[JMT1985]

You would think with the extra money coming in from the Disney streaming rights, they could have increased the episode count for a season. We have been on a reduction since Peter Capaldi came in as the 12th doctor, and since then we have been getting less and less episodes per season.

8 episodes and a Christmas special is simply not good enough - the era when we had 13 episodes and a Christmas special worked better, as it gave viewers time to get settled into a series and used to the characters.

I didn't like this episode, as I feel there was no redeeming feature to it. The main guest character was just appalling, no redeeming features about her, and with the doctor and Ruby not there much, it felt wrong.

[UTVLifer]

The difference is that everything production wise takes a lot longer than it did 20 years ago, VFX particularly. Yes, the 8 episode count is lower than we've been used to but I don't think it's going to change anytime soon, not when it's taken 18 months to turnaround an 8-ep series and a Xmas special from filming to TX - and that's with two Doctor-lite episodes. Going back to the 12/13 episode series of old, at the same quality of what's airing now, would be unworkable.

Going from ~45 minute episodes up to an hour for season 2/series 15 however would be a good move IMO given quite a few episodes this series have felt rushed and it'd allow the stories time to breath.

[JMT1985]

The difference is that everything production wise takes a lot longer than it did 20 years ago, VFX particularly. Yes, the 8 episode count is lower than we've been used to but I don't think it's going to change anytime soon, not when it's taken 18 months to turnaround an 8-ep series and a Xmas special from filming to TX - and that's with two Doctor-lite episodes. Going back to the 12/13 episode series of old, at the same quality of what's airing now, would be unworkable.

Going from ~45 minute episodes up to an hour for season 2/series 15 however would be a good move IMO given quite a few episodes this series have felt rushed and it'd allow the stories time to breath.

Well American shows can produce more episodes with good quality, why can't Doctor Who? 18 to 20 episodes are the norm for prime time American dramas, and as I said with the extra money from the Disney deal, increasing it from 8 to say 12 episodes per season shouldn't really be an issue, money wise.

Also RTD seems to have chosen to start production very early, this must be the longest gap between when a series of Doctor Who has been filmed, and when it airs. If you have the right enough budget, post production and filming will be done easily I assume.

I know I will hear people say the BBC is short of cash, but RTD did say this Disney deal for the international streaming rights, was one way to ensure big budget shows like Doctor Who can still be made.

[XIII]

Well American shows can produce more episodes with good quality, why can't Doctor Who? 18 to 20 episodes are the norm for prime time American dramas, and as I said with the extra money from the Disney deal, increasing it from 8 to say 12 episodes per season shouldn't really be an issue, money wise.

Also RTD seems to have chosen to start production very early, this must be the longest gap between when a series of Doctor Who has been filmed, and when it airs. If you have the right enough budget, post production and filming will be done easily I assume.

I know I will hear people say the BBC is short of cash, but RTD did say this Disney deal for the international streaming rights, was one way to ensure big budget shows like Doctor Who can still be made.

Technically speaking, it's 9 episodes a year and it's expensive to make shows like this with lots of CGI. House of the Dragon is 8 episodes for the upcoming season and that show is very expensive to make.

You can't just magic up money and episodes, that's a very naive view of budgets work. You're looking at this like it's 2004, not 2024.

[JMT1985]

Technically speaking, it's 9 episodes a year and it's expensive to make shows like this with lots of CGI. House of the Dragon is 8 episodes for the upcoming season and that show is very expensive to make.

You can't just magic up money and episodes, that's a very naive view of budgets work. You're looking at this like it's 2004, not 2024.

It's a symptom of the BBC not putting the money where their mouth is - You do get a feel they rather splash the budget on Strictly Come Dancing and The Traitors, rather than Doctor Who. Just a view I have, you don't have to agree with me. Let's disagree, I am just making my view.

[iloveTV1]

It's a symptom of the BBC not putting the money where their mouth is - You do get a feel they rather splash the budget on Strictly Come Dancing and The Traitors, rather than Doctor Who. Just a view I have, you don't have to agree with me. Let's disagree, I am just making my view.

If I had to guess it’s because those two shows were getting 7-8m viewers in total in their most recent runs and Doctor Who is struggling to get over 4m.

[AaronTV]

It's a symptom of the BBC not putting the money where their mouth is - You do get a feel they rather splash the budget on Strictly Come Dancing and The Traitors, rather than Doctor Who. Just a view I have, you don't have to agree with me. Let's disagree, I am just making my view.

Nobody denies you are entitled to a view, but you are making meaningless comparisons - American shows with 22 episodes a season, for example, will mostly be studio based sitcoms or procedural dramas with minimal special effects. Strictly and The Traitors are different shows, productions and genres entirely so there is little value in comparing them IMO.

Doctor Who has an enormous amount of work to do for every single episode in post-production - watch an episode back and start counting how many shots include a special effect. You’ll soon start to see why there is such a long production time. If anything, the longer production time (and more obviously the multi-million pound deal with Disney+) is an indication of how much higher the budget is for this series and how much of a priority the show is for the BBC.

RTD has also stated previously that it is his aim to work towards a higher episode count, but ultimately these things take time.

[RhysJR]

Plus, I would rather a low-ish episode count and a regular, annual series, than a longer series but more intermittent. In the latter Moffat era and the Chibnall era, when there was often longer gaps in between series (of course, the Chibnall gaps were COVID enforced) with 2016 having noe episodes bar at Christmas. And there will hopefully some kind of spin-offs to cover the periods of the year without episodes of the main show in the not too distant future.

[CATV]

Doctor Who 2025 has just wrapped filming. So that's gives you an idea of how much time they need to finish a series.

I do wonder if filming it slightly earlier this year is because they might want to deliver the series around January 2025. This time of year everyone out and about at least in January you have a chance of catching more eyes.

[XIII]

A better comparison for Doctor Who's episode count is things like The Mandalorian which is 8 episodes, The various Marvel Studios TV series are 6-10 episodes depending on the series and The Boys which is 8 episodes.