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    What if Doctor Who Wasn't Axed?
    What if Doctor Who Wasn't Axed?
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    Real World Articles, Doctor Who seasons

    The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective.

    Season 56 of Doctor Who, also known as Series 4 premiered in May 2022 for a run of 13 episodes. It was a special season, which formed part of the 60th Anniversary Celebrations. It saw the return of three former showrunners, to handle each serial of the season - Ronald D. Moore, Jane Espenson and David Renwick. It starred Ace Bhatti as the Doctor.

    Overview

    After Hodges Departure

    After Adrian Hodges left as showrunner at the end of the previous season, and with a thirteen episode season order, Franchise Executive, Mal Young decided to split the season up into three separate serials, to celebrate the 60th Anniversary, with two serials spanning six-episodes, and the thirteenth episode acting a special for the BBC's Centenary. In collaboration with the Executive Supervisor of Television, Jane Espenson, he decided to air the first serial in the Spring 2022, followed by the Centenary Special in the Autumn 2022 and the third serial in Spring 2023, proceeding the 60th Anniversary movie, in the Autumn.

    As the the new showrunner had yet to be picked, Espenson made the decision for each of the three serials to have a separate showrunner, namely a returning showrunner from the past. Espenson offered the first serial to, former showrunner of season 49, 50 and 51 as well as series 4 to 7 of spin-off Panopticon, Ronald D. Moore. Initially, Moore did say no. He had reservations about returning to Doctor Who, especially after what had happened in 2017, but he had maintained a friendship with Espenson over the years, so shrugged the offer off as her being very gracious. He was also busy with showrunning Apple TV+’s For All Mankind. However, upon discussing the offer with Ira Steven Behr, over dinner, Behr encouraged Moore to reconsider, telling him that he never got to finish his time on Doctor Who properly, and Espenson’s offer was one that probably wouldn’t come around again, especially as she was going to be leaving the franchise. After some consideration, Moore did eventually meet with Espenson again, where she discussed a list of possible things they could do for the serial, which, finally managed to win him round and Moore accepted the offer. Unbeknownst to Moore, Espenson had asked Ben Aaronovitch to fill his place, but Espenson terminated the agreement, following Moore accepting to come on board. The second serial was only a single feature-length special, and in-part due to it's importance, and also because Espenson was departing the franchise the next year, she, herself, decided to handle the serial. For the third and final serial, Espenson gave the offer to, former showrunner, from seasons 35 to 40, David Renwick. Despite multiple showrunners handling the season, Espenson coordinated things so some story threads did continue throughout.

    During this time, Gaynor Holmes left BBC Scotland to join BBC North to oversee the production of the new series of Waterloo Road, Gavin Smith took over her position of overseeing production on Doctor Who for BBC Scotland.

    The Moore Serial

    With Moore contracted as showrunner for the first six episodes of the season, he and Espenson sat down and pitched ideas that could be done for his serial and with this, Moore returned to an idea that he had originally planned for Season 53, which he'd first thought of during the production of The Martian Equinox. Initially, Moore had planned a pseudo-remake of the serial for the opening two-parter of Season 53, which would set up the season arc with someone tampering with the Doctor’s memories and timeline. Additionally, peppered throughout the season, but not every episode, would be additional reimaginings of missing serials. Moore’s original idea was for it to all tie into a time-hopping paradox created by the Ascended Daleks (from Panopticon), which would all collimate in his planned Season 53 finale. While in his early discussions with Espenson, Moore reminded her of his ideas for Season 53, and said that a full-on Battlestar Galactica style reimagining of The Daleks’ Master Plan could work well for a 6-episode serial format, and Espenson instantly enthusiastic.

    As work began, Moore was bound to strict secrecy, as Mal Young, in his usual showman-like style, decided that everything would be kept confidential until late-November at the Official Doctor Who Convention, meaning that production would already be a month in at this point, let alone the amount of time it’d have to remain secret in pre-production. It was decided that until after the convention, Moore would work remotely for the United States on the show, in order to prevent fans connecting the dots, if he was sighted in Scotland. Moore also had to delay Season 3 of For All Mankind, but in order to prevent fans from being suspicious, it was officially cited as being because of “the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic”. Moore vowed to return to For All Mankind, as soon as his work on Doctor Who had wrapped.

    As showrunner, Moore decided not to “go it alone”, instead calling up his back-catalogue of writers, from his era, to contribute to the serial. He also assembled them, once again, in a (zoom) writers’ room, to help with storylining. These writers were Bradley Thompson, David Weddle, Ira Steven Behr and Matthew B. Roberts. For two weeks, they storylined the serial, and worked out who would write which episode. They were once again given the credit of Co-Executive Producer – the first time Ira Steven Behr had held this credit on Doctor Who.

    Moore similarly consulted directors he was used to working with, hiring Rachel Talalay, John Dahl and also Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, who he’d met on Battlestar Galactica and wanted to use on Doctor Who for years, but was always unavailable. After coordination with Mal Young and Jane Espenson it was decided that Block 1 would be handled by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, and cover Episodes 2 and 3, while Block 2 would be handle by Rachel Talalay, and would shoot in Vancouver on the Pixomondo AR Wall. Additionally, this Block, for production reasons would cover the Centenary Special, as well. This meant Espenson would be shooting a Block of 3 episodes, covering Episodes 1, 5 and 7. After filming completed in America, the block wrapped with a day of filming on the TARDIS set in Scotland. Block 3 was handled by John Dahl, covering Episodes 4 and 6, and were both set entirely in Scotland. Producer wise, Moore hired Nikki Wilson for Block 1, Seth Edelstein for Block 2 and Brian Minchin for Block 3.

    Casting wise, Moore was happy to work with Andy Pryor, again, especially while casting the returning legacy characters. Suranne Jones was suggested very early on, in discussions, and she was invited for a screen test for, a 6-episode Doctor Who recurring character, called Jean Morgan – a pseudonym (in order to keep the secret) created from Jean Marsh (Sara Kingdom’s original actor), and Morgaine (the character Marsh played in Battlefield). It was only after Jones accepted the role, that she was told the truth, and then forced to sign an NDA. In preparation for filming, Jones met with Jean Marsh to discuss the character of Sara Kingdom. It was during this meeting that the two came up with the idea of Marsh cameoing as an old Sara Kingdom in Episode 6. Jones presented this to Moore, who instantly loved the idea and wrote it into the script. Although wanting to keep it a surprise, Mal Young was told, in April, that news of Marsh’s appearance was likely to leak, so the upcoming trailer for the season was adjusted to include Marsh at the end, allowing for Young to officially reveal the news.

    Moore had agreed, early on, with Pryor, that for Mavic Chen they wanted to cast a genuine Asian actor, as while Kevin Stoney’s performance was popular with Doctor Who fans, it would be simply racist to use a white actor in the role. Therefore Pryor set about auditioning Asian men between the ages of 60 and 80 for the role of Vaughn Chang, another pseudonym. Togo Igawa was eventually cast in the role, and then told exactly who he’d be playing. In 1995, Igawa had previously appeared in the Season 32 serial Saint Anthony’s Fire as the character, Hovv. Further recurring legacy characters were auditioned with pseudonyms, as well, in the months leading up to production.

    Production officially began at BBC Scotland on 18 October 2021, the day after the broadcast of The Highland Beast, in complete secrecy. The production had been plagued with leaks recently, and the team at BBC Scotland were extremely nervous about more leaks travelling out of the set. As a precaution, all the call sheets, scripts and paperwork included false character names, with some scripts containing different scenes, as well, so if something did leak, it could be tracked back to who. Unfortunately for the production team, a call sheet did leak to the Mirror, however, due to the use of pseudonyms the surprise was (largely) kept. Although some fans on the internet had manage to crack the code, and work out what the pseudonyms were hiding, the theory wasn’t widespread, so most fans were genuinely surprised at ODWC, when it was announced.

    Although Ruth Barrett had been Doctor Who’s composer for the past two seasons, Moore called upon Bear McCreary, once again, to handle the music, however, Jeff Russo’s theme did remain. The title sequence remained the same as Season 55 too, with the only change being the logo, which now remained on screen for less time before moving off the screen for The Daleks’ Master Plan logo, appearing on it’s own, after the main Doctor Who logo. Everything else, apart from cast credits, which now read “Ace Bhatti”, “Suranne Jones”, “and Togo Igawa”, remained the same as Season 55. The title cards remained the same, except above the episode title a smaller “Episode One” or “Episode Two” etc etc appeared.

    The Espenson Serial

    The Restoration was the seventh episode of Season 56, the second serial of the season, and acted as Doctor Who’s way of celebrating 100 Years of the BBC and was a 90-minute feature length episode. It was also Jane Espenson’s send-off for Doctor Who, as while she still had a year to go as Executive Supervisor of Television, this was the end of the road for her creative influence, having penned this story. The BBC wanted something big and that’s what Jane Espenson gave them. She managed to team up three Doctors, a bunch of popular companions, and bring in the Cybermen and Time Lords. She knew that, on a TV budget, there was hardly anything bigger that could be done.

    Production wise, most of the episode was shot in Canada at CBS Stages Canada, during the second block of The Daleks’ Master Plan. This allowed for much of the scenes to be shot on the AR Wall adding to the scope of the episode. It also allowed director Rachel Talalay to utilise the Eleventh Doctor’s TARDIS set which stood at CBS Stages Canada. Due to the fact that the Fourteenth Doctor’s TARDIS had been drastically altered by the team at Doctor Who Weekly, for their set, having been fitted with LED screens etc, Talalay decided to recreate the Fourteenth Doctor’s TARDIS on the AR Wall, with the original console prop being shipped over and placed in the middle. Shooting on the Sixteenth Doctor’s set happened at a later date at BBC Scotland.

    Ruth Barrett, who composed the score for the last few seasons of Doctor Who, returned for this episode, after Bear McCreary composed The Daleks’ Master Plan. The title sequence remained the same as Season 55, with the exception of Samantha Bond and Anthony Head’s names being added in after Ace Bhatti’s.

    The Renwick Serial

    The third and final serial of Season 56 was, from its announcement, the one that fans were the most in the dark about. Fans knew what The Daleks’ Master Plan would look like as a whole, and the same went for The Restoration, as a celebration of Doctor Who on television. This serial, helmed by David Renwick, who had been the Executive Producer from 1998-2003, fans were clueless about. There were a few basic assumptions including the fact it’d be primarily set on Earth, but many turned out to be incorrect such as characters like Sammy Thompson or even Rosalyn Clyne appearing.

    David Renwick’s approach was far different to Ronald D. Moore and Jane Espenson’s method of showrunning. His only writing credit was a cowrite on the final episode and overall he was there to craft the overall story with his team of Co-Executive Producers, who were Russell T Davies, Robert Shearman, Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall. His approach was just to replicate how he’d done Doctor Who 20-years earlier, with many of the same people, but in a modern setting with a modern story and a modern format.

    Production wise, the serial was produced in three blocks, each helmed by a different producer and director. Block 1 by, director, Lee Haven Jones and, producer, Rosemary McGowan covering Episodes 2 and 3; Block 2 by, director, Hettie MacDonald and, producer, Colin Wratten covering Episodes 1 and 5; Block 3 by, director, Joe Ahearne and, producer, Gary Russell. With the exception of Rosemary McGowan, who Renwick had worked with in the interim, everyone else on the team, Renwick had pulled from their own experience on Doctor Who.

    Due to the heavy reliance on nostalgia in the previous two stories, Renwick decided to do something different and tell a story, which while still touched on Doctor Who’s past, did something a bit different. Viv Kalanak was brought back, from her appearance in Season 53, because Renwick enjoyed her character and wanted to work with Jaye Griffiths. Renwick also worked from the status-quo that Doctor Who: The Upgrade from Tomorrow had established with UNIT no longer existing. While that film had implied that it would be reorganised into a body very similar to UNIT, but without Cybermen being in control, Renwick decided to subvert that and have the “Tomahawk project” evolve into something very different, so a new angle on alien incursions could be presented.

    Just like The Daleks’ Master Plan, the logo for The Other World appeared in the title sequence, in place of the main Doctor Who logo. Only Ace Bhatti and Jaye Griffiths were listed in the opening credits until Episode 4, whereby Adjoa Andoh's name was added. With her playing the main villain, The Toymaker.

    Promotion

    Details about the season were first announced at the Official Doctor Who Convention 2021, on 27 November, alongside a teaser trailer for the first serial. This teaser trailer was screened at the convention, and live-streamed through YouTube, before being uploaded to various social media platforms. It was not featured on BBC or CBS television, instead only appearing online.

    Several months later, on 30 March 2022, the official key art for the first serial was released, alongside an airdate announcement. The key art was initially released via Twitter, but went onto appear, not only on BBC and Paramount+ listings, but also on posters and billboards around the world, and eventually the home media releases. Two variations of the key art were released, one with BBC branding, and the other with Paramount+ branding.

    On 25 April 2022, BBC One premiered a 40-second TV trailer for the first serial, in a bumper between EastEnders and Panorama. This was followed by a longer 108 second trailer being released online, through various social media platforms, including the official Doctor Who YouTube Channel and the Paramount+ YouTube Channel. The 40-second TV trailer continued to be aired across linear BBC channels, up until the 8 May premiere. A 30-second edit of the trailer was frequently seen on both CBS, and internationally around the world, advertising it's Paramount+ premiere.

    On 23 September 2022, BBC One premiered a 60-second TV trailer for the second serial (also known as the Centenary special), just prior to the Strictly Come Dancing 2022 launch show. At the same time a longer 116 second trailer released online, through various social media platforms, including the official Doctor Who YouTube Channel and the Paramount+ YouTube Channel. The 60-second TV trailer continued to be aired across linear BBC channels, up until the 23 October premiere. A 30-second edit of the trailer was frequently seen on both CBS, and internationally around the world, advertising it's Paramount+ premiere.

    Cast

    Regular

    Recurring

    Guest

    Television Stories

    Main Season

    Serial # Serial Title Episode Title Writer Director Air Date
    1 1 The Daleks' Master Plan Episode One: The Carnivorous Jungle Ronald D. Moore Rachel Talalay 8 May 2022
    2 Episode Two: The Guardian's Tale David Weddle & Bradley Thompson Sergio Mimica-Gezzan 15 May 2022
    3 Episode Three: The Face of the Enemy Ira Steven Behr Sergio Mimica-Gezzan 22 May 2022
    4 Episode Four: The Cry of the Past Matthew B. Roberts John Dahl 29 May 2022
    5 Episode Five: The Secret of Kembel Ronald D. Moore & Ira Steven Behr Rachel Talalay 5 June 2022
    6 Episode Six: The Mutation of Time Ronald D. Moore John Dahl 12 June 2022
    2 7 The Restoration Jane Espenson Rachel Talalay 23 October 2022
    3 8 The Other World Episode One: Enigma Robert Shearman Hettie MacDonald 9 April 2023
    9 Episode Two: The Sky Above Russell T Davies Lee Haven Jones 16 April 2023
    10 Episode Three: Species 001 Chris Chibnall Lee Haven Jones 23 April 2023
    11 Episode Four: The End of Humanity Russell T Davies Joe Ahearne 30 April 2023
    12 Episode Five: Gambit Steven Moffat Hettie MacDonald 7 May 2023
    13 Episode Six: The Light of the Moon Robert Shearman & David Renwick Joe Ahearne 14 May 2023

    Production

    Crew

    To be added.

    Shooting Blocks

    Block Episodes Director Producer DOP Editor
    1 56x02, 56x03 Sergio Mimica-Gezzan Nikki Wilson Stephen McNutt Michael O'Halloran
    2 56x01, 56x05, 56x07 Rachel Talalay Seth Edelstein Stuart Biddlecombe Will Oswald
    3 56x04, 56x06 John Dahl Brian Minchin Nic Morris Phil Hookway
    4 56x09, 56x10 Lee Haven Jones Rosemary McGowen Luke Bryant Joel Skinner
    5 56x08, 56x12 Hettie MacDonald Colin Wratten Kate McCullough Stephen O'Connell
    6 56x11, 56x13 Joe Ahearne Gary Russell Richard Kendrick Graham Walker

    Filming

    To be added.

    Aliens and Enemies

    Viewing Figures

    No. Title Official BARB Figures (7-day) Official BARB Figures (28-day)
    Consolidated (m) Weekly Rank Consolidated (m)
    1 The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode One: The Carnivorous Jungle 5.96 2 6.62
    2 The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Two: The Guardian's Tale 5.50 3 6.06
    3 The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Three: The Face of the Enemy 5.41 2 5.99
    4 The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Four: The Cry of the Past 5.63 4 6.21
    5 The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Five: The Secret of Kembel 5.47 10 6.02
    6 The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Six: The Mutation of Time 5.85 3 6.49
    7 The Restoration TBA TBA TBA
    8 The Other World, Episode One: Enigma TBA TBA TBA
    9 The Other World, Episode Two: The Sky Above TBA TBA TBA
    10 The Other World, Episode Three: Species 001 TBA TBA TBA
    11 The Other World, Episode Four: The End of Humanity TBA TBA TBA
    12 The Other World, Episode Five: Gambit TBA TBA TBA
    13 The Other World, Episode Six: The Light of the Moon TBA TBA TBA
    Series Average TBA TBA

    Physical Media

    To be added.

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