The year 2016 is turning out to be one filled with some pretty major changes (and some major disappointments) for the BBC's seminal sci-fi show Doctor Who and its Whovian denizens. In January, it was announced that only one new episode of the series -- a Christmas special -- with the traveling Time Lord and his Tardis would air, and that Steven Moffat, who has been the series showrunner for six seasons, would turn over the reins to Broadchurch producer Chris Chibnall for season 10.
But it seems that there is some more news afoot, and Doctor Who's network might not take kindly to it: it turns out that the Twelfth Doctor, actor Peter Capaldi, thinks that the BBC is to blame for the show's decreasing ratings, and that the show is "not being looked after."
In an interview with Newsweek, Capaldi stated that Doctor Who's ratings, which began to slide after 2014, have to do with the constant program rescheduling the show has received over the last few years. The actor also noted that Doctor Who, which is considered a family show in the U.K., now ends after 9 p.m. -- the hour when shows with explicit content are allowed to air, as io9 noted.
"It does frustrate me. If you're going to have a family show, I think you have to build up a little ritual around it-and that ritual usually starts with having it on at the same time [every week]. Even I didn't know what time it was on because it got later and later and later.
The BBC is an incredible organization, but... sometimes people there think,That [it's] looking after itself. And [Doctor Who is] not being looked after. I think maybe their eye was taken off the ball, or the show was seen as a thing they could just push around. It's not. It's a special thing."
Capaldi also discussed the impending departure of Doctor Who showrunner Moffat after 2017. Moffat, who is also the showrunner of Sherlock, has been with Doctor Who since 2010 after reboot creator Russell T. Davies bowed out to work on other projects.
"He's an astonishing talent, but he's a human being, and I don't think he can continue working at this rate," Capaldi told Newsweek. "The cost of doing Doctor Who to an individual is immense. He takes the greatest weight on his shoulders, he loves the show and he's absolutely responsible for it and feels that responsibility gravely -- and with delight as well."
"He loves this job so I think it's very, very difficult for him to leave," he added. "But I think he has to, otherwise he might have a heart attack."
Source: Newsweek
