The Future of Who

As I'm sure you are aware by now, Steven Moffat is leaving Doctor Who to be replaced by Chris Chibnall. I thought I would discuss what this means for the next few years of the show.

First off, there will be no series of Doctor Who in 2016. The only episode will be a Christmas special. This is of course sad news and means 2016 will see the least Doctor Who since before the show's revival in 2005. There are some good things about this though. For a start it's hard to deny that Series 9 did see a dip in the viewing figures, even if scheduling had large part to play in that. It will certainly do no harm to rest the show for a year on that side of things.

Steven Moffat

It will also mean that Doctor Who will go back to airing in the spring. This is where the show has worked best in the modern era but fell apart when Series 7 didn't start to air until the autumn. It should also be good for scheduling. Part of the problem of Autumn scheduling is that the show has to fit in alongside another BBC Saturday night show, Strictly Come Dancing. With the BBC losing the rights to The Voice, Doctor Who will likely be the main feature of Saturday nights on BBC1, which means the scheduling is likely to be more favourable.

The next thing for Doctor Who to do is introduce a new companion. It's still unclear at this point whether that will happen in the 2016 Christmas Special or the start of Series 10. If it isn't the 2016 Christmas special then we would have an episode of a solo Doctor or a one-time companion. Might I suggest it would be the perfect time for Moffat to bring back Captain Jack Harkness for an episode? There will still be some new Doctor Who content in 2016 in the form of new spin-off Class of course.

In the news of his resignation Steven Moffat suggests that the third series of Broadchurch, written by the incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall, will be the last. The crime drama starts filming in May so might just make it onto ITV by the end of 2016.

Broadchurch

In Spring 2017 a 12-episode series 10 will air, Moffat's last as showrunner. There's been no mention of a 2017 Christmas special as yet which is interesting. Chibnall is clearly stated as taking over from the start of series 11 in 2018 so it looks like Moffat will still be in charge for Christmas 2017. I suspect this is when we will see Peter Capaldi regenerate. He's likely to leave the show at the same time as Moffat, a la David Tennant, and would certainly have done the traditional three series tenure by then. It's plausible that we may even get more than one episode of Doctor Who over Christmas 2017, like we did with the The End of Time.

The Twelfth Doctor regenerates (from The Witches Familiar)

This would mean that when Chris Chibnall takes over in 2018, Series 11 will begin with a new Doctor. It's all speculation really but given the timings and what happened at the last handover this makes the most sense.

I'm intrigued by the sort of Doctor Who Chibnall will bring us. He's not written for the show since 2012's The Power of Three. It seems clear he is more character-driven that Steven Moffat so I would guess the next era will be closer to the RTD era than the Moffat one. So far I would say five of his six Doctor Who episodes are underwhelming (the other, The Power of Three, being certainly his best). It is a little worry that he hasn't yet written anything stunning for the show like Moffat had before his time as showrunner.

Chris Chibnall

It is worth remembering though that Chibnall was effectively the showrunner at Torchwood during it's first two series. I would say of his eight Torchwood episodes only one of them wasn't great and he wrote the excellent closing episodes of both the first two series and the opener to series two. Then there's Broadchurch which is fantastic, especially the first series. There's is certainly potential in Chibnall and I am cautiously optimistic about the show's future under him.

Lethbridge-Stewart: Mutually Assured Domination

The Dominators would hardly be described as one of the better 60s Doctor Who stories yet it is still well liked, largely because of the brilliant little robots the Quarks. In this book the Dominators and the Quarks are back and this time they have come to Earth. 

Journalist Harold Chorley (from The Web of Fear) stumbles onto mysterious goings-on at Dominex Industries, a plant on Dartmoor where no-one really knows what they are doing. Chorley and Lethbridge-Stewart investigate and soon discover that Dominex aren't all they seem. But with the whole thing sanctioned by the government, Lethbridge-Stewart doesn't have the back-up he would like. 

In many ways this is better than the original TV story. The Quarks are given an upgrade, as seen on the cover, which manages to keep in with the TV story yet make the robots more of a threat. The Dominators here also come across as proper individual characters and their plan is more developed. 

I felt this was one of the better books of the series so far. By having Lethbridge-Stewart effectively working against the government he is working only with a few people at a time. I think these books shouldn't feel too much like UNIT stories and this one certainly didn't. I also felt that this was the first book that really made use of the time of its setting, with the hippie movement and worries over nuclear power. 

Another great edition to a high-quality series.

Series 10 Writers Speculation

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has teased little about Series 10 so far but this is one of the few things he has said:

"We're already moving [on Series 10]- we've had meetings today with two writers who've never written Doctor Who before. If I told you their names, your brain would explode." 

As to their identity, all he would say was that they are "brilliant, prominent and amazing". I love a chance to speculate on this sort of thing so here are a few possible names I could come up with.

Stephen Fry

Fry is better known as an actor and TV presenter but he is also a writer. He was supposed to have written an episode in the early days of the revived series, initially series 2 and then series 3. Details on what went wrong are fairly sketchy but it is though one major problem was the expense of the episode. BBC Wales are far more experienced now and may well be able to make that episode in their budget. Now that Fry has left Qi he potentially has more time to polish that script or write an entirely new one.

J.K. Rowling

Rowling is of course the famous author of the Harry Potter books. She was offered the chance to write an episode of Doctor Who way back in 2004 when the show's comeback was being planned. Back then she was still writing Harry Potter so turned it down. She's since had more experience with writing in different formats, having worked on a Harry Potter play and written the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. She's probably more likely to write for Who now than she ever has been.

Joss Whedon

The creator of cult TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly has been very busy over the last few years making the Avenger's films. But he's definitely not working on the third and little is known about his current plans. Given that he has spent so much time writing for TV and has written a lot of science-fiction, it's perfectly plausible that he should write for Doctor Who.

Charlie Higson

Higson is a big fan of Doctor Who and has recently even written an ITV show aimed at a similar audience, Jekyll and Hyde. He's certainly connected with the show, having interviewed Peter Capaldi in a recent issue of the Radio Times. He has written comedy, fantasy and books for teenagers so has lots of potential for a Doctor Who episode.

Charlie Brooker

He is probably best known to many as the presenter of Screenwipe but Brooker is also a writer. He created the popular anthology show Black Mirror and the zombie-infested Big Brother drama Dead Set. He's also written crime comedy A Touch of Cloth. He's a Doctor Who fan and is likely to be on the production team's radar but given the adult nature of his works he might be more of an outsider than others on this list.

Sally Wainwright

Wainwright must be very popular with the BBC at the moment having written hit series Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley. Halifax has come to an end and Happy Valley Series 2 has passed the writing stage so it's possible a Doctor Who episode is next on her list. I can't find any evidence that she is a Doctor Who or sci-fi fan and science-fiction certainly seems to be out of her usual remit. However, she is a big writer and would be ideal for an episode focussing on a new companion as she often writes strong female roles.

Dominic Mitchell

I wouldn't say Mitchell is that prominent but he did write the excellent BBC3 zombie drama In the Flesh. It's certainly of a similar genre and it seems that Mitchell has written science-fiction for the stage. It's unlikely at this early point in his career but it would be great to Mitchell write for Who.

Anthony Horowitz

Creator of popular teenage hero Alex Rider, Horowitz has also written lots for the small screen with show's like Foyle's War and Poirot. He's written several Sherlock Holmes novels which is the sort of thing to do to get attention from Steven Moffat. He's due to have finished his latest novel by the time he would need to start writing a Doctor Who episode so it would certainly fit the schedules.

Noel Clarke

Clarke is of course known as playing Mickey Smith, Rose Tyler's boyfriend. He is also a writer and has written an episode of Torchwood as well as several feature films (Kidulthood and it's sequels, Fast Girls). He's certainly more familiar with the Doctor Who world than most and given that Series 9 saw Torchwood writer Catherine Treganna write for Doctor Who there's a prescient.

I will be quite pleased if at least one of these people end up writing for the show! Do let me know your thoughts on my speculations and if you have anyone else you think might be possible.

Sherlock Unlocked: The Abominable Bride

I know this is not Doctor Who related but never mind. Sherlock Unlocked is a feature where I look at how the latest episode of Sherlock relates back to the original books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and past episodes of the series, as well as the occasional other fun fact.

The Abominable Bride largely takes part in Sherlock's 'mind palace'. The mind palace is loci method of using a location to think things through. Sherlock first used the method in the episode The Hounds of Baskerville and then went on to use it in all three episodes of Series Three.

The episode follows directly on after His Last Vow, the last episode of series three. In that we saw Sherlock shoot Charles August Magnussen. Thanks to Mycroft's influence, Sherlock was to be sent on a dangerous mission in Eastern Europe rather than face trial. However, Moriarty appeared on TV screens across the country saying "Miss Me?" and Sherlock was immediately recalled. Sherlock then uses drugs to consider a 100-year-old case to help explain Moriarty's apparent return.

The episode is inspired by a quote from the Conan Doyle story The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual: "Ricoletti of the club foot and his abominable wife."

Sherlock Holmes' drug use is something straight from the Conan Doyle stories. The character regularly used cocaine and sometimes morphine. However, in the stories this was usually when the detective had no stimulating cases rather than as tool to solve them. In Sherlock the drug use has been substituted for smoking up until this episode.

Dr. Watson's stories are regularly mentioned throughout the episode. The Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories were usually published in The Strand magazine, as they were here. Several characters complain about how they are portrayed in the stories- Holmes often did in the books. Mrs. Hudson says she is nothing but a plot device, which is pretty much the case in the stories. One Conan Doyle story, The Blue Carbuncle, is mentioned. In Sherlock the modern version of Watson's stories are his blog.

The 19th Century version of Molly is forced to disguise herself as a man in order to be a Doctor. She is one of the few characters that didn't appear in the original books and has a position in the modern series that simply wouldn't have been possible for a woman back in Conan Doyle's day.

Watson's wife Mary plays a small part in the story. Mary is mentioned little after her first appearance in the Conan Doyle stories. Here she is a supporter of the suffragette movement and is employed by Mycroft Holmes to secretly help with the investigation.

Mycroft Holmes is found in the Diogenes Club here, the same as in the Conan Doyle stories. In the stories the Diogenes Club was a gentlemen's club where Mycroft could usually be found and no talking was allowed in the Stranger's Room, hence the sign language section. A modern version of the Diogenes Club appeared in The Reichenbach Fall.

Eustace Carmichael receives five orange pips in the episode. This refers to a Conan Doyle story, The Five Orange Pips, where murder victims received orange pips in the mail before their death. Like the episode, the story is one of the few cases where Holmes' client end up being killed. The story also features the infamous KKK and similar costumes are worn by the secret society in the episode.

Police detectives Gregson and Jones are both referenced in the episode. Gregson appeared in five of Conan Doyle's stories and was regarded as "the Smartest of Scotland Yarders" by Holmes, all though that still meant he had a limited opinion of him. Gregson was dislike considerably by Lestrade.

Two detectives called Jones appeared in the Conan Doyle stories; Athelney Jones in the novel The Sign of Four and Peter Jones in The Adventure of the Red-Headed League.

The scene at the waterfall refers to the story The Final Problem where Holmes and Moriarty both plunge to their deaths at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. This was supposed to be the final demise of the detective but Conan Doyle ended up having him survive due to his popularity. Sherlock's version of this was the events on the roof of St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

At the end of the episode Sherlock realises that Moriarty cannot possible still be alive but says he knows what he will do next. This will no doubt be revealed in Series 4. It's unclear at this point whether this was all a long-running plan for Moriarty or whether it is a plan by some organisation as in the Bride case.

This is only a brief dip into a very detailed episode so I have certainly missed out other references. Hopefully though this goes some way in giving a greater insight into the episode!