The Satan Pit anniversary screening

The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit in cinemas for Whosday, with deleted scenes. Trailer

What would I pitch for Doctor Who?

Based on the tender...

More shorter episodes, ten to twelve of forty-five minutes including credits. More episodes mean more variety, more room to show off the breadth of the format and play with it, and also more time to make it a regular fixture.

A regular person companion. Just one.

Maybe a second full-time or later companion who is a historical human or a scifi thingy?

Wanting to be aware of the brand, see what the planned animated CBBC series is doing. That’s all the Doctor Who well see on screens for a couple of years and for the youngest members of the audience that will be Doctor Who. Refer to their version of the Doctor, any new companions and opponents.

Mainly new monsters, ideally some toy-friendly ones.

A Dalek episode assuming we can get the rights, with a small number of Daleks, maybe an episode involving something else where the Daleks interrupt as a complication, to sell them as a threat for next time they show up en masse.

The Doctor Who tender

“We’ve published an invitation to tender for the production of Doctor Who. The contract is for a multi-episodic series (including specials) for transmission in 2028/29, with an option to extend the contract at BBC’s discretion to produce a second series. It’s offered on a work for hire basis with the BBC continuing to broadcast the programme and retaining all rights.”

The BBC site for the tender

Thanks to Ian for the link.

Most of the tender document is practical stuff, so here’s the editorial brief - what they want Doctor Who to be.

Doctor Who is one of the most enduring and distinctive brands in global television. For over sixty years, it has captivated audiences through imaginative storytelling, compelling characters, and ambitious adventures that span all of time and space. The series occupies a unique position in popular culture, combining entertainment for a broad audience with sophisticated science fiction concepts, emotional depth, humour, and spectacle.

We are commissioning a new flagship series of Doctor Who. The series should feel contemporary, and creatively ambitious, whilst remaining true to the values and characteristics that have made Doctor Who a beloved series across generations.

We invite longlisted eligible producers to first pitch, in no more than three (3) pages, a brief editorial outline for a new multi-episode series, including ideas for specials.  Shortlisted producers will then be invited to put together a comprehensive editorial pitch as part of their ITT submission. 

Aside from the central character of the Doctor, you will need to develop at least one companion for the series. Companions should be distinctive, authentic characters in their own right, whose lives, relationships, ambitions, and personal journeys enrich the series. They should serve as an access point for audiences whilst also challenging, supporting, and influencing the Doctor.

We see this pitch as an exciting opportunity to innovate and surprise us. Stories should balance high concept science fiction with strong emotional narratives, ensuring that spectacle is always grounded in character and human experience. Episodes should transport audiences to extraordinary times and places, ranging from historical settings to distant futures, alien worlds, and contemporary Earth. Successful pitches will deliver ‘back of the sofa’ scares, jeopardy and tension, whilst remaining suitable for a broad family audience. Doctor Who embraces themes that celebrate curiosity, courage, intelligence, and compassion, themes that interrogate the human condition and most of all, it should and will always be distinctively British storytelling. We are flexible in the way the series is structured i.e. serialised or ‘story-of-the-week’ and the number of episodes which make up the series.

Iconic, established villains are a mainstay of the series over 60 years and we invite you to use them, but we will want to begin to get an understanding of the original characters, aliens and themes that producers wish to bring to the show and are keen not to be overly reliant on existing Doctor Who lore. We are looking for a new perspective that ensures Doctor Who remains relevant, surprising, brave and inspiring for both long-standing fans and new audiences.

At this stage of the process, it is not a requirement to formally attach a writer. You may want to pitch with writer suggestions, or if you are already working with a writer, please do include them and their ideas/vision in your submission. We are not necessarily looking to work to a strict showrunner model and would expect once in production that the series will also use episodic writers.

Visually, the series should feel cinematic, distinctive, and ambitious, capable of competing for audience attention in a highly competitive global market. We encourage innovative approaches to production, world-building, visual effects, and storytelling that maximise the scale and emotional impact of the Doctor Who universe.

We are seeking a creative vision that embraces the breadth of what Doctor Who can be and could be. Doctor Who is a show that has sparked conversation, taken risks and inspired audiences for decades and we are looking for this series to continue that tradition. Be brave, have fun and we look forward to hearing from you. 

Six plots from David Bowie's Station to Station

For David Bowie’s birthday and now monthly, adventures based on his studio albums’ song titles, working backwards.

After album titles, ★, The Next Day, Reality, Heathen, Hours, Earthling, Outside The Buddha Of Suburbia, Black Tie White Noise, Never Let Me Down, Labyrinth. Tonight, Let’s Dance, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), Lodger, “Heroes”, Low...

Station to Station (1976) (Wikipedia)

Bowie recorded Station To Station before moving to another continent to get clean as he later said he hardly remembered making it.

It was the vehicle for the Thin White Duke, one of Bowie’s regenerations and the villain of the piece.

Station to Station

The travellers attend a pilgrimage to a church claiming to hold a piece of the True Cross. What is it really?

Golden Years

Visiting a spa planet, the travellers revert to their physical prime. For the Stranger this could mean almost anything. (Is this a Stephen King reference to a David Bowie reference? Possibly.)

Word on a Wing

The TARDIS door opens and a paper plane flies in, with a message written inside it, a request for help. This is doubly odd since the TARDIS is in space.

TVC 15

The song’s about a television eating someone. Sometimes these write themselves.

Stay

A travellers hovers at the brink of death. Can someone who loves him talk him back? (Yes this is a Shakespears Sister reference. This video should be the heart of a julebox musical.)

Wild is the Wind

A violent storm threatening a traveller’s home, and it’s not a natural one.

Bonus: The Thin White Duke

The Stranger recognises another of her order of travellers. Or is it another version of her? Whoever he is, he’s been here for months, maybe years, tweaking this world to be just what he needs to spring the trap.

The Doubly Unmade Season

I have not watched The Unmade Season, a near-enough-to-confuse genAI-animated episode, but have watched a fan film maker react with understandable alarm.

Would I like to make episodes such as Actual Play adaptations like this? Yes. Will I? No.