It was officially announced yesterday that Seven Moffat will be stepping down as show runner at the end of the next series! That's perhaps not a shock or barely even a surprise since his departure had been hinted at over the last year or two, one way or another with general, vague comments that he won't be there forever and that he was closer to the end of his time than the beginning. The inclusion of River Song in the Christmas episode was explained by Steven as maybe his last chance to write for the character, as well as being an inappropriate time to introduce a new companion. So now it all adds up to one final series for him and hopes and prayers that Peter Capaldi will stay on with the new Exec Producer (Chris Chibnall, by the way) as that has not yet been mentioned. Also confirmed however, is the fact that 2016 will not see a new a full series. The full story there is that the only Doctor Who we will have in 2016 is the Christmas special and that Series 10 won't air until spring 2017! The reason for this is, no doubt, money saving. The official line is that 2016 already has some big event television (Football and Olympics) and BBC One controller Charlotte Moore wanted to "hold something big back for 2017 - I promise it will be worth the wait!" well it better had.
Chris Chibnall, for those who don't know, is the man behind the hugely successful "Broadchurch" and its American flavour "Gracepoint". He was also Co-Producer and effective lead writer for the original series of Torchwood, as well as writer of Doctor Who episodes 42, The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood, Dinosaurs On A Spaceship, and The Power Of Three... that's one featuring David Tennant, four with Matt Smith, but nothing since Clara was introduced.
It is unclear at this point when Chibnall will actually take over. Whether it will be for the expected Christmas special in 2017, an odd starting point, or the start of the new series in 2018, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, I need to get back to my reviews! Again! Some things [i]never[/i] change!
