Doctor Who Will Return In Time For Easter, But What Happened To Season 8?
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Having just rewatched “Last of the Time Lords” last night, it’s easy to see the way Doctor Who often paints the Doctor as a sort of God for people who don’t believe in God. While the show usually tries not to be too on the nose with that metaphor, it is strangely appropriate that Doctor Who will return with new episodes just in time for Easter.
DrWho-online has posted the premiere date, straight from BBC One, so you’ll want to mark your calendars and program your DVRs for Saturday, March 30th. It’s not confirmed yet whether BBC America will also premiere the new episodes that night, but that would be consistent with how they handled the previous episodes, so it seems likely.
The show will return with an episode rumored to be entitled “The Bells of St. John,” penned by showrunner Steven Moffat. With the Christmas episode having dragged the Doctor out of his Pond-induced funk and teamed him up with a mysterious new companion (Jenna-Louise Coleman as “Clara Oswin”), I’m looking forward to where the rest of the season takes us. The first batch of episodes were something of a disappointment, so I’m hoping Clara’s presence kicks things back into gear.
Here are the rumored remaining episode titles, writers, and directors, including Neil Gaiman’s second Who episode:
7.6: The Bells Of St.John – [W: Steven Moffat / D: Colm McCarthy] – Rumoured Title
7.7: Untitled – [W: Neil Cross / D: Farren Blackburn]
7.8: Untitled – [W: Mark Gatiss / D: Douglas Mackinnon]
7.9: Phantoms of the Hex – [W: Neil Cross / D: Jamie Payne] – Rumoured Title
7.10: Journey to the Centre of The TARDIS – [W: Stephen Thompson / D: Mat King] – Confirmed Title
7.11: The Crimson Horror – [W: Mark Gatiss / D: Saul Metzstein] – Rumoured Title
7.12: Untitled – [W: Neil Gaiman / D: Stephen Wolfenden]
7.13: Untitled – [W: Steven Moffat / D: TBC]
There’s one other potentially disturbing Who tidbit: a BBC banner spotted at the London Toy Fair (see below) doesn’t list any new episodes as being scheduled for the fall. In fact, it doesn’t even list a Christmas episode, just the big anniversary special in November. So what the hell happened to season 8? I suppose they may just be shifting everything back into 2014 so they can focus on the anniversary events, but it still seems an odd choice, given the schedule they’ve settled into for the past few seasons. Or maybe there is more coming in 2013, but they’re just trying to keep a lid on it so some surprises won’t be spoiled. Either way, if confirmed, this would be a bit of a slap to the face for loyal Who viewers, especially if they even nix the Christmas episode. It’s the big 50th anniversary, so let’s show fewer episodes! That makes perfect sense, right?
