Doctor Who's showrunner writes exclusively for DWM... As the (midnight) hour approaches, what will innovations in the new season's scheduling mean for viewers old and new?

I bumped into Sarah Lancashire recently. I said, “Matron Cofelia!” Without a pause, she replied, “Of the Five-Straiten Classabindi Nursery Fleet, intergalactic class.” She still remembers!

I love those mad Doctor Who words, all those names and proper nouns that we’ll remember forever. And now here comes a brand-new batch. Will we ever see Mondo Caroon? Where exactly is Bertie Lester? And how many people does it take to fly an Asteroid Hopper? All those words and more are hurtling towards you, starting May 11!

Here in the Doctor Who factory at Bad Wolf, we’re clanking away, still shooting the climax of Season 2 - which includes the words “tinderbox”, “Croydon” and “threshold”, and oh, I wish you could see that guest star - but a lot of our focus has gone on to the most important thing of all, the launch of Season 1. By the time you read this, we’ll be on the verge of our premiere in London, and then we’re zooming off to launch the show in New York and LA too. Showbiz!

But be warned, screenings mean that spoilers will start to flow. And I know that’s a tricky issue for some viewers, with episodes dropping at midnight on the BBC iPlayer, before they’re shown that evening on BBC One. Doctor Who has had all sorts of transmission patterns over the years, with lots of bumps and changes. I can remember 1996, standing in the queue outside HMV at midnight to buy a VHS copy of Paul McGann’s Doctor Who movie, five days before it was shown on TV. Five days! Even before the shop doors had opened, a man behind me spoiled the entire plot, yelling out, “And then the Master falls into the Eye of Harmony!” But still, I went home and watched it until 2am and loved it. Also, famously, in 1983, the BBC released the paperback novelisation of The Five Doctors weeks before it went on air. I bought it and denied it; I let it burn, glow and tempt me from the corner of my bedroom in Juxon Street, Oxford. All I did was flick through the first few pages, which had a marvellous chapter concerning Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter, walking through the ruins of a post-Dalek-invasion London… only to discover it was invented for the book and didn’t happen at all on screen! And then, to top it all, The Five Doctors was shown in the USA a good two days before it reached BBC One on a Friday - not a Saturday! - night.

And now we have 2024. With plenty of warning of the new pattern, for you to plan ahead and choose your own viewing. And that’s the point: choice. You’re not having to change your habits to fit the show, the show is changing to fit you. And it’s changing to adopt the patterns of all modern TV shows. Yes, I think all of them, very soon. This is the future, and it’s here, right now.

If you want to stay spoiler-free before the Saturday night transmission, I honestly believe it can be done. I stayed spoiler-free when Game of Thrones would drop in the UK in the early hours of the morning. I’d happily watch it at 9pm that night, in blissful ignorance. And okay, maybe I’m not as online as you are, but that’s the key. Manage your online activity for, what, 18 hours? And it’s a Saturday too, have a day off!

Easily said, I know, I know, but consider Casualty. I watch that every week. I have done for decades. They now drop their episodes on the iPlayer on a Saturday morning, before that night’s TX. And they recently had an episode which resulted in - spoilers, look away - the shock stabbing of Charlie, a good old-fashioned cliffhanger. And it was a surprise to me. I’d remained spoiler-free, happily startled on that Saturday night. And okay, I get you, Casualty might not buzz as much as Doctor Who online. The Holbyverse hasn’t quite taken off in the same way. But to counter that, bear in mind: I do follow Casualty, it’s made in the city where I work, I know some members of the cast, I know some writers very well, and a good friend of mine is a script editor on the show (hello Tommy, I bet he reads DWM). And despite that proximity, I still stayed spoiler-free. It can be done! It’s actually fun.

And bear in mind, a midnight viewing could be lovely. Stay up! Have a party! And that includes kids, too - plenty of children went to midnight openings of bookstores when the new Harry Potter books were released. It was part of the game, part of the narrative, a story they’d tell for years to come. I’d especially recommend midnight for Episode 7, because it’s shocking, frankly, and there might be screaming! And the planning of a viewing can be an absolute joy. I remember my Paul McGann midnight vigil as really fun and daft and dedicated, all part of the warp and weft of my life as a Doctor Who fan. These anecdotes make us who we are.

And even on the actual Saturday night, you own it now. Because, yes, you can sit there at the allotted time and watch your favourite show, as normal. But now, look, if the pizza is delivered late, you can wait. If mum’s stuck at work and misses the bus, you can pause and start half an hour later. Or if you’ve got a party later that night, or a big trip planned for Sunday morning, you can start an hour earlier. If all your mates happen to be in town on a Saturday afternoon, you can have your viewing party then. And don’t a lot of you like Doctor Who in the dark? So wait till 9 or 10pm, feel that unique Doctor Who terror that comes with drawn curtains and the lights low. The programme is yours, now. Yours absolutely. Yours to start and stop and pause and play whenever you want.

Thing is, we all want to make our own appointments. We wish that we could say to the doctor, or to Amazon, or the gas man: Saturday at 9am, please. We want to be in charge of our own lives. Now, with Doctor Who, we are.

Someone told me recently that Generation Alpha considers radio to be a really odd thing. How weird, they said, that you have records, chosen by someone else, played in a fixed order, and topics of conversation decided in advance, by unknown people, offstage. If you’re young, I was told, that seems bizarre, because it makes you powerless. And I can see what they mean. At my age, I cling to a Radio 2 schedule, but I get it; I might disagree but I can also see how that opinion of radio is true. Which means, again, that choice is the way things are heading, and the tide cannot be stopped.

For now. Maybe one day things will change. They might revert back. They’ll more likely find something even more new. Maybe in 10 years we’ll have all programmes blipped directly into our brain by a psycho-link!

But seriously, I’m not making light of this. I can hear the worries. It’s easy to say ‘stay offline’ when your health or job or nature might make that impossible. And I’m sorry, because then, yes, spoilers, will fly. Unfortunately, there’s always been a subset of viewers hitting the spoiler problem, like the tons of people who work Saturdays and on night-shifts. They’ve had to negotiate this for years. So there has never been a transmission pattern in the digital age that’s perfect for everyone.

And to be honest. If you’re that online, and cannot change… folks, you stand a high chance of getting spoiled anyway. Before transmission. That’s the modern world. Beyond my control. From April onwards, there will be screenings and previews and screeners and friends-of-friends who’ve seen episodes in advance. And Doctor Who is so popular, it’s a victim of its own success. It has devoted fans who will talk, and share, and some who will move heaven and earth to discover information, and post it, far more than, say, good old Holby.

Some people have said to my face that they think our leaks are deliberate. That it’s a deliberate attempt to drum up publicity. Let me tell you now and forever: nonsense. To try that with the press and online would be to dance with the devil. And also, inappropriate, because the BBC is a public service broadcaster. I promise. No leaks are ever deliberate.

But still they come! And we try to stop them. We have great people working very hard at the problem. One script was found recently in Brazil! Back in my old 2005-2010 days, a script with the actor’s name watermarked on every page was found on a park bench. A copy of The Next Doctor was once on sale in a sci-fi shop in Florida! And I might laugh about this - you see, transmission becomes anecdote, in the end - but I know these spoilers are damaging. I’m told that the entire plot of The Giggle and The Church on Ruby Road were available online, in detail, months before transmission.

But there you go. If you’re that online… you always will be. And, in fact, that’s part of your joy too. You like it. You love it! So for the run of this season, the hours after midnight will be your ultimate playground. Okay. I can only hope that your happiness doesn’t dent someone else’s.

Right, let’s sweep that off the desk - the most important thing is, NEW DOCTOR WHO! And not just Specials, this time, but an actual season, a great big proper season, for the first time since 2021. And new viewers! Hopefully, for some people, this will be their very first copy of DWM, and I apologise if I’ve wittered on about 1983 and VHS and Brazil. Ignore me! Because the crucial point is: this season is new, the Doctor and Ruby are new, and the monsters and stories and villains are new, new, new.

You can start here, first-time viewer. Don’t worry about all those years of backstory. Truth is, there isn’t one. He’s a man in a time machine and she’s his best mate, that’s all there is to it. If you have questions, don’t worry, Ruby asks them! And the show works like an anthology series - every week, a new time and place. Deep in history, or the future on far-flung alien worlds, or thrillers in the modern day, we’ve got them all. Lots of free-standing episodes, although, pay attention, because there are little hints and hooks here and there which might build up to something in the season finale.

And you, old faithfuls. Create new viewers! Have that screening party and invite someone new. If someone says “I don’t know where to start,” tell them: right here, right now! If I’ve worried here about transmission, it’s because I want you all to have the best possible front-row seat as we introduce, ladies and gentlemen and others…

Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. The Doctor and Ruby Sunday. I adore this team more than I can say, and I’m so excited to unleash them upon the world. At this stage, I must’ve seen each episodes about 25 or 30 times, and yet I still see new things in their performances. Oh, they dazzle! What an honour to watch two brilliant actors seize these scripts and make them spin and sizzle and soar. I swear, those two will make you hoot and gasp and yell and weep, and then hoot all over again.

I have loved Doctor Who all my life. And now a brand-new form of Doctor Who is about to light up the sky. So whatever time you’re watching, buckle in and settle down. Because here it comes. The ride of a lifetime. Hold on tight!