What went wrong for Chris Chibnall's 'Doctor Who'?

Doctor Who 2018 logo. Picture source: pepperpot

The controversial era of Doctor Who is finally over. Officially ending in 2022. The era is of course the Chibnall Era which ran from 2018 to 2022. For the majority of fans, it was the era that brought confusion and a lack of love for the show these fans once had. This caused audience ratings to dwindle and more toxic hateful fans on social media websites to appear. Was it just because of the showrunner?

Chris Chibnall is a well-established writer in the UK. He has written Torchwood (Doctor Who spinoff), Broadchurch, Camelot, and even previous Doctor Who episodes before he became the official showrunner. So why did his era in Doctor Who seem to fail? After the success of shows such as Broadchurch, why did he fail at one of the most iconic television shows in the UK? Did he try to do something that was beyond his writing talent? Not really. But was he out of his depth? Yes, he was.

Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for ‘Doctor Who.’ Picture source: Gage Skidmore

Almost every episode he wrote felt weak and confusing. They didn’t make much sense to the other episodes that surrounded it. However, the episodes he had help with, such as series 13’s ‘Village of the Angels’ were one of his best. The episodes he had help with or he didn’t write for his seasons, were the best but when he was left alone, not as much. But why did this new era fail?

Whilst Chris Chibnall created decent villains that were somewhat intriguing, he didn’t do well in the characterisation department. Characters such as the Doctor's main companions. Take Yasmin Khan for example who is played by Mandip Gill, her character has gone nowhere, and when everyone thought there was some character development it was then forgotten about. Now, her character plot surrounds her sudden and out of nowhere feelings for the Doctor.

Another reason why the Chibnall era failed was because of the lack of marketing. The marketing team seemed to have failed to promote the last two seasons but mostly failed to promote the centenary in October. The marketing for Series 11 was good. But the fact that there was going to be the first female doctor was what made people watch it, not the marketing. Over the months before the release of the Centenary Special, people had heard nothing which made it more difficult for fans to be excited about it. The lack of marketing meant that fewer and fewer people watched it.

However, there was a positive that did make people watch his era even though the audience figures were dwindling. The cinematography in this era, there was no criticism about the cinematography of this era, It was almost breathtaking. Every director seemed to make sure every episode was nice to look at despite the episode they were filming not being up to standard.

Unfortunately, there are more negatives than positives in this era. Another negative that contributed to the failure was his writing. His storylines made very little sense and his episodes didn't quite flow. He relied on the use of the ‘Sonic Screwdriver’ tool too much. It got predictable. His writing of the Doctor was close to absolutely shocking. The Doctor would never use someone's race against them or kill a species nonchalantly as the Thirteenth Doctor did.

The overall consensus of the era was confusion and frustration. Confusion at the plotlines, characterization, and the fact The Doctor rarely felt like the Doctor people have watched for years. With very few positives, it was quite a difficult five years of Doctor Who for fans of the show.