Doctor Who Series 12: Two-part stories are coming back!
By James Aggas
If you’ve been missing two-part stories and great cliffhangers, you’re in luck! After a complete absence last year, the two-part stories are finally returning in Series 12!
Well, this is a great piece of news! While last year, all we got in Series 11 were stories told in a single episode, it’s now been revealed that for Series 12, Doctor Who is bringing back the multi-part stories! Showrunner Chris Chibnall has revealed why in an interview with Radio Times.
"I love a two-parter. And our two-parters are epic this year…We always knew last year would be those 10 standalone stories, and this year we wanted to weave things in a bit more."
This has definitely made me happy, and I’m sure that’s true for many Doctor Who fans. Now, the length of a Doctor Who story doesn’t guarantee its success, far from it. And the New Series has given us many great stories told in just one episode, including Father’s Day, Blink and Turn Left, to name a few.
However, some stories are better suited to be told over multiple episodes. A longer length means that there’s more room for the plot to breathe and more drama to unfold, and occasionally, with a bigger sense of scale, too. As a result, we’ve also had some great two-part stories, including The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways and Human Nature/The Family of Blood.
More from Winter is Coming
- For All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”
- Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2
- Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule Westeros
- Confirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025
- Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”
Returning cliffhangers
However, when Chris Chibnall took over, it seemed that that he had wanted to focus entirely on stories told in a single episode. But that didn’t stop him from giving us one cliffhanger during Series 11, at least.
"Obviously even though we didn’t officially do two-parters last year, you could argue that first one [The Woman Who Fell to Earth] has a cliffhanger into the second. A two-parter that wasn’t a two-parter!"
This kind of cliffhanger – where one story ends, but the next one is immediately setup during the closing moments – were actually pretty common during William Hartnell’s era. It’s a shame we didn’t get more of them last year really, as getting plenty of great Doctor Who cliffhangers could have made for an effective compromise for no two-parters.
But at least the two-part stories are returning, at long last. We don’t yet know how many there will be, but it’s reassuring to know that we can look forward to stories with both longer lengths and major cliffhangers, the latter of which is almost essential to Doctor Who.
Series 12: Six things we’re hoping for. dark. Next
Which do you prefer: stories told in a single episode or huge two-parters? Are you excited that the latter are returning for Series 12? Let us know in the comments below.
