While some pundits and podcasters are running around saying the series itself is cancelled, that's not strictly true. The 2026 Christmas Special is cancelled, the Bad Wolf production company are out, but the BBC are putting the series out to tender with the hope that it will be resurrected at some point. That may not be for a few years as it'll take time to assemble new contracts, a new direction, cast and crew, etc but we'll see.
However, Doctor Who the brand will carry on in the form of the Big Finish audio adventures, the upcoming Circuit Breaker multi-platform adventure, and of course the long running Doctor Who Magazine.
Yes, I have a vested interest in Doctor Who Magazine because I contribute my Daft Dimension strip to it every month, but I genuinely think it's a great magazine and always has been since it began in 1979. It's the perfect place for fans to read background info, interviews, and reviews, plus it has an ongoing Doctor Who comic strip, - the longest running TV tie in strip in comics history (as it originated in TV Comic back in 1964).
Maybe I'm being too optimistic but it's an increasingly harsh world and being pessimistic all the time does no one any good. Doctor Who will return... one day! Meanwhile, keep supporting the magazine!
2 comments:
Dr Who is one of my earliest memories. Don't think I saw the first episode in real time, but I recall sitting at the dinner table with a black and white tv in the corner, showing either episode 3 or 4 of the cavemen story. A week or so later we got the Daleks and I was hooked for the next twenty years.
Sobering to think that the comic version soldiered on throughout the wilderness years of the show and looks set to continue past the current troubles. I only really followed the strip in the Pertwee era, mainly in Countdown (which was glorious!), but I came back for the first few years of the official Weekly / Monthly magazine. I enjoyed seeing the Doctor and his expanded universe filtered through the eyes of creators I knew from 2000AD. I fondly remember Absalom Daak and the first appearances of the team that became the Special Executive. But the defining memory of those days would have to be the scenes on the Meep! home world as they become corrupted by the Black Sun. Managed to be both chilling and hilarious at the same time.
I stopped buying the magazine in the late 1980's, probably more due to the declining quality of the final years of the classic show, rather than any criticism of the comic. I've only picked up the occasional issue since.
I do like your Daft Dimension strip. It really captures the character of the classic doctors. So much so that I bought one of your Hartnell / Susan strips as a gift for my sister-in-law's 70th birthday. But it's hard to justify buying the magazine each month just for three or four panels. The publishers should really do a collected special of your work. Ah well, we can dream, I guess.
Like you I'm confident the show will return in some form at some time in the future. Whether I'll be around to watch is another matter. Hopefully it won't be another 16 year hiatus because that would put me well into my eighties.
I hope the Magazine can survive the gap between now and when the series resumes. It's a whole different landscape for magazines these days of course, compared to the 1990s. The closures of TG Jones don't help, nor do all the newsagents who decided to focus on booze instead of comics and mags. (Not that I'm condemning them for it. Everyone has to do what's best for businesses to survive these days.)
It would be nice if Panini did a collected Daft Dimension. There are certainly enough strips now. I'm not sure they'll think there's a big enough audience for it though. Perhaps a 'Best of' selection as an extra comic bagged with the mag one month? I dunno. It's all down to whether they think it's a good risk of not. These are grim times for magazines.
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