Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: bbc, catherine tate, david tennant, doctor who, jodie whittaker, russel t davies, the power of the doctor

Doctor Who 60th Events "Later This Year": BBC News Spoiler or Typo?

So, the typically lacklustre trailer for Jodie Whittaker's final Doctor Who special, "The Power of the Doctor," has been posted today, and with it, a BBC official report, of course. The BBC owns Doctor Who, after all, so of course, they need to report it along with every other news outlet out there. But did they just reveal that the specials written by new showrunner Russell T. Davies and featuring the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate would be back sooner than expected? As in, later this year?

In the last two sentences of the BBC report "Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker Making Last Appearance as Time Lord," it stated: "A series of special episodes to mark Doctor Who's 60th anniversary will take place later this year. David Tennant, the tenth Time Lord, will return to that show alongside Catherine Tate." Here's a look at the lines:

Are We Getting Even More Doctor Who in 2022?

Unless our understanding of the English language has deteriorated or the rules of the language have changed, wouldn't "this year" mean 2022? Did the BBC just state that the new specials would be broadcast this year?

First of all, this is the first official reveal that there would be more than one special from Davies, Tennant, and Tate, even though that's already the assumption given that there are three credited directors working on them. It only takes one director to make a single episode of Doctor Who, after all.

Secondly, does this mean the first of the new specials after "The Power of the Doctor" would be broadcast around or on Christmas? Russell T. Davies has always been a big supporter of the Doctor Who Christmas Specials, and under his run, they have always been huge ratings hits, getting 10 million or more viewers. They stopped making Christmas Specials under Chris Chibnall's run. We don't know if it was his decision or if it was the BBC's – we can't blame him for everything. As it is, Chibnall's post-Christmas specials, usually broadcast after Christmas and around New Year's Day, have not felt like special events, and that's hardly his fault. On British television, Christmas specials always felt special, like events. Call the Midwife has had Christmas Specials for years. Even ITV's Victoria, which starred former companion Jenna Coleman as Queen Victoria, had a Christmas Special in 2017, which turned out to be that series' final episode – for now, because it hasn't been officially cancelled.

So did the BBC mistype "this year instead of "next year"? If it really is "this year," is it going to be just the first new special for Christmas and the next two scheduled across 2023 to keep the momentum for Doctor Who going?  Or is this BBC on BBC crime? Guess we'll just have to wait to find out.

Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor will be broadcast on October 23rd.

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