December 9th, 2018
45 comments
We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.
Doctor Who Series 12 To Air in 2020
As series 11 came to a close on BBC One tonight (Sunday 9th December) the show announced that series 12 is on its way and will be returning to BBC One in early 2020.
Series 11 marked a brand new era for Doctor Who with Showrunner, Chris Chibnall, taking control of the TARDIS. With Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, viewers saw the Doctor and her friends travel through space and time on adventures fighting monsters and conquering battles. Series 12 will see Jodie reprise her role as the Doctor and she will once again be joined by Bradley Walsh (Graham), Mandip Gill (Yasmin) and Tosin Cole (Ryan).
So far, from the first eight episodes, series 11 of Doctor Who has averaged a 4-screen consolidated audience of 8.4m.
Jodie’s first episode as the Doctor launched with a consolidated audience of 11 million making it the second biggest drama this year across all channels, while also placing it among the top 10 programmes in 2018 so far across all channels and genres. The episode received 3.7 million requests through BBC iPlayer.
Speaking of the return Showrunner Chris Chibnall said “We’re off again! Well we never actually stopped – as Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and friends have been winning the hearts of families across the nation this autumn, we’ve been busy with a whole new set of action packed adventures for the Thirteenth Doctor. We adore making this show and have been blown away by the response from audiences, so we can’t wait to bring more scares, more monsters and more Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole to BBC One. Brilliant!”
Charlotte Moore, Director of Content added, “We’re delighted that the Doctor and her friends will be returning to thrill audiences in 2020. I know Chris and the whole team are already working on a whole new set of exciting adventures. In the meantime we’ve got a very special episode on New Year’s Day for everyone to enjoy.”
The Doctor Who Site
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Merchandise
Flickr
YouTube
fiona ting
December 12th, 2018 - 4:30pmI cannot wait that long for next series of Doctor Who but it another two years and i am 43 years old that year
TARDIS_H63
December 12th, 2018 - 3:08pmI think big finish should release box sets in the gap to fill a hole. They dont take that long to record so wouldnt be that hard…
Dr jon
December 11th, 2018 - 9:44pmSo a year off ! Let’s hope this means the scripts will improve with a year to deliver better dialogue and also meaningful monsters and also gives Jodie Whittaker’s take on the Dr more to do with her character. Not her fault in the majority of it but she needs to be able to do more with her take on the role.
Dan23
December 11th, 2018 - 11:59amI wish they would release short mini episodes in between big gaps waiting for the next season.
Tim M
December 11th, 2018 - 11:51amIt’s fairly common for a lot of different series in the U.K to not be on every year, apart from the soaps. As this last series of Doctor Who was mostly average with tedious dull info dumped plot spouted by the Doctor, I for one won’t miss it. Hopefully the New Year episode will mean Chibnall has learnt his mistakes, and create a good escapist drama. So that at least gives us some hope that Doctor Who will return stronger and better in 2020.
lorraine
December 11th, 2018 - 10:36amIf you check out the reviews for this series on Amazon there is almost a 50-50 split on who likes and who doesn’t. All I want is for the next to be far better and get that great “Who” feel back. Most people I know have not been at all enamoured of the series which has just finished for a wide array of reasons. I am always hopeful for improvement.
paul john cox
December 10th, 2018 - 8:50pmwhy are we really complaining that the show will have another gap year? ok not ideal but it will not harm the show. lets not forget that there are various episodes airing on different channels quite regularly anyway.
speaking of which i would like to see the BBC put a poll out to see what out favourite episodes are from all eras of the show, maybe if this happened they could then broadcast those episodes?
doctor whom
December 10th, 2018 - 6:17pmhow come moffat and russel could write 12 episodes in a matter of months but chris chibnel can only write 10 episodes in a year?
another thing is that doctor who is all about the story not the star wars effects!
Pats86
December 10th, 2018 - 12:42pmA break is needed to give Chbnal and the other writers some time to think, if they went rushing into it right away we will have another disastrous season and we deserve soooo much better that what we got.
What should happen is Chibnal leaves and someone else takes over the showrunning, if Jodie dislike that then she should go with him.
Ratings are up yes but this means nothing because the quality is down at rock bottom.
Other rubbish gets good ratings but it is mind numbingly garbage, not mentioning any programs but one such show finished last night after a three week or so run until next year!
Forget ratings we want QUALITY!
doctor whom
December 10th, 2018 - 12:08pmhope they change that awful title sequence for 2020 as it looks like the inside of a dish washer!
Anonymous
December 10th, 2018 - 11:56amLook, everyone who thinks this is ages, some of us older fans have waited 16 years for DW to return.
Anonymous
December 10th, 2018 - 11:13amI don’t agree with the claims that viewing figures will decrease if there’s a gap, shows like Sherlock, Game of Thrones, Westworld etc. do just fine, I see it as Doctor Who stepping up.
These shows are visually spectacular, Doctor Who is now at that level, no longer is it relying on being excused for bad effects “because that’s what doctor who is”, it’s taking itself more seriously.
And if there is a constant “momentum” for the show then casual viewers will eventually lose interest and no new viewers will join as they’re constantly aware of DW so feel there’s no starting point. If the show goes out of their awareness for a bit and suddenly turns up everywhere, they’ll be more inclined to give it a try. Think of Star Wars, they learnt the hard way that a constant output of movies doesn’t work for everyone as it does with Mavrel, eventually there comes a saturation point. Doctor Who is learning this and in 2020 when it returns the hype will also return, something missing from DW over the last few series in my opinion.
Anonymous
December 10th, 2018 - 9:25amI really want Chris Chibnal to leave after Series 12, as his writing has been absolute awful. Someone better should be appointed the way he chucks out half baked scripts is awful. I want a better series.
Blungering Hinklesburn
December 10th, 2018 - 8:18amI’m not at all convinced by the argument that gaps “break the momentum” though.
There was no gap year between series 8 and series 9 – but when series 9 began, the ratings fell through the floor.
There was a gap year between series 9 and series 10 – and series 10 STARTED OFF marginally higher than series 9 in terms of ratings…before plummeting even lower of course, but that’s not the point. It OPENED to higher ratings despite the time off.
There was of course a gap year between series 10 and series 11 – and the ratings have soared.
I just don’t buy that argument one bit. The casual audiences won’t be punching a clock with the show. If indeed it’s airing January, then that’s only slightly longer than a year. They won’t much care about that.
techmki
December 10th, 2018 - 8:02amI am surprised but I’m not really disappointed by this news. Surely, this recent series with all new people is not only a new Doctor and new series but serves as a litmus test. I think it’s wise to take time over the following series, reflect on the public reactions and not just quickly barf out anything.