The way I see it is I get the feeling Moffat and the BBC are wanting to move Doctor Who to an Autumn start date, as that’s where it works best. However, it’s being moved around so much at the moment presumably so we can build up towards the 50th anniversary, hence all the breaks, and don’t see this being the norm from now on.

I think having the first five episodes separate is good because it means we can focus on Amy’s and Rory’s departure and then focus on the new companion come Christmas. With regards to having a break between the Christmas special and the remainder of the series, I don’t see there being a big one. I predict there’ll be two or three weeks between the two and that’s it, not three months.

My outlook is this:
*Autumn 2012 – Series 7 (Eps 1-5)
*Christmas/Winter 2012/2013 – Series 7 (Eps 6-14)
*Spring/Summer 2013 – Series 8
*Autumn/Christmas 2013 – 50th Anniversary story/Christmas special
*Late Summer/Autumn 2014 – Series 9

Of course that’s only my prediction, but I certainly get the feeling Moffat and the BBC are pushing for Who to be shown in the Autumn and that all the messing around with the schedule is purely to build up for the big 50.

My fear of an early September premiere is that the first five episodes will be over with within that month, and then we have an almost three month wait for the Christmas special, and, if you follow the gap pattern that is forming with the series these days (it’s not appreciated, Moffat) then the remainder of the episodes won’t air until around Easter which is at the end of March in 2013 (again, a three month wait). Then there will be the four-month summer break, and the scheduling nightmare happens again.

Okay, so some will say that it would be a good thing to have new Doctor Who “seasons” with only a three to four month gap in-between but I worry that there isn’t enough breathing space. I just don’t like this breaking up of the series, spreading it through the year so that we have the latter half of one series at the beginning of the year and then the beginning of the next series at the end (as will happen with series 7.2/2013 – series 8.1/2013… and then 8.2/2014 – series 9.1/2014… 9.2/2015 – series 10.1/2015… do you see the pattern).

Sigh. Still, since we have the supposed “genius” that is Moffat at the helm of the TARDIS we can expect this haphazard scheduling for now…

The real question is how long after the Christmas Special (Episode 6) will we have to wait for the next episode? Because the last thing fans want is to have one adventure with the new companion and then wait several weeks before she’s there full-time.