Chris Chibnall's Different Kind of Relationship with Doctor Who Magazine

I received the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, #525, via my digital subscription. I contains some interesting articles on scenes and characters cut from various episodes of Doctor Who.

What it doesn't contain is Production Notes or news of any kind regarding Series 11 production.

This is a significant departure from the type of news the magazine used to report on series production during the times when Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat were the showrunners.

The editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Marcus Hearn was interviewed by Doctor Who: Panel to Panel podcast, which became available on February 3. It seems he couldn't stress enough how important Doctor Who Magazine is to Chris Chibnall, Matt Strevens, the BBC and BBC Worldwide (now BBC Studios). Below are a few excerpts from the podcast I've transcribed. All of it is interesting but I've highlighted the parts where Hearn is emphasizing how important Doctor Who Magazine is to the people producing it.

“I had a long meeting with Chris [Chibnall] and Matt [Stevens], I think in September were it was clear to me that both Chris and Matt are very enthusiastic about the magazine, have a very detailed knowledge of the magazine’s history and I’m please to say that both Chris and Matt and all their colleges and our colleagues a BBC television and BCC Worldwide value the magazine very highly, which is lovely to know.”

“It is the official Magazine. One thing I was delighted about was that Chris and Matt and all their colleagues at the BBC do actually recognize that we have a role to play as the official magazine and actually helping them to promote the series. We have, I hope, inside information.”

“It’s probably too early in the game to actually say. ‘How is the magazine going to help, or to work alongside of colleagues at the BBC to promote the new series because, as I’m talking to you now, we’re only in very early February and so we’re some months away from that but we have had a number of conversations about how much they value the magazine and about how they’re going to be working with us to help to promote the series when that comes around. So yes, we’re talking to Chris and Matt, we’re talking to the cast of the new series. I haven’t been on set but my deputy editor Peter Ware and as well assistant Emily Cooke have been spending some time in Cardiff. I’m planning to go next week for the first time. And so we are gathering material for when the time comes for outright transmission.”

Since issue #521, published after Jodie Whittaker's Doctor appeared on Twice Upon a Time and featuring the thirteenth Doctor on the cover with the caption “Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor", there hasn't been any production news of note. In past series, the magazine provided the names of the directors and writers, information on what block was currently being filmed and the occasional name or two of some of the actors who would appear in the series. The absence of production news is a very different approach with the new showrunner.

I look forward to seeing the material gathered by the magazine staff once they are given the go-ahead to publish it. here is another quote from the podcast which gives you an idea of the Hearn percieves the magazine's directive.

“That we will be breaking news, I hope. We the time comes later this year when the new series begins but I don’t necessarily feel that’s our primary function. I don’t think, as Series 11 approaches, I would hope we get the opportunity to do that but I think people will look to Doctor Who Magazine more for a detailed and accurate representation of what’s actually happening. I think they will look to Doctor Who Magazine for a detailed and accurate representation of actually how the show is actually coming to the air. They’ll look to Doctor Who Magazine for an accurate and detailed representation of the people who are actually making the show because that’s the sort of thing we do on Doctor Who Magazine, we talk to the people, not just the actors, who are obviously terribly important, but we talk to the people who actually the writers, the directors, the behind-the-scenes people that maybe other magazines may not be interested in but that’s what we do on Doctor Who Magazine. I see Doctor Who Magazine not just as a source of accurate news of that sort buy also as a journal of record.”

Doctor Who Magazine is available at UK Newsstands Thursday, May 3. It is also available right now via a Kindle digital edition and on Pocketmags at 12:01 a.m., May 3.