Doctor Who: Series 12 – improvements in time and space

While we still enjoy watching Doctor Who, we do think that there’s definitely room for improvement. Here are a few key areas of what Series 12 could improve on.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC. Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Doctor Who may still be a great series to watch. But it could also be a lot stronger. Here are several suggestions on how the series could improve in Series 12.

Series 11 of New Who has come and gone, with the reception being mixed to say the least. Personally, I had a lot of issues with it but I also don’t believe it to be the worst series ever or devoid of any value. In fact, you can read a glowing article I wrote about Series 11 describing my top ten favourite moments here at Doctor Who Watch.

There are many particular flaws and criticisms I could level at the latest run of Doctor Who. But, for me, Series 11 is not inherently and solely the problem. I believe it to be an expression or symptom of a wider cause in the property.

To be clear, I love Doctor Who. Otherwise why would I be writing so much about it? My criticisms are born out of a deep-rooted passion for the show. I want Doctor Who to be the best it can be and for me personally, the show has been falling behind in quality in recent years.

Whilst I obviously still enjoy it, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for improvement. A lot of room. Dimensionally transcendental levels of roominess. I think there are ways to propel Doctor Who to new heights and here are my suggestions on how to achieve that.

It Takes You Away may be one of the bolder episodes of Doctor Who in recent years, but shouldn’t more episodes feel like this?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Go bolder

Bold. What do I mean by that? It comes across as pretty vague and it’s hard to exactly quantify in words. But those of a similar dispassionate disposition on Doctor Who will, I’m sure, resonate with what I’m saying.

Simply put, in recent years, Doctor Who has lacked ambition, originality and boldness. We’ve had deluge of run-of-the-mill, pedestrian stories rather than stories filled with freshness, dynamism and a visceral sense of adventure.

I argue that Doctor Who hasn’t been “must-see” television since the early Moffat era with subsequent content being largely creatively stale. Granted there have been honourable exceptions since, such as The Day of The Doctor, Listen, Flatline, Heaven Sent, World Enough & Time and It Takes You Away.

Quite frankly, as much as I still enjoy Doctor Who it’s failed to keep up with a changing television landscape. It has maintained a decently entertaining output, but it’s far removed from being anything like scintillating event television.

A quick glance at contemporary Sci-Fi competition from the likes of Netflix shows-up Doctor Who in a multitude of ways. Just take a look at what Black Mirror or Altered Carbon are accomplishing in terms of blending stakes, action, thought-provoking concepts, immersive world building and character. Or even look at Adult Swim’s zany comedy Rick & Morty which is doing a better job at delivering alien worlds, dimensions and clever ideas.

To sum it up – Doctor Who is a show with a central concept of travelling anywhere in time and space. This property should be leading the charge and not lagging behind it. Writers need to go bolder and re-invigorate Doctor Who with fresh, vibrant ideas to establish the show as an expansive, awe-inspiring, unpredictable, intoxicating EVENT.

Face the Raven was a highly imaginative story, but it also could have strongly benefited from a longer runtime.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Longer run time

For years now I’ve been saying Doctor Who should ditch the 45 minute format (Series 11 raised it to 50 but the differences were negligible). It used to work for the show, providing a tight blast of Sci-Fi and drama. Nowadays, however, I’d argue the 45 minute runtime has hurt the show.

In simple terms, 45 (or 50) minutes are nowhere near enough time to deliver a lot of stories some writers want to tell. Some are just far too vast and grand in scope that the runtime fails to do many stories, concepts and characters justice.

Looking over at episode lists of recent series makes me frustrated at what could have been. Even Series 9’s Face the Raven, an episode which I loved should have had more time to develop its themes and ideas.

Debut episodes for the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors prove how much this show can thrive on a 60-65 minute runtime. Creativity would be unleashed by getting more time to delve in to a particular story. I understand the BBC is suffering from cutbacks and Doctor Who is more expensive to produce, but in my perfect world this would be something I’d try to accomplish.

Series 12 could also benefit from a darker tone, as Tom Baker’s first three seasons of the Doctor had.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: the official Doctor Who website.)

Darker tones

I want Doctor Who to return to a darker approach. A return to more disturbing, grittier tales would be an avenue for better and more mature stories in my view, as Doctor Who is at its best when it has a hefty dose of darkness balanced into adventures.

This has been done many times through the show’s history; think along the lines of the haunting Series 1 or the Grimm-esque horrors of Series 5. Or the Gothic soaked Hinchcliffe era that produced some of the finest Fourth Doctor stories of all time.

Even in less obviously dark eras, there has often been an underlying sense of threat and creepiness – this has been lost. Take the eccentric, colourful McCoy era. Stories like The Greatest Show In The Galaxy, The Happiness Patrol and Remembrance of The Daleks all displayed a distinct darkness through one way or another.

I’m not calling for children to be constantly traumatised, but I strongly believe the show could get a lot more macabre whilst still staying within a 12 rating. I feel that Doctor Who has been devoid of a lot of genuine threat or consequence – I never really feel fearful over the fate of characters on screen.

Even death has been treated like an irrelevance, robbing us of an emotional investment we may have had. The death of Grace in Series 11 has gone a small way in remedying this but there is still a lot more to be done in this area.

The Key to Time is a key example of how well longer form storytelling can work.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: BBC.)

More serialised

Doctor Who has always had a largely episodic format, with a ‘monster-of-the-week’ (MOTW) construct. I’m not suggesting this should be completely done away with, but reformed to really shake up the show from a narrative perspective. As I said in an article praising the Key to Time series:

"Each story in the series is based around this central endeavour, embroiling themselves in all sorts of turmoil in the process. New Who building a series based around these thematic foundations would be a breath of fresh time vortex air.I envisage the writing team crafting a series arc that is heavily interconnected throughout. This arc could have central motivation spearheading the narrative, just like the Key to Time series. In this scenario, avoiding large ‘info-dumps’ and self-containing major arc developments to a few episodes is particularly essential."

It doesn’t have to go full-on serialised for it to be refreshing and different. Just something as simple as doing a quest for a certain object, or person, or planet interwoven through MOTW stories would be a step in a better creative direction.

Another show I’m a fan of is Supernatural and they combine serialised and MOTW formats very well for the most part. They have a central arc involving characters, villains, mystical objects or what have you. This is all spliced into stories – sometimes hardly at all and is a mere backdrop to MOTW action; at others it’s a central plot to an individual episode. It’s a balance and take on the format I think Doctor Who could really take advantage of.

Doctor Who has experimented with other genres before, such telling a Western story in The Gunfighters. But should it experiment even more?

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: BBC Press.)

Genre experimentation

I just previously mentioned Doctor Who taking a bit of inspiration from Supernatural and there is another element that could be borrowed to great effect: genre experimentation. Supernatural has done a variety of episodes that play around with genre. They’ve done a black & white hammer-horror, a Western, a Pulp Fiction inspired thriller, a soap opera and a musical amongst many others.

Admittedly, some of the genre playing was more direct spoof than inspiration, being in service of comedy instead of drama. But not all of them. The idea of Doctor Who experimenting with genre could open up a whole new department.

It’s astonishing that it hasn’t happened much at all, considering the very core concept of the show is that you can go anywhere and do anything. Why can’t we have a Doctor Who episode that’s a silent black & white horror? Or a Noir murder mystery? Or a spy caper? There are ample ideas for Doctor Who by merging Sci-Fi with other genres and styles.

We love the Daleks, but isn’t it time that they had a break?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Temporarily axe Daleks and Cybermen

The combination of over-use and mishandling of the iconic villains has made me, for the most part, utterly indifferent and apathetic towards them. They both have lost a lot of their integral menace. The decline of their impact makes me yearn for more original villains.

There are great Classic Who foes that haven’t received a New Who re-launch either such as the Sea Devils and the Mara that could take their place. The incessant use of the Daleks and Cybermen has rendered their scare-factor muted and their potential thought-provoking themes squandered.

If I were given the showrunner keys, I’d make the choice to retire the both of them for a minimum of two series then bring them back in an enormous fashion to re-establish their power. The Daleks and Cybermen are supposed to be epic and special, but they cease to be so if they are constantly around.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there are pressures from some BBC sources to include them to market a new series and push merchandising, but I passionately believe Doctor Who would be in a better position long-term by temporarily axing them.

Is it time for Torchwood to finally return to the screen? We certainly think so.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Develop established places

Doctor Who is all about seeing new horizons, but I feel they are missing a trick by not expanding on some of the wonderful creations the show has produced on screen. Some would argue it would make the Doctor’s universe smaller by focusing on certain places or people. I don’t agree, if done responsibly. Personally, I think it would bring more depth and enrich the Doctor Who universe even further.

Why not establish a U.N.I.T. family with Kate Stewart and the Osgoods? Delving into what a secret military organisation is all about for a New Who audience unaccustomed to the Third Doctor’s era would be a great development.

Let’s have the Doctor occasionally dabble with the Paternoster Gang and their detective network solving murder mysteries. Let’s go further into the nature of the Shadow Proclamation, or take another stroll through hidden Trap Streets. Let’s properly go back to Gallifrey and peer into Time Lord society with philosophical explorations of the nature of time and witness bureaucratic power struggles.

Re-establish Torchwood

More from Winter is Coming

If I were in charge of running Doctor Who this would be one of the first things I’d do with my fingers furiously dialing John Barrowman. I think it’s a no-brainer to bring back Captain Jack and along with it, re-establish Torchwood as a functioning organisation within Doctor Who onscreen.

Captain Jack is one of the best characters to have graced the Doctor Who universe and there’s so much that could potentially be done with him. As an immortal time-traveler he’d naturally fit into most stories. John Barrowman is passionate about the role and would return in a heartbeat if scheduling allows it.

It’s a travesty that a character of the calibre of Captain Jack has been allowed to fade away (on screen I must stress, Big Finish have done excellent work with him). It seems Torchwood is 100% a dead show at this point, so it would be clever to re-incorporate it into the parent show.

If I were magically given the keys to the showrunner gig these are some of the avenues I would attempt to go down in a bid to improve the show. You may completely disagree with me and that’s fine, but I wanted to put some ideas forward.

Next. The one companion the Doctor said they loved. dark

If you were the showrunner of Doctor Who, what decisions would you make to improve it? What do you think works right now, and what do you think could be improved? Let us know in the comments below.

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