The continually changing seasons for when the BBC airs Doctor Who can be bothersome for fans of the show. As it turns out, even Peter Capaldi is tired of the constant shifting of the show’s schedule.
Typically, when a program is successful, it stays on the same schedule. If a show airs during the Spring one year, it will do the same in subsequent years. Changes to the schedule may happen occasionally, due to production issues or in an attempt to jumpstart the ratings, but tend not to be a frequent occurrence.
That has not been the case for Doctor Who. The show has aired in the Spring, then in the Fall, and has had a split season format. This year, the only episode will be the Christmas Special. It is enough to drive fans of the show mad, and even Peter Capaldi has had enough.
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In fact, Capaldi has even stated that the BBC takes Doctor Who for granted, changing its airing times since the show can “look after itself.” Instead, Capaldi thinks that the BBC should focus more on the program, instead of leaving it to generate ratings regardless of when it falls on their broadcasting schedule.
"“I think maybe their eye was taken off the ball, or the show was seen as a thing they could just push around. It’s not. It’s a special thing,” Capaldi said."
This would certainly appear to be a case where Capaldi is correct. While Doctor Who has remained one of the more popular shows on television, its ratings have fluctuated over the past few seasons. It is possible that not only are those streaming the show online, as opposed to watching via conventional means, are hurting the ratings, but these continual changes to when the show airs cannot help either.
Perhaps the reason why Doctor Who was unable to have a set schedule for production and airing was due to the various other projects that others had in the works. With Steven Moffat being involved with Sherlock, it may be that when Chris Chibnall takes on the role as showrunner following Series Ten, there will be a regularly scheduled timeframe for Doctor Who to be filmed and produced.
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It is time that Doctor Who follows a set schedule. Hopefully, this will begin to happen with Series Eleven.