I complained to the BBC that we have only had eight episodes this year. Here is their reply.
Thank you for contacting us regarding the BBC One programme ‘Doctor Who’.
We understand you're concerned with the scheduling of the current series and you feel the programme is not being adequately trailed or promoted. We were however pleased to read that you are enjoying the current series.
Although 5 episodes of the current series were transmitted last year, this is still a full series of 13 episodes (plus Christmas), simply scheduled in a different way from Autumn the previous year to Spring this year. The decision to do this was a creative one - and the series splits at the point where we lost Amy and Rory and gained Jenna as the new companion.
We understand this might be frustrating to some viewers but this year is the 50th anniversary, and we wanted it to be an enormous year for ‘Doctor Who’, as there will be other special programmes to mark the occasion as well.
It is not usual to show trails for every episode of any series on BBC One. We hope that once the series is underway our audiences will know when and where to expect the next episode. This is generally the case with ‘Doctor Who’ – once the series begins viewers know it will be shown on Saturday evenings on BBC One.
We try to use our promotional airtime in the most effective way possible, and although we have not made trails for every episode of ‘Doctor Who’, we have made a great effort to navigate viewers to each programme through the range of promotional tools we have available to us, as well as our publicity teams working with the media to support the programme on a weekly basis.
We will be producing a trail to support the exciting finale to the series, as well as a trail to let fans know that they can catch up on the entire series on iPlayer.
Nevertheless we appreciate your concerns with the scheduling of the series and as we’re guided by the feedback we receive we've therefore registered your complaint on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's made available to all BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, the production team for ‘Doctor Who’ and other senior managers.
The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.
Thanks again for taking the time to contact us with your concerns.
Kind Regards
John Murray
BBC Complaints
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
