Posted in: BBC, TV | Tagged: doctor who

Doctor Who Tender: What BBC Studios, Amazon & Others Have to Say

We're looking back at what BBC Studios, Amazon, Electric Entertainment, and others have said about Doctor Who and the tender process.

We don't begrudge ex-showrunner Russell T. Davies and Bad Wolf wanting to move on to other projects, but we're not sure we're ever going to be okay with how the whole mess surrounding the Doctor Who Christmas Special was handled. That said, we're trying not to live too much in the past and focus more on the show's future. We know the BBC is going to put it out to tender, so production companies can pitch to be the next one that millions of fans will blame for ruining the franchise. As for when that will be, our sources are telling us that it looks to be sometime between the time I was writing this and December 31st – you heard it here first! With our fingers, toes, and various other body parts crossed that the tender info drops sooner rather than later, we're taking a look at what we've heard from some of the studios/streamers that could very well be in play – followed by some advice ex-showrunner and writer Steven Moffat had for the company that gets the bid – and for the fans.

BBC Studios: Back in July, BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell made it clear that the production company plans on jumping into the mix. "We've been the producer for 60 years, and we want to be the producer for another 60 years, so we will be going for that tender with gusto," Fussell shared with Deadline Hollywood. "We are in it to win it." As for what that might mean specifically – for example, will it be one or several banners under the BBC Studios umbrella pitching, Fussell wouldn't say. "We've got the full breadth of our studio to look at that, and we will do the best for an absolute adored brand. As the distributor and commercial licensor [of Doctor Who], we understand those fan relationships and can build on that. Doctor Who is something that people in this organization care passionately about," he added.

Electric Entertainment: Previously, there had been rumblings that Dean Devlin's production company, Electric Entertainment (The Librarians: The Next Chapter), were "in talks" with the BBC. In addition, those same rumblings had Devlin expressing an interest in bringing back the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors, David Tennant. Of course, the biggest red flag to that rumor would be the idea that the BBC was speaking with anyone before the tender invite had gone out – that's a huge no-no on a number of levels. In a statement to Radio Times, Devlin said that his company would definitely be interested in making its case when the time is appropriate – but no talks have taken place. "It is untrue that we have had negotiations with the BBC. Preliminary or otherwise. When the proper time comes, when they are prepared to speak with people, we certainly hope to have a discussion with them."

Disney+: Just f***ing with you! At this point, it feels like The War Between the Land and the Sea is being held streaming hostage, with 2026 looking a whole lot more like 2027.

Prime Video: Oliver Jones, Senior Commissioner for UK Scripted at Amazon's Prime Video, had an interesting response when asked about a possible interest in Doctor Who. His words were potentially even more telling when combined with what he and Nicole Clemens, Amazon MGM Studios' London-based VP of International Originals, shared about their goal for UK production. "I love 'Doctor Who,' and we welcome any conversations around IP," shared Jones, not exactly shutting down the idea. From there, Jones and Clemens discussed plans for "across-the-board" increases in spending on UK programming. "The UK budget now sits in the UK, and the decision-making sits with me," said Clemens. "I wanted to let people know that we're open for business," they added, noting that funding was available for scripted and unscripted programs.

"We want broadly commercial shows, but they still need to have a sense of authorship, originality, with deep, multi-faceted characters and a real sense of lean and propulsion. We're a local UK team, we're programming for UK audiences, and we're programming across all of the regions. Ideally, they also have universal themes, universal subject matters, which means that they could travel and get bigger audiences," Jones explained during their time at this year's Edinburgh TV Festival. "If it doesn't work in the UK, it won't travel," Clemens added.

Netflix: Also during the Edinburgh TV Festival, Anne Mensah, Netflix's VP of Original Series, may have won the award for addressing the tender situation and the streamer's potential interest in it in a way that was as middle-of-the-road as possible: "I love 'Doctor Who.' Anything that stays brilliant this long will have many, many lives," Mensah shared with session mediator Boyd Hilton, keeping things short, sweet, and respectful.

New Doctor Who Team "Will Need a Moment"; Moffat Advises Patience

While we await word on what the future could hold for Doctor Who, now that the BBC has made the decision to put it out to tender for new production companies to pitch, Moffat has been doing a nice job of keeping the fans focused on the "bigger picture": the show will have a future – it's just going to take a while. Checking in with Half the Picture, continued along that track – though he added that the new production/creative team "will need a moment" to really bring together its vision for Doctor Who.

"So long as everybody is talking about the future of the show, do you know what the show has? A future," Moffat shared about all of the buzz over the show's fate over the past few months. "If it's an entirely new team, which I think it will be, they need a moment. They need a moment to sit back and say, 'Okay, what's it going to be this time? Who's it going to be this time? What sort of show is it going to be?'" Moffat added. "Don't go rushing into that, and meanwhile, you've got all of 'Doctor Who,' all of it, on your iPhone. You can sit and watch anything that we haven't accidentally lost, and you'll be fine. Just watch it all end to end and give them time to get them going. But it will be back, and it will be good."

Moffat also had some interesting perspectives on television writing and the importance of remembering that a writer's primary job is to entertain. "They never mention the word entertainment, which is the minimum condition of anything you write. Not theme, which some poor sods ask me about, and not subtext. Oh, do me a favour. It's entertainment. That's all you're doing," Moffat said. "When people come home at night to watch a TV show or go to the cinema to watch a movie or the theatre, that's all they're going for. They're not going there for your thoughts on things. They're not wanting to decode the inner mystery of it. They want you to provide approximately 90 minutes of entertainment so they can go to a restaurant and have a nice time. That's it."

But that doesn't mean that Moffat's telling writers not to hit on important themes and address key issues with their work; it just shouldn't be at the expense of the viewers engaging with what's on their screens. "If you're anything beyond that, if you have deep philosophical insights, that's fine, so long as it doesn't get in the way of being entertaining," he noted. "You should always be thinking what's the next interesting thing that could happen? What would be exciting now? The simple rule is every sentence has to make you want to read the next sentence. All the words should lean forward. That's what you're doing. You're trying not to bore people."

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