Doctor Who show runner Steven Moffat gave a short statement to Radio Times on April 5th, Easter Sunday regarding the longevity of the program.
I thought it would last ten years. I didn’t think it would last ten years with BBC Worldwide trying to get me in a room to talk about their plan for the next five years!
Five more years of a show is a tremendous commitment for any TV channel to make, let alone the BBC, which tends to only commit to short seasons for drama programs, of 6 to 10 episodes total, with a re-examination each year as to whether a particular show should return. It’s even more astounding considering how a wane in popularity and threats of cancellations dogged the show in the 1980s, leading to what could have been its permanent demise.
The claim of that viewers will experience a minimum 15 year run for the revived Doctor Who brings a new tone to the 21st century version of the program. This is no longer a new show with an unsteady future. Rather, this is the unfolding of a new classic era.
With Doctor Who set to run into the year 2020, how many new Doctors will we see? Or will Peter Capaldi stay on and cement a Tom Baker-style legacy? Time, as always, will tell.
