Did BBC force out Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who ratings slump from complex plots, unpopular baddies and 8pm ‘X Factor slot’ being too late for kids?
Plots of the show were being criticised for becoming needlessly complex
IF sweary spin doctor Malcolm Tucker watched the latest Doctor Who, he would brand it “a f***ing omnishambles”, a “catastrof***”, or even “S**tehead Revisited”.
Just weeks ago, Peter Capaldi — who played Tucker to much acclaim in The Thick Of It — swore allegiance to the Tardis, telling fans he hoped to play the Doctor “for a long time”.
But on Monday he made a spectacular U-turn and QUIT.
He declared: “I’ve never worked the same job for three years and I feel like now is the right time to move on.”
Last night insiders claimed the real reason for the extraordinary about-face was that he jumped before he was pushed.
They said the Scottish star faced being dumped by incoming show boss Chris Chibnall, who has been tasked with rescuing the series, which has seen ratings nearly HALVE.
Broadchurch writer Chris, who takes over next year, was rumoured to have been looking for a replacement Time Lord before Monday’s announcement.
He is understood to want someone younger than 58-year-old Capaldi to play the hero.
As one well-placed source put it: “Chris has lots of ideas. He wants someone younger to appeal to a broader audience and he isn’t ruling out a woman this time.”
Capaldi is a talented and likeable actor but has not been the fans’ favourite Time Lord.
His first appearance, on Christmas Day in 2013, was watched by a peak of 10.2million viewers.
Fast-forward three years and his Christmas Special for 2016 was viewed by 6.1million, a far cry from the 15.2million David Tennant pulled in for Christmas 2007.
Bugbears for fans include the fact that, pushing 60, he was too old to have flirty chemistry with sidekick Clara, played by gorgeous 30-year-old Jenna Coleman.
Some insiders claim money was also a factor in his departure.
Capaldi is understood to have been paid around £400,000 a year at the BBC and was said to be unhappy that Tennant had been earning £100,000 more when he left.
Having let it be known he was after a pay rise, negotiations appear to have ended badly.
Our source added: “Salaries at the BBC aren’t what they used to be and with Doctor Who not pulling in the ratings it used to, it would have been impossible to justify an even bigger wage bill.”
But, tellingly, they added: “If you want to keep someone though, a pay rise can usually be found.”
Somewhat embarrassingly for the departing Capaldi, he initially threw his weight behind new boss Chris, who he clearly hoped to work with.
He said: “Chris is a wonderful writer. He’ll take it in a direction that is his and that’ll be very exciting.”
Alas, Capaldi will now be watching on the sofa with the rest of us.
But for many “Whovians” most of the blame for the astonishing drop in ratings lands at writer and executive producer Steven Moffat’s door.
Bitten off more than he could chew
Under his stewardship fans — including die-hards — had started to complain the show had become impenetrable and needlessly complex.
Vanity Fair writer Joanna Robinson spoke for many when she wrote: “Before he took over . . . Moffat was a brilliant Doctor Who writer, cracking out some of the best single or two-part episodes on the show’s history.
“But when given full rein over a whole season, Moffat’s Whoverse started to crack . . . under the weight of too much tangled mythology.”
The word at the BBC was that bosses believed Moffat, 55, had bitten off more than he could chew trying to run Sherlock and Doctor Who simultaneously.
It may be of little surprise that Sherlock’s most recent Christmas series was also blasted by fans for its nonsensical plot.
Co-writer Mark Gatiss, 50, may also be feeling the strain. His two Doctor Who episodes for Capaldi were also panned.
Quietly the pressure was lifted after the decision was made to rest Doctor Who last year, officially because the Rio Olympics and Euro 2016 were filling the schedules.
That 12-month break came after the disastrous series nine in 2015.
The opener was watched by a peak of 4.8million but figures plunged as low as 3.9million.
That series included the unconvincing baddy the Mire — adding to the equally terrible Robots from series eight.
According to Moffat and Capaldi, that 2015 outing was nobbled by bosses who ruthlessly scheduled the traditional family show after 8pm, pitting it against ITV’s The X Factor.
Capaldi fumed at the time: “Once you get past 8.15pm you’re getting yourself into adult territory. And although a lot of adults really like it, at its heart it’s designed to do a lot of entertaining of children as well.
“So it begins to move into a zone it doesn’t quite belong in.” Moffat has also had to dodge claims of misogyny, after referring to Billie Piper’s character Rose Tyler as the Doctor’s “slightly needy girlfriend”.
Honestly expecting a wee beach ball
He then said he was worried after seeing a DVD of Karen Gillan, 29 — the ex-model who became Matt Smith’s sidekick, Amy Pond — that she was too “wee and dumpy”.
He added he was “honestly expecting a wee beach ball” before meeting her at the auditions, where he was delighted to discover she was a “flame-haired goddess”.
Tackling the criticism, Moffat has said: “It’s a complicated issue. I never quite know how to respond.
“The general point being made by these people is correct. We need better female role models on screen.
“Maybe this is my dimwittery but I do not understand why Doctor Who, of all shows, is singled out as misogynistic. I’m sure I’m to the left of a lot of my detractors.”
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Viewers also felt the show, like Sherlock, was in danger of being twee, smug and conceited.
When Moffat — known as The Grand Moff on set — announced he was leaving, Gatiss congratulated him in Latin.
He wrote: “Sclavus liberatus felix est” on Twitter, which translates to “the freed slave is happy”.
Hardly in touch with viewers.
Now the show’s remaining core fans are hoping that Chris will choose his new Time Lord carefully, with many suggesting — doubtlessly in vain — that he could lure Tennant back now they’ve become friendly on the set of Broadchurch.
Capaldi can take some comfort in that it is, as Tucker would say, NMFP — “not my f***ing problem”.
NO TIME TO LAUD PC DOC
A WEIRD experience watching the Christmas Doctor Who – like being drunk while 100 per cent sober.
It was the same watching that dreadful recent series of Sherlock as well.
Nothing made sense, the characters were just shouting the first smart-a**ed thing that came into their heads and everything felt like it had been borrowed from elsewhere.
The unifying factor, of course, was writer Steven Moffat and his dreadful, impenetrable and horribly self-indulgent scripts.
So bad, in fact, was Christmas Day’s The Return Of Doctor Mysterio that I genuinely questioned whether it was being performed in English at one point.
Thankfully, Moffat is quitting Doctor Who at the end of the year.
Before we arrive at that happy pass, however, a replacement for Peter Capaldi has to be found.
A process that will, no doubt, lead to the usual round of virtue signalling on Twitter and television.
You’ll be familiar with it by now, I’d imagine.
Modern heresy
As soon as any high-profile vacancy arises, everyone who wants an easy round of applause starts shouting: “I think the next Doctor/James Bond/Prime Minister/Hull Kingston Rovers scrum-half should be a woman/black.”
Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid got the right-on bandwagon rolling yesterday at 6:12 am.
“Ben Whishaw’s a brilliant actor,” she pointed out, correctly, “but why’s he the favourite for the role?”
Well, you’ve answered your own question there, haven’t you, Susanna.
He’s a brilliant actor and as ideally suited for the Tardis as Capaldi before Moffat’s scripts got in the way.
This is not where Susanna wanted to take the debate, though. So, before 7am had even arrived, it was agreed the next Doctor simply had to be Miranda Hart.
Why? Because “it should be a woman,” obviously.
No other justification is needed in these politically correct times.
The moral justification is that we’ve not had a female Doctor before.
Although you’d be dismissed as a misogynist, of course, if you said the next star of Silent Witness must be a man, using the same logic.
Personally – and here’s a modern-day heresy – I think it should go to the best person for the job, regardless of how they go to the toilet or their race, class, religion, etc, etc.
But if anyone’s serious about the Doctor’s next regeneration being Miranda Hart, instead of Ben Whishaw, then let me put my cards on the table. Team Davros.