As you may know by now, Doctor Who Confidential has been axed.
For any Doctor Who fan, this is terrible news, but it also affects those interested in the television industry. Confidential has been going since 2005, and has provided us with hours and hours of entertainment, but is also hugely informative, adding an extra layer to the BBC1 flagship programme – the perfect companion to the best TV show ever.
What’s worse, there’s no reason for its axing.
The BBC has released this statement:
“Doctor Who Confidential has been a great show for BBC3 over the years but our priority now is to build on original British commissions, unique to the channel.”
This actually means nothing. Confidential is an original, British show, and is also unique to BBC3. Furthermore, recent plans released by the BBC have revealed that BBC3 and BBC4’s main job, from now on, is to support the shows on BBC1 and BBC2. Confidential does exactly this.
BBC3 have such a bad reputation, so it’s absurd that they decommission the one show that draws a significant audience. In recent editions, a voiceover begged Confidential viewers to carry on watching BBC3 after the programme finished!
This move feels less like a cost-cutting measure, and more like the new BBC3 Controller, Zai Bennett, throwing his new-found weight around and axing for axing’s sake.
Okay, so what can you do about it?
Firstly, please feel free to email the BBC to complain about this awful decision here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/forms/
It’s a simple process, but hopefully will be effective. Loyal fans have also set up an online petition, which they’ll send to the BBC this Friday:
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savedwc
All you have to do is add your name. And maybe the names of all your family and friends (obviously after asking them!). It’s that simple.
But please, do it before Friday 28th October 2011. The aim is to get 50,000 signatures by then, and they’re on 47,513 as I write this. 28th October is Save Doctor Who Confidential Day… as well as Matt Smith’s Birthday!
You can also follow the Save DWC Twitter account here:
Later in November, Zai Bennet, who made this terrible decision, will appear on Points of View. Feel free to inundate the show with your complaints too.
Even though he shouldn’t, Steven Moffat, Doctor Who showrunner, said in the current issue of Doctor Who Magazine:
“It seems hard to grasp. All shows have their time, and all shows end, but not, in all sanity, while people still watch and love them. And going by the numbers and the outcry, this show was watched and loved everywhere.
“I’m not supposed to say it, but I’m going to anyway: bad day, bad decision. I know these are straitened times. I know we’re all at sea and the night is colder – but you don’t start burning the lifeboats to keep warm.
“Or to put it another way, you might want to think about the future if you’re planning to
live there.”
And he’s 100% right.
Please BBC. Don’t do this.
Thanks for reading and doing your bit. I really appreciate it. If just one more signature results from this blog, then it’s worth it.
And remember: you’re the license fee-payer. Tell the BBC what you want doing with your money!
Philip Bates, Freelance Writer 