The leaving of both Executive producers after only 2 years is suspicious. The series is racked with behind the scenes issues which has lead to the season being broken into 2 parts due to budget problems. The Doctor’s Wife, reportedly, over run by £20k which lead to reuse of an Ood customer. 2 successful producers were apparently sacked by both of these exec producers and then requested to come back, both refused due to the treatment received. It does not make sense for both Exe Producers to go at the same time unless there is something else going on.

I agree with you steve and forgive me for sounding like im being a conspiracy theorist but it is quite troubling the state doctor who is in at the moment. The split series, the lack of full series next year and the two exec producers leaving as well, also that karen nor arthur have confirmed their involvement yet is also cause for concern. If I am being honest I don’t think I’ll miss Piers or Beth as they both dont come across as warm towards the show.

What I used to love about the RTD era is that you could always sense from RTD, JG and PC a real sense of passion for the show (they must have been passionate if they last four years) but I don’t feel the same sense from SM, PW or BW. I could be wrong. I just feel this could be the way the show is breaking down. Recently I heard that apparently SM does not like having confidential on screen.

In terms of the series 6 ratings raging above average, I don’t agree with that. I’ve seen bigger ratings from past series. The ratings for series 6 part 1 only seem to scrape above average.

@Steve
what was the business with the producers being sacked? I didn’t hear about that?

@mpirks
The ratings are probably up on the last series but still down from the Tennant era, even with the extra ratings now added from iPlayer etc.

I do sense a lack of warmth on the part of Moffatt towards the traditions of the show – particularly old enemies – he seems to want to recreate Doctor Who in his own image, but is that necessarily a bad thing?

Certainly a bit of secrecy surrounding transmission dates and episode counts doesn’t necessarily mean the show is in trouble. I think we were misled about the split series meaning we have more Doctor Who all year round – clearly it’s more to do with moving the yearly start of series back to later in the year. I suspect that this is to ensure that the 50th anniversary year has a very long run of episodes, from late 2012 right up to the anniversary day itself. There’ll be some announcement along those lines soon, mark my words!
…or it could just be a massive conspiracy to kill of Doctor Who! Haha

I know what you mean. It makes me think of that “David Tennant’s Video Diary” Special Feature, where he’s going to Blackpool to turn on the Christmas lights and they get a police escort. Yeah, there was quite a bit of silliness, but it was clear that the top team of Doctor Who were quite light hearted and they could clearly work well together. I also think the fact we knew of Julie, particularly, as well as we did, despite her being an executive producer, said quite a lot.

While acknowledging we had a much longer time to get to know the RTD/JG team, I have to admit the new team behind the scenes have felt quite clinical. I’ve really only known Beth and Piers by name and occasionally seen them on Confidential.

When it comes to Steven Moffat, well, a lot of people on here know he isn’t exactly my favourite person for some of the storyline and character choices he’s made, but I also think he’s quite cold towards the fans, as if his job would be so much easier if it wasn’t for us, and where Russell and Julie were dedicated to the Doctor Who franchise enough to work on Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures all at once, Steven Moffat seems to be distracted half the time by Sherlock.

I don’t know, I have a feeling TWWL is gonna get me for this post, lol……..I’m joking TWWL, but in all seriousness, the RTD/JG team has lasted for four series and a bit of Doctor Who, four series of Torchwood and four and a bit series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. There was quite a strong feeling, at least for me, of strength and stability behind the camera that I honestly don’t get from Steven Moffat and his now ex-Exec Producers.

I’m a Doctor Who fan, so I obviously support Doctor Who. I’m hoping the end of Series 6 will be some of the best episodes I’ve seen since the revival of the show, but as it stands, the current crew of Doctor Who almost have my vote of no-confidence unfortunately.

That’s my opinion anyway, for what it’s worth.

‘Show insiders blame much of the chaos on the decision taken by Wenger and his fellow executive producer Beth Willis last year to dispense with the services of producers Tracie Simpson and Peter Bennett, both of whom had worked on the programme since 2005. The pair were subsequently invited to return but declined.

The first series of their new joint venture, Baker Boys, was broadcast in January, with a number of other former Who crew also listed in its credits. “They decided they’d far rather work for less money than endure any more of Piers and Beth The show is in a hell of a mess.” ‘