Moffat’s out; Chibnall’s in.

The news is now weeks old, and every podcaster and other blogger seems already to have offered their thoughts in some shape or form. Having spent these weeks taking in others’ opinions, I can’t say for sure that giving myself time to stew on it all has allowed my own views to mature, but they have at least solidified.

My initial reaction was twofold. On the one hand, I was ecstatic to hear Moffat’s time was finally coming to an end. Regular readers will know I have long since tired of Moffat’s style of arc storytelling, though I have still enjoyed individual stories (or pieces of them) and one-liners, so this should come as no surprise.

On the other hand, I was none too thrilled with the choice of Chibnall as heir to the throne, despite having been braced for it for months based on speculation in various corners of the Internet. Why did I feel that way? Let’s review Chibnall’s writing credits.

Over the course of the last ten years, Chibnall has been busy writing both within and beyond the Whoniverse. He served as de facto head writer on the first two series of Torchwood (good or bad, depending on your view of those seasons), writing four of thirteen episodes in each. Although looking back on those credits I see that some of them were decent episodes (particularly Fragments and Exit Wounds), the ones that stick in my memory are the ones that I loathe: Cyberwoman and Countrycide.

Knowing Chibnall was responsible for my most hated Torchwood episode ever doesn’t make me kindly disposed toward him as potential DW show showrunner, but that shouldn’t be the deciding factor. More important should be the quality of the stories he has written for the main show itself. To date, those are 42, The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, and The Power of Three. He also wrote the quasi-canonical shorts “Pond Life” and “P.S.”

The only one of those I actively hated was Dinosaurs, but none of the others made me stand up and cheer, either. So I’m still left feeling kind of blah about Chibnall’s writing overall. Let me turn, then, to Broadchurch, his small-town murder mystery series for ITV.

I’ll admit I really enjoyed the first series of Broadchurch (and felt more positive than neutral toward the second). Part of the fun was seeing so many Doctor Who alumni pop up, but also I thought it was really well written—particularly the interpersonal stuff, where the meat of that story lay. Having also been told that character and relationships are Chibnall’s writing strengths, I went back and thought about what I did and didn’t like about his DW and TW episodes. It turns out it’s the character stuff I often like best.

The way Moffat does character, at least as showrunner, I’ve found it grating. I don’t want the show to focus primarily on the Companion(s); I want the focus on the Doctor. It should be through the Companions’ eyes, certainly, but it shouldn’t be all about them—especially not about their lives without the Doctor. That’s not what I personally want out of the show.

There is, of course, no accurate way to predict how Chibnall will structure the show on his watch. It may or may not be to my taste. At this stage, though, I’ve decided that may be an advantage. The fact that I have no particular faith in what Chibnall will bring to the table means that there’s little chance of a big disappointment, and plenty of room to be pleasantly surprised. If I keep my expectations low, it’s just possible I might find a few things to enjoy once Series Eleven finally rolls around in 2018.

What’s really killing me, though, is the idea that Capaldi might leave with Moffat. It’s already been reported a few places, though the fact that I couldn’t find those stories again when I searched indicates that they were more speculation/expectation than fact and had not been corroborated, so at least I’m braced for the possibility.

I had really hoped that Capaldi would break the tradition of staying only three years, especially since his two series have been an episode shorter than other modern Doctors’. It would also be nice to see how he would fare under a different showrunner, and whether those who claim it is Moffat who makes Capaldi’s episodes “unwatchable” would change their minds about Twelve with someone else at the helm.

We’ll probably never know; new showrunners tend to like to start their entire tenure fresh. Given that, even though I’m ready for the show to take a non-Moffat direction, I’m wary of the particular changes at hand. Even if Chibnall ends up spearheading the types of stories I love, how could his pick ever hope to be as good as my Capaldi?