Doctor Who Fan Complains About 50th Anniversary Plans, BBC Responds Like A Rational Parent

Doctor Who fans are…how shall I say…passionate? With every new announcement, or rumor for that matter, we take to the internet to give our opinion on it and a lot of those times the opinions are quite unhappy. Take the decision to split Season 7 in two, or the hint of a 60-minute 50th anniversary special. Frankly, we all just want to know what’s going on and it seems one fan finally took the next step to find out – they complained to the BBC itself. 

Doctor Who TV posted a response someone sent them from Patrick McManus of BBC Complaints. (I do not envy his job.) While we don’t know what the original letter said exactly, here’s how he replied:

Thanks for your contact regarding Doctor Who broadcast on BBC One.

I understand that you are feel there are insufficient programmes planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the series.I also note that you are unhappy with the way in which series 7 has been split into two parts.

Whilst I appreciate your concerns, we haven’t announced what we have planned to mark the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who yet, but we would like to assure you that fans won’t be disappointed.

Additionally, please note that the decision to schedule series 7 in two parts was a creative one and we’re sorry you are unhappy about this.

Nevertheless, please be assured that I’ve registered your comments regarding this issue to our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback made available throughout the BBC, including to the producers of Doctor Who, as well as members of senior management.

The audience logs help to shape future decisions regarding BBC programming and output.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.

So basically, the BBC would like us to calm the hell down. They’re doing a TV movie about Doctor Who, there’s also an audio drama from Big Finish, and a series of children’s books from Puffin but it seems there’s more to come. We just have to wait for them to announce it.

I can understand complaining about the split, I absolutely hate when series do that, but it’s probably too early to judge whether or not the BBC has done enough to celebrate the longest running sci-fi show ever. What are you hoping to see from the anniversary celebrations?

(via Blastr, image by Andy Lambert)

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Jill Pantozzi

Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."

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