity as a University lecturer, he is guarding a secret in the basement. It could be linked to the season finale and there is speculation it could be the next incarnation of the Doctor or Missy. Sources on twitter have indicated the 'her' in the title refers to the Tardis.







Jamie Mathisen might be writing another episode (or possibly two, Moffat had talked about hiring a couple of new exciting writers for the show, but it appears some of these commissions might have fallen through)

The second episode is apparently really aimed at children and involves evil emoticons on mobile phones and evil robots.




There is another episode set Victorian, or Regency period London episode - the Thames freezes over and the Doctor and Bill go ice skating on it, there is a monster underneath the Thames and there is rumoured to be an underwater set piece with Bill and The Doctor donning old fashioned diving suits to investigate.









One episode involves puddles on the streets that are actually alien entities attacking people.

There is rumoured to be a Haunted House esque story, with David Suchet as a sinister landlord, possibly a timelord villain.



There are rumours of an new story set on Peladon featuring the Ice Warriors and doing a rif on Brexit politics.





There is apparently a Genesis of the Cybermen story - it is not the finale and comes mid series, Moffat has confirmed a classic series writer is writing a story for Series 10, so can we assume this is Marc Platt adapting his Big Finish 5th Doctor audioplay 'Spare Parts'?






Sources have indicated Episodes 5 and 9 are being filmed at the same time, which could suggest that one is a companion lite episode and the other Doctor lite (Capaldi is apparently going to reprise the role he had in the first Paddington film in the sequel, I haven't seen the first film so I have no idea how big a role this will be) and/or that episodes 6/7 or 7/8 could be two parters...


Steven Moffat mentioned several months before filming began the S10 was likely to be mostly single episode stories, though that could have changed of course.


The series finale is apparently spectacular but no other info at the moment, Moffat is writing the last three episodes of S10, so it might be a 3-parter.









From the same source as above:

After last series ratings which were considered disappointing, the BBC are concerned and the tone of the upcoming series is pitched more to children rather than the dark feel of the last series, the Weeping Angles are apparently returning and Murray Gold is likely step down as composer of Doctor Who after 13 years, bowing out with Moffat.









From a different source, a GB member has claimed to have seen filming documents for episode 1:



- The "Gate Chamber" set includes a practical spiral stairway (a set which was dark and confined) and a high platform.



- One scene features the Doctor demonstrating a fencing technique.



- A shallow water tank was used to achieve an effect of water seeping under a door.



- There was a tanked area on set to shoot a water burst effect separately.



- Filming included a quarry location for a "desolate plain" with water effects and also a dry silicon prop pool.



- One set featured a cast iron fireplace.



- Other scenery requirements included a heavy window.



- Food and drink was consumed by artists as part of the action.







Missy is definitely back for at least one episode, and Gomez starts work soon (there are rumours we might see her Tardis), the weeping angels are also likely to return apparently.




Mark Gatiss said in a radio interview he has finished his script for S10 and thinks it will be filmed at the beginning of next year, Moffat has previously commented on wanting a sequel to 'Sleep No More' he also mentioned wanting to do an 'Ancient World' episode for S10, whatever that means.




Is Max Landis writing for Series 10?: mobile.twitter.com/Uptomyknees/status/784165390523912192






From a GB member: ''Take this with a grain of salt but I heard from a source who is mostly right but has been wrong before (they said we were gonna get a zygon story in series 8) That the cybermen as well as the daleks will be in more than one episode in series 10.''



Armando Iannuci and Neil Gaiman have both expressed an interest in writing for Capaldi's Doctor in interview in the last couple of years, but both appear to be too busy to commit to who at the current time.



Mark Gatiss and Jamie Mathiesen are both rumoured to be writing two parters...





Charlie Brooker writer of Black Mirror was once approached to write for Doctor Who (though it is unclear precisely when) and turned it down because he didn't have the time:



www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/black-mirror-season-3-netflix-charlie-brooker-doctor-who-peter-capaldi-a7375191.html





Fady Elsayed who portrays Ram in Who spin off 'Class' apparently has filmed a guest role in Who as well:

www.beaumontlondon.com/clients/fady-elsayed

Whether that is hinting as a class crossover, or him portraying a new character is unclear, a source on Gallifreybase says he was actually the original Nabile in 'The Bells Of St. John' in New Who Series 7, but the scenes were reshot, I have no idea if that is true, but it may simply be that his CV hasn't be updated.



Moffat had previously confirmed a Classic Series writer was writing for S10, Ben Aaronovitch denied it was him on twitter,

From a GB member:





''Rona Munro and Peter Harness are writing an episode each for Series 10. I don't have a link for confirmation, but spent the evening in the company of a Doctor Who writer who's a friend of Steven Moffat, Peter Harness & the rest and confirmed it for me. They said that Harness' script was very good and praised Bartlett's script too. And from what they said I highly doubt Gaiman is contributing for S10. From what I understand, under Chris Chibnall the writer's room system will by and large hire junior, up-and-coming writers with Chris as overseer, since he simply won't have the budget to have a Mark Gatiss, a Peter Harness or a Mike Bartlett on the recurring payroll.''





A reply:



''It's interesting though. Peter Harness at the Timelash Convention earlier this month did hint at being in talks to write for Series 11 (could be a joke, I guess)

Similarly Debbie Moon also seems to be hinting (could just be fan hope). I mean Now would be the time for S11 to start making plans, talking to people.I've no doubt there will mainly be up & coming writers too. That's one of the best things about a writers room.''






Posted on G.B:

From the Innerspace event in Canada:






- "Fan asks where in Canada peter would like to film and he said Niagara Falls" (he's said this before)



- "Peter says he hopes the doctor evolves in a way the audience will be interested in. in some ways Doctor has moved on firm Clara but the intro of Pearl brings a different vibe to the show: more fun"





- "Steven says Bill doesn't change the doctor but the pair of eyes you see him with. Bill meets him in an unusual way ... and you'll be reminded of what a strange and frightening man the doctor is" (no doubt ref to him being the lecturer she encounters at uni)





- "Bill is quite excitable and instinctive and is often governed by her but big heart. Not as tempered as she could be which can get her into some trouble"





- "Peter has brought his new sonic screw driver, it begins to change colour in between blue green and red. Steven really wanted a screw driver for Peter. [He] was always looking at the Sonic with Peter and could only think about how it was Matt's"





- "Fans asks what Pearl is most looking forward to and she says she really doesn't want to meet the weeping angels for she is quite blinky" (hmm double bluff?)





- "Pearl says she loves that every two and a half weeks there is always something completely new which keeps her on her toes and working hard. [She] says when she got Stevens script she felt like she knew Bill. Brian says Pearl was absolutely brilliant and took Bill and made her real. Steven says they really went for it in making EPISODE one a great introduction to doctor who. The first episode is very unusual in every way imaginable"





- "Peter says he doesn't think he'll have to say goodbye to Steven because he would like to stay in touch and work in future projects together"





- "Steven plays coy on revealing anything about new or returning monsters saying we will see a nice mix of both"

Someone on GB (also source of many of the rumours or leaks above) claims ''This will be Murray Gold's last series. He bows out with Steven Moffat.'' In reply other forum member said ''Oh, someone was hinting that Blair Mowat was eventually going to take over the music for Doctor Who and hedged it by saying it was merely his aspiration. I can't remember who or whether it was on Twitter or Instagram. It certainly makes a lot more sense for them to post something like that now.''

The source of many of the rumours above also claims S11 will air in Autumn 2018.

More S10 casting and trailer info and some information about cinema screenings of the 2016 Xmas special.


























''Fathom Events (American movie theater showings):

The Return of Doctor Mysterio

Tuesday, December 27 and Thursday, December 29, 7:30 p.m. (local time)

Run Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes (approximate)

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, November 18.

The Doctor is back on the big screen this holiday season for a special two- night event featuring an exclusive introduction and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the special.''


www.fathomevents.com/event/doctor-who-mysterio/more-info/details




























Could these be from the 'ancient world' episode that Moffat had talked about?:


















































Some on Gallifreybase posted a link to a (no longer existing) twitter post in which someone claimed to have known a extra for Episode 9(?) in which they were student attending a physics lecture being given by The Doctor


A preview clip or trailer for the 2106 Xmas special will air as part of Children in Need on Friday 18th November.

According to this Series 10 will be starting in April 2017:

pbs.twimg.com/media/CwQaq3GUEAECa_x.jpg:large

To further stoke the Blair Mowat taking over from Murray Gold rumour someone pointed out that he composed the theme for The Doctor Who Fan show and his website apparently says:

AUGUST 2014

Blair has been busy the first half of this year working closely with composer Murray Gold, providing musical arrangements for Doctor Who and David Attenborough's Life Story.

A forum member from Gallifreybase attended a talk by Steven Moffat:

So it was a great pleasure to hear Steven talk and to briefly meet him and his wife Sue Vertue. He's a lovely chap, and very self-deprecating indeed. Over drinks before the talk itself he chatted about how the science that is in the show may well be wrong (and it usually is), but that scientists themselves rarely seem to care all that much, and that in fact the people he met at CERN are all avid watchers of Doctor Who. He recounted an anecdote about how he and Sue (and possibly their children?) visited CERN and were shown round, and Steven had a little cheap plastic TARDIS with him which he got lots of photos with, only to realise that he should probably give these CERN physicists some kind of DW keepsake. So he left them the cheap plastic TARDIS, somewhat guiltily, but they treated it as some kind of revered gift, and put it next to the Large Hadron Collidor. Which is in itself rather wonderful. I commented that Kit Pedler was hardly a watertight scientific adviser himself, what with saying Mondas as a twin planet was possible etc., and Steven agreed saying that he believed the recruitment process for Mr Pedler consisted of hauling in scientific adviser after scientific adviser until they found one who actually corroborated the nonsense they wanted to write! He sees minimal difference between old and new in this regard. He also noted that at CERN they have loads of tin foil which would make it hard to film there, as one of the big rules Russell and he have on DW is "NO TIN FOIL!!" - it just makes everything look cheap...

He was asked about Russell T Davies' workload compared to his and whether Russell was a more spontaneous, procrastinating writer whereas he's a more structured one, but he downplayed the difference - saying "you can't believe a word Russell says about his own writing" and that he is actually far more careful about structure than everyone thinks, citing the beautifully planned-out arc in Series 3 as an example. He also said that with his own work he usually had a Plan A in his head he wanted to get towards (knowing who River was, what would happen to Amy, etc) but especially with cross-series arcs he would often have to adapt to circumstance and change things. As a contrast he compared the Series 7B wrapping-up of various elements in "The Time of the Doctor", which had to be done very quickly once Matt decided to leave, with the sudden extending of Jenna's arc in 2014 once she decided out of the blue, at the "Last Christmas" readthrough, that she wanted to stay and he suddenly had to rethink Series 9. He also said it's utter nonsense that the show should be run by non-fans, as they just wouldn't care about it enough; he said you had to really love that show when you walk through the door on Day 1 to be able to put in the hard graft that he and Russell did, otherwise you just wouldn't sign away 5 years of your life to this nigh-on-impossible-to-make TV series. He was pretty adamant that it was at its best with a fan in charge.

He talked about moving from comedies and sitcoms to drama, saying that he used to had to have X number of jokes per page and now it's more like X number of jokes per episode, so in that sense it's a bit of a relief in comparison. He said he probably wouldn't write a sitcom once he'd finished with Who, as he'd been through that phase and he wants to do something new. He didn't elaborate on what, but I suppose writing for Who and Sherlock has given him a skillset that means he could probably do horror or thrillers or a variety of things for telly really. He did confess he wasn't really looking to "excavate other old things" (there goes the James Bond idea) but was more into new stuff, but only did Sherlock and Doctor Who because they're his two favourite things ever. So we'll have to see. He was also *fairly* clear that he wouldn't return to Doctor Who once he left ("I feel like I'm done") but that you should never say never, joking that he might do a Bandril story if Chris offered him one. He also dropped the bombshell that they very nearly had a Russell story lined up one year (though he didn't say which season) and the storylines were worked out in detail and everything, but then Russell ran out of time so couldn't do it. But in the end, he thought, Russell probably made the right decision by not returning and he thought he probably wouldn't as well. He freely admits he's peaked as a writer and it's all downhill from here, in that he'll just end up penning angry articles about the state of modern telly and hoping someone will ring him up and give him a commission, but that he's been very lucky indeed to have worked on these two shows.

Steven is afraid for the BBC, hopes it will remain a powerhouse, concedes that it is often infuriating to work with but that that doesn't interfere with his love for it. He quotes Mark Gatiss as saying "you love it but you don't expect it to love you back". He said with certainty that once the unique BBC model is gone, it's gone. We won't get it back, which he says would be a "dire tragedy". In general, despite its major failings, he thinks it's an unequivocal good.

Moving on to the talk proper, he just had a few things to say from the lectern to a (very packed) audience chamber before the format relaxed into a Q&A interview feel. His mini-speech essentially consisted of talking about how wonderful being a writer is, and that he wants to be thought of as a writer first and foremost, rather than a showrunner or an exec or the boss. He said the best part is getting to make stuff up, and others having to run with your ideas, and confessed to finding it a bit annoying when directors say about their latest film that an incident in childhood or something was their inspiration when the actual truthful answer ought to be "the 120 pages of finished script my screenwriter gave me". More of a problem in film than TV, perhaps.

He then also gave a remarkable and fairly lengthy expose on just how rubbish he is, saying that the modern world doesn't cater for the various disadvantages of being rubbish at most things. He gave numerous examples of overhearing his wife saying things like "no don't let Steven carry the lens up to Cardiff on the train... why because he'll lose it... because he's rubbish" and comments like that (amusingly, he then carried the lens to Cardiff on the train, and lost it). He also talked about how he's never really cracked driving or reverse parking, and told a very funny anecdote about the birth of his firstborn, where he simply wasn't able to park the car in the hospital carpark, so the heavily pregnant, mid-contractions Sue ended up getting out of the car and parking it for him. And he stood there feeling rather useless while the other new parents or patients in the carpark sort of stared at him in bafflement at his incompetence. So that was really rather funny. Someone tied this to the end of Coupling, where Steve (although he's a bit rubbish) ends up having a kid and that that seems to change him, so someone inquired if he'd gotten any better at driving since having children! (He says no, but that being a dad changes you and makes you realise you have more love to give). He then argued that actually we're all a bit rubbish deep down, all pretty flawed and pretending to be functional humans, but that you just have to keep trying at it and working your socks off. He said the one way of cheating, if you are born into this world as someone who's a bit rubbish, is to work hard. And that the one thing he did think he was quite good at was working very hard at what he does, at not waiting for inspiration but sitting down and getting on with it. That that's the way to get ahead in life, is go home and work harder than everybody else and then lie to their faces about how hard you've worked(!). He quipped "friendship's a competition; you win if they start to hate you". He also talked about how tricky it was writing the Doctor and Sherlock as two super-intelligent characters, saying his was just an ordinary mind trying to imagine extraordinary ones.

On the fear factor of Doctor Who, he said he never really finds the Weeping Angels scary, since he made them up, and tends to find that of his own creations. He said the key balance is that it's scary for 8 year olds, that kind of healthy fear that thrills rather than absolutely traumatises. On what kind of programme it is, Steven said he thought it bridged the gap between children's and adult's TV and that it always had done (even down to the scheduling Sydney Newman organised for it) - the kids thought it was mostly for adults but they joined in and the adults thought it was mostly for kids but they joined in. He said the tough thing about writing for children is that you mostly have to take it more seriously. On trying to "hook" the audience, he spoke of striving to always reel them in with the pre-titles sequence, conjuring up the funny image of someone about to go out to the pub, hoping to meet a hot stranger and sleep with them, and saying it was his job to suck them away from all that life and love and vitality and get them wondering about what the Evil Slug Man is up to this week on Doctor Who. He was briefly asked about Torchwood as well, with a somewhat loaded question that implied it had failed, to which he replied it had done quite a good run of 4 seasons including a co-prod in America.

On how to write screenplays, he advised that we should all read the works of William Goldman, and that you should always get people to read them as much as possible. Does the script excite the reader? Does it work at the readthrough? He said it's nonsense that a script shouldn't work on the page but only on the screen; a good script really makes you want to keep turning and works as a piece to read. He said sometimes actors have an input on the script details, or make notes, but gave no further details. He wasn't sure about the idea of releasing script collections as books, though, referring to the Series 1 collection which came out in '05 but didn't sell terribly well, but then conceded that perhaps that was something they may try again one day, who knows. He doesn't keep old ideas he's given up on in a drawer for use later, as he said they're normally too crap to ever see the light of day ("such nonsense" he said disparagingly). But on the plus side, though writing is more difficult than you think, it's also more achievable: you just have to keep at it. It's not an especially helpful skill, he conceded, saying that evolution doesn't favour a "knack for writing" but that it's a learnable skill. That said, he said every script he's ever done more or less reduces him to tears and he goes in to Sue's study and tells her he thinks it's the worst one yet, and she says he said that last time, and he says this time he really means it, etc., etc. He doesn't find writing too lonely, mind.

On keeping Who/Sherlock ideas separate, Steven said that it doesn't feel too difficult to keep them as two distinct entities. He said if something comes up in one that resembles the other, he and Mark always have to try and pretend they're not working on both shows at once, as not everybody necessarily watches both; he says they have to try and ignore that fact. He also cited Sydney Newman's original edict to make the Doctor "more like Sherlock Holmes" as another way they're similar, but suggested that the Doctor would be more helpful to defend the Earth in a crisis, since if you shoot Sherlock he stays dead whereas the Doctor has a certain advantage in that regard.

Asked about "the genesis of the Cybermen", as reported elsewhere, he said something along the lines of "Well, of course I'm not going to tell you if we're doing that or not, but anything is possible." He then went on to say that he thought the story had been told a few times and that nobody had quite cracked it, citing Rise/Age from Series 2 as dodging the problem by doing an alternate version of the storyline. I can't say that his answer left me any more or less confident than before about whether there'll be a Genesis of the Cybermen story in Series 10. He also was full of praise for Daleks as "the best monsters ever", calling them "tanks with anger problems" and praising the sound of their voices. He said people who haven't seen them before stare at them with a kind of perverse fascination. On how a Dalek Parliament actually functions, he conceded he didn't really know and that the idea probably doesn't make complete sense, but argued that the Daleks seem to change their hierarchical structures as much as the Cybermen change their outfits - at the end of every adventure they'd go home and say "what haven't we tried yet? We've had a Dalek Emperor, what about a Supreme Dalek? What about a Dalek Supreme? What about a Dalek Prime Minister?" etc.

Asked about Series 10, he revealed nothing in detail but said "the Doctor will reliably save the day, there'll be big speeches and evil monsters, urgent standing, and you'll all fall in love with Pearl Mackie playing Bill Potts" (I think that was her surname, though I may have misheard). His most wanted missing stories are Fury from the Deep and The Evil of the Daleks and really hopes we get them back someday, but that he also likes the certain poetry to the episodes being missing, because it means that one day there'll be a scenario where no one in the world will have seen all of Doctor Who, and that he likes how big and mythic that makes the show feel.

Were there episodes he was less proud of? He said he tries every time to write the best, or funniest, or scariest Doctor Who there's ever been, and described his career as one of cyclical failures in that regard because he just finds it so horrifically difficult. He sounded quite happy with The Return of Doctor Mysterio though, saying that it was one of those episodes where everything seems to align and just go right, the guest cast and the director being perfectly in tune.

He told us the inspiration for Blink which was an angel in a graveyard in Dorset with its head in its hands, over the other side of a big wire barrier that said UNSAFE STRUCTURE WITHIN, which of course drew his attention and then inspired him. Years later, after the episode was a hit and he was back in Dorset, he took his kids to see the Weeping Angel that kicked it all off - and it wasn't there. He said either it wasn't ever there and he somehow dreamed it up, or Weeping Angels are actually real and they're probably after him their creator... but says he doesn't think he invented the image of an angel weeping with its head in its hands and is pretty sure he got it from that graveyard. But no evidence supports that, so now he doesn't really know where the idea came from. Creepy.

[This effort may turn out to be a bit pointless if the video footage of the whole event gets put on YouTube but oh well]

Reports on twitter they are currently filming in the Brecon Beacons (10/11/2016)

Posted on G.B:

''Some photos from filming in Brecon Beacons November 8 and 9:

November 8:

pbs.twimg.com/media/Cw0Ist5UcAAv37A.jpg:large

November 9:

pbs.twimg.com/media/Cw0GtlFUQAEPXfs.jpg:large

pbs.twimg.com/media/Cw2TTaHUoAAXv9I.jpg

pbs.twimg.com/media/Cw19XljUUAACOIl.jpg

pbs.twimg.com/media/Cw2PyfeUoAA7HeL.jpg

Peter Capaldi and Matt Lucas were spotted at a nearby hotel in Aberdare.

Looks like more cave filming today at the Three Bears Caves in Fforest Fawr.''

''A Cardiff-based person who gets filming news from time to time said on Twitter that Bill isn't a student at Bristol University. She works in the kitchen at the university cafeteria. The Doctor is a "professor of space and time" at the university and Bill attends his lectures.''





















































''About the Fforest Fawr filming: Two people who went to the filming today spotted a male director who they though looked like Paul Wilmshurst but neither could make an absolute, positive identification. It was dark when one of the people got there.

I've check's Wilmshurst's agent's website and no Doctor Who is listed so that's no help. Nothing from him on social media either.

Anyway, the scene they shot over and over again was described as Bill and a knight walking through a forest talking. Suddenly, the knight shouted, "There's no way out!" and Pearl shouted, "Nooooo!" The knight then unsheathed his sword and slashed at something.''

Bill is rumoured to be the first openly gay companion in the TV series.















Someone on G.B says that they are filming in the Fforest Fawr, there are actors there with square-ish swirl tattoos on their faces-Celtic episode?

From G.B:

''I know there's been speculation as to when Michelle Gomez is filming, and someone asked her about it today (12/11/2016) at her panel for Supanova (Australian con).

She said that as soon as she was done here, she'd be "going back to filming" in the UK - it was unclear whether this meant she'd started S10 already and would be returning to complete filming, or whether she was just "going back" after her work on Series 8 and 9. She also mentioned that she hadn't met Pearl Mackie yet, though, which means either she hasn't started, or just hasn't had a scene opposite Bill yet.''

''One piece of info I haven't seen mentioned here: Toby Whithouse has written an ep for season 10. So unless I'm miscalculating, that's all of the slots filled, in which case the second big name writer Moffatt mentioned has either dropped out or it was Rona Munro all along. Oh and one other thing: people on the Who team are raving about the Mike Bartlett script. Apparently it's a belter.''

Some on G.B thinks the S10 lineup of writers is: Frank Cotrell Boyce, Sarah Dollard, Mike Bartlett, Jamie Mathieson, Peter Harness, Rona Munro, Mark Gatiss, Toby Whithouse, and then Moffat with four episodes, the S10 finale was previously rumoured to be a 3 parter, which if true, means S10 will mostly be single parters.

A few set photos:

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3930102/Doctor-s-Pearl-Mackie-holds-concerned-gaze-filming-scenes-upcoming-series-eerie-woodland-Cardiff.html















- A bit confused by the various rumours about Bill, some say she works at the UNI cafeteria, some say she's a student, and others says she's a geek who merely likes attending the Doctor's 'space and time' lectures, completely speculating here, but perhaps she finishes her shift in the kitchen and notices the Doctor going to the basment to check on the thing he has supposedly hidden down there, it escapes or there is a fight scene or something and the Doctor is impressed with how well Bill handles herself, he then tasks Bill To get a First in his class to make sure she'd prepared for space travel, she then joins him onboard the tardis (maybe the Doctor had come to the university deliberately to scope out potential companions? the test he sets could be comprised of questions referring to past adventures)

www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-who-due-major-shake-9254797



-Tying in with the Mirror article, someone on Gallifreybase has claimed:

''The article rings true for me, especially this part: 'BBC chiefs have also stressed that they want a full series every year (there hasn’t been one at all in 2016) and more accessible story arcs than those seen in recent times.' This tallies with what I've been hearing - that the Chibnall Writers Room (already in place) are storyling not one but two seasons at the moment.''

A interesting discussion on Chibnall by some GB members:

''The only real problem is that they've hired Chris Chibnall, a writer with no real voice of his own, to effect these changes. I suspect the future is going to look very familiar indeed, an attempt to mimic the RTD years with little or none of the wit and depth.''

-Reply:

''One thing I don't suspect is that Chibnall does have a dramatic voice. You don't become a showrunner name in British TV with no voice. You certainly don't get named as one of RTD's favourite writers with none (see his Den of a Geek interview) I think Chibnall's voice comes out clearly in work like United and Broadchurch, and in small parts of his Who episodes. He has a strong interest in families & friendships, particularly fathers and sons. He does well when 2 characters are alone and suddenly express their deepest feelings in a really raw way. When they stop holding back their feelings

By his and Moffat's own admission he hasn't had much of an opportunity to do that in Who, due to various script demands (which I'll get onto) but Chibnall has said that the part of Who that felt closest to his own voice was the Doctor's speech to Amy on the bridge in Power of Three.
Which correlates with what I've said above

''The writing process for The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and The Girl In The Fireplace started with RTD pitching the ideas to Moffat. They turned out OK, to say the least! By contrast, I dislike every one of the Chibnall stories you list. Who's to blame?''

-In reply:

''No-one is to blame, that's just the nature of television. Let me explain

First of all Empty Child was RTD's storyline, but it went through several very different drafts over a long period before it became the masterpiece it is.
Rejected elements from those drafts include IIRC an evil flying skeleton swooping over London (animated by nano-tech) Captain Jack's comedy homicidal computer, an evil governess/orphanage boss chasing the kids, her creepy silent brother. The boy's father turning out to be a German. You can read about this in the Series 1 companion

By contrast, 3 of Chibnall's 4 Who stories, were first drafts, written in about a month each
-42 was supposed to be an epic Planet of the Ood story/Impossible Planet sequel, but there was a big budget crunch, and another script suddenly fell through. So Chibnall had a short amount of time to write something fast & affordable, set on a spaceship with no rewrites from Russell
-Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, commissioned early on in the S7 process, Moffat was so impressed he told Chibnall not to change anything. It was ready the be filmed now. Instead Moffat told him to use the time to work on an additional story.
-Power of Three, this was the additional story, written in what was supposed to be Dinosarus rewrite time and while Chibnall was on holiday (there was so little time he had to sneak off from his family to write) After it was filmed, the ending was heavily reshot, losing the debate, the confrontation with the monster and now having the problem solved by the Doctor waving his screwdriver around.

As for Hungry Earth/Cold Blood that did have more time (one of the first S5 stories to be commissioned) but most of the rewrites were spent bringing the budget down. This was supposed to be the dark expensive 2nd two parter like Empty Child/Impossible Planet./Human Nature, but it was hit heavily by the same budget crunch that led to Doctor's Wife getting postponed. Everything got reduced: The hunting dinosaur that was such a big part of the first episode had to be lost, the other villagers, the city. In the end, they couldn't even afford 4 Silurian masks.

Also it was a severe victim of editing cuts. As filmed, Chibnall's big idea was to open with Amy in the TARDIS, flashing back, struggling to remember Rory. Something totally novel. This non-linear was taken out in editing and it flattens out the drama. Chibnall also regrets that dramatic payoffs were cut. You were supposed to see the mother confront the Silurian Doctor for his monstrous experiments, you were supposed to see more of Rory before he died.

The cheapened & edited result is probably no-one's favourite episode, but I doubt Impossible Plamet would have fared much better under the same circumstances

But you see, in each case, it comes down to more than just "Chibnall is a hack with no voice"

www.cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/returning-classic-doctor-who-writer-confirmed-for-season-10

www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/series-10-classic-writer-returns-with-the-eaters-of-light-81668.htm

Apparently someone on twitter says that the House from 'Blink' makes a reappearance in the 'Haunted Hub' (the David Suchet episode) and the Doctor recognizes it...

Someone on G.B said ''...A friend of mine who works at the BBC and whose job partly relates to Doctor Who had actually told me that it's the next new series that the BBC was looking to have more in common with the Tennant years (in that it may be lighter and less continuity heavy) and aimed to be much more tea time. I suppose it's logical then that series 10 would push into that direction even more.''

It has been confirmed that Series 2 Director Charlie Palmer(The Family of Blood, Human Nature, The Shakespeare Code, Smith and Jones) might be returning to direct a block for S10.

Michelle Gomez confirmed she will be filming for S10 from Decemeber 5th, at a guess I'm thinking she'll be in Episodes 6 or/and 7 returning for the finale.

According to his instagram (23/11/2016) Daniel Nettheim (director of The Zygon Invasion/Inversion) is returning to direct a block in Tenerife, currently scouting for Locations...at a guess I'd assume it was doubling for Skaro or Gallifre *Edit it has been confirmed.

So far it seems S10 looks something like this:

10x0: The Return of Doctor Mysterio by Steven Moffat, directed by Ed Bazalgette
10x1: A Star in Her Eye by Steven Moffat, directed by Lawrence Gough
10x2: TBA by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, directed by Lawrence Gough
10x3: TBA by Sarah Dollard, directed by Bill Anderson
10x4: The Haunted Hub by Mike Bartlett, directed by Bill Anderson
10x5: TBA by Jamie Mathieson, directed by Charles Palmer
10x6: TBA by Toby Whithouse(?), directed by Daniel Nettheim
10x7: TBA by Steven Moffat (?), directed by Daniel Nettheim
10x8: TBA by Mark Gatiss, directed by TBA (in January) (Some on G.B have noted Wayne Yip a director on 'Class' has been seen in and around Cardiff again recently)
10x9: The Eaters of Light by Rona Munro, directed by Charles Palmer
10x9: TBA by Peter Harness
10x11-10x12: by Steven Moffat, directors TBA (probably Rachel Talalay for 10x11 and 10x12)

Peter Harness is apparently writing Series 10, not sure if this has been confirmed yet?








Synopsis for the 2016 Xmas special:

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2016/52/doctor-who-christmas-special

Presumably this body swapping ties in with Nardole getting his body back, the Christmas special will air at 5.45 pm

Wayne Yip, a director on 'Class' will direct a block for Series 10



























www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-12-03/your-favourite-doctor-who-monster-just-made-a-shock-appearance-in-spin-off-class

pbs.twimg.com/media/Cyw4yg_WEAAkJMw.jpg:large

www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/260370/doctor-whos-sea-devils-could-be-making-return-after-show-bosses-bought-up-batches-of-seaweed/

www.cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/exclusive-peter-harness-on-which-classic-doctor-who-monsters-he-wants-to-return






actress.aliceoffley.com/2016/09/13/alice-stars-in-dr-who-for-bbc1/

From the TV Choice magazine article on The Return of Doctor Mysterio:

"At the heart of it is the romantic relationship between the Ghost's mild-mannered alter ego and that of a plucky reporter"

Peter Capaldi quoted from the article:
"the element of this man having to hide his superhero persona develops into an almost farcical situation"

Apparently photos from set filming on twitter (05/12/2016) At Swansea University show Peter Capaldi and a little person actress (apologies if that isn't the correct term, no offense intended, wasn't sure how to phrase that) portraying a scientist in some sort of laboratory, the sonic sunglasses might possibly make a return.






From a poster on G.B ''Setup in Swansea begins tomorrow a 5:00 a.m. with Peter Capaldi showing up around 7:00 p.m.

Michelle Gomez was spotted in Cardiff today. No word on whether she'll be in Swansea tomorrow.'' (05/12/2016)

Looks like Capaldi might have another alternate costume for one of the episodes

http://instagr.am/p/BNpVLo1gBmh

pbs.twimg.com/media/Cy7TBssW8AEAugd.jpg


pbs.twimg.com/media/Cy7xb9YXUAQqIga.jpg

twitter.com/hashtag/dwsr?src=hash

Looks like Gareth Roberts won't be writing for the TV series again:





Trailer and Info for the 2016 Xmas Special:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9caU8yjJmk

www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-12-07/steven-moffat-reveals-almost-all-about-the-doctor-who-christmas-special

http://instagr.am/p/BNx0kAJBchy

http://instagr.am/p/BNurWswhY_X

www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a816376/doctor-who-series-10-wont-sleep-no-more-sequel-not-happening/











Barrowman drops another tease:





From a poster on G.B 07/12/2016: