Doctor Who: Why the TV spin-off you want isn’t going to happen

River Song stands out as a hugely popular character in the Doctor Who universe. So why is her only spin-off series on audio instead of on television?

Image Courtesy: Big Finish Productions.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

Are you frustrated that the Doctor Who spin-off you want is being made, but not on television? There are several key reasons for that.

So I’m sure this has happened before. You stumble across an extremely exciting headline. It sounds like major Doctor Who news: a new spin-off has been announced! One based on your favorite character, or alternatively, a character that you feel should have returned at some point. You click on the article, excited to find out more…and then you find out that it’s not happening on TV.

While I’m sure many of you will still be excited, even if it’s happening in a different format, I also get that you might also be disappointed, to say the least. Doctor Who is primarily a TV series, and it’s easy to want to see much more of the same universe in the same format. So when a new spin-off gets announced, it’s natural to be disappointed to learn that it’s only on audio or comics. Especially if it’s not revealed in the headline itself.

To be honest, this is something we’ve been guilty of. We discuss news specifically related to an audio series, but we don’t mention that it’s audio in the title. This is partly because we cover the audios so heavily, and don’t see much of a difference between them and the TV series.

But there’s also the fact that we’ve accepted one clear, simple truth: that the many different spin-offs fans want are not going to happen on television. For several key reasons.

A spin-off based on Jenny would be amazing to see. But her travels across space would also be costly for the BBC.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

Money

This is a simple reason, but also an important one. After all, TV shows tend to cost a lot more to make compared to audio or comic book series. Especially shows like Doctor Who, where every single week is a completely different environment. Casting; set and costume design; makeup; location shooting – it all adds up. And that’s before we get to the post-production stage where visual effects are added.

Now naturally, some series are considerably cheaper to make than others. This is exactly why every single one of Doctor Who‘s TV spin-offs took place entirely on Earth. Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Class – all of them took place primarily on modern-day Earth, helping considerably with the cost of making it. Even the single episode for K9 & Company was set on Earth!

However, with the Doctor Who universe being so big, chances are that the spin-off series you want will probably cost more. Want a series focused on Clara and her adventures in time and space? That’s instantly too expensive to happen in the same year as a Doctor Who series. How about one just focused on Jenny, the Doctor’s Daughter? Even if she didn’t travel in time, that would still prove costly for something like the BBC.

Frankly, any show not permanently set on Earth is going to be an unlikely option for the BBC. Doctor Who is one of the only sci-fi series they make not set on Earth every single week, and the reason for that is money. While Doctor Who is a brand that’s guaranteed for audience recognition in the UK, no spin-off would have the same level of recognition, not to that extent. Which brings me to the second reason…

Big Finish’s War Master series has been an incredibly exciting one for fans. But would the general audience be interested in a spin-off based on a particular Master that appeared once over a decade ago?

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Interest

There’s a clear simple fact that you’re not going to like, but it’s the truth. Namely this: at the end of the day, the BBC doesn’t owe the fans anything. Sure, a lot of fans would love to see a spin-off based on Jenny or the Paternoster Gang, but I strongly suspect the BBC doesn’t. Why? Because it’s there for the millions, not for the hundreds or even thousands.

This was something that came to mind when seeing announcements relating to spin-offs in other media, particularly those made by Big Finish. Now, for me personally, a new Doctor Who spin-off, regardless of media, is always exciting. It’s such a big universe, and it’s fantastic to know that some of it gets to be explored in a deeper context.

But, when such news is shared on social media, you unfortunately always see the same comment, or variations of it:

"Make this into a TV series!"

Now look, I get it. Many fans prefer the visual medium and see audio or anything else as a massive step down or a poor substitute. But here’s the honest truth: the reason that these spin-offs are being made in other media is that there’s hardly any interest in them as a TV series. Maybe the fans would want to watch a whole series based on a character we saw in one episode over a decade ago, but for the general audience, that’s a much harder sell.

At the end of the day, the BBC needs to focus on the millions, not just what fans of one of their many shows want. It’s why you’ll likely see multiple series of that one show you hate – if it’s getting the viewers in, they’ll keep making it.

The Paternoster Gang is just one of Big Finish’s many Doctor Who spin-offs. And we do mean MANY.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

Volume

My third and last reason why the spin-off you want won’t happen on television? Because the Doctor Who universe is so vast that it’ll be impossible to make all the potential spin-offs out there, at least on the small screen. And, because Doctor Who appeals to so many of us for vastly different reasons, everyone wants a different spin-off.

Let’s look at the audio spin-offs that Big Finish has made. Let’s take a look at those based on the New Series. These include, but are not limited to: UNIT; The Diary of River Song; The Lives of Captain Jack; The Paternoster Gang; The War Master; Missy; Jenny: The Doctor’s Daughter; Lady Christina and more. And that’s not even including the spin-offs based on just the Classic Series.

If you’ve ever wondered why the spin-off you want hasn’t been made as a TV series, just look at that list. There’s so much potential for so many series to be made based on the Doctor Who universe. Perhaps too much, at least for TV. So even if a new spin-off series was going to be made for the small screen, chances are that it won’t be the one you wanted.

Heck, let’s be honest – in many ways, Class was the spin-off that no one had asked for. This isn’t indicative of its quality, but with no previously established characters leading the series, plus only a brief appearance by the Doctor, the series felt only tangentially linked to Doctor Who, at best.

We’d never see something like The Lives of Captain Jack on television, but the fact that it exists at all is something we can be happy with.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Production

The joys of a larger universe

In short, the spin-off series you want is always most likely to happen off-screen. In fact, it’s probably most likely to happen with Big Finish, if it hasn’t already. With no need for any visual elements – or even for all the cast to be in the same room – it’s far easier for Big Finish to make all of these spin-offs than the BBC.

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This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. On the contrary, we’re lucky that we’re getting these spin-offs in any format at all. The universe of Doctor Who is vast – too vast, in fact, to be limited to the small screen.

But that’s why we have the expanded media at all. While the general audience might not be interested to know more, we are. There are so many characters and worlds that deserve to be explored more in the Doctor Who universe, and companies like Big Finish has given us that exploration.

In fact, one of the greatest spin-offs ever made – Jago & Litefoot – was based on two characters who appeared in one Fourth Doctor serial, and yet they were given a spin-off decades later that lasted for over thirteen series. Something like that could never have happened on television, and that’s probably true for the spin-off that you do most want to see. But if you’re open to experiencing that story in a different medium, then you might discover a whole new universe to enjoy.

What do you think? Do you think that most Doctor Who spin-offs that fans want to see are unlikely to be made? If you had to pick just one spin-off to be made on TV, which would it be? Let us know in the comments below.