The Next Doctor Who Series May or May Not Start Until Late 2012

All kinds of confirmed/unconfirmed news about the seventh series of Doctor Who today. But first, one thing is certain: Matt Smith is still playing the Eleventh Doctor, so there’s that. The question is when and how much of the series will return once the sixth series ends this fall. A BBC rep by the name of Danny Cohen “confirmed” at a non-Who-related event that the seventh series will begin airing a few of its 14 episodes in late 2012 and the rest will air in 2013 — the 50th anniversary of the show — meaning that Doctor Who will be off the air for a year. However, Steve Moffat is saying otherwise, Tweeting that this is all a series of “misquotes.” What’s happening here? Did Cohen hop into a TARDIS and change history without telling Moffat?

First, Moffat’s Tweet from earlier today. He says that he’s “not being bounced into announcing the cool stuff before [he’s] ready.” But Cohen’s announcement at the Church and Media Conference was reiterated by BBC Entertainment reporter Lizo Mzimba, who has posted a series of Tweets following Cohen’s announcement. None of which seem definitive, especially the one that says “no idea” in it.”

Further, BBC News has not confirmed anything itself yet (as of this writing), and apparently, that’s something that would happen.

So, here’s what we’re going to say about this: the seventh series of Doctor Who is still getting a full series with all 14 episodes, but it will most likely be spread out over late 2012 and 2013. Maybe. But Steven Moffat seems to be working on pushing that start date back up so there will not be a year-long break in between series.

More importantly though — what is in store for the 50th anniversary?

(Tor)