1: Series 8 Wins Praise From Critics and Fans Alike
Following the end of the Matt Smith era and the mixed reception to The Time of the Doctor, there can’t have been many Doctor Who fans who didn’t have a little trepidation at what was to come in Series 8, particularly with all the talk of changes and the new style of the man now residing in the TARDIS.
Yet any fears were immediately seen as unfounded after near unanimous praise was given for the season opener Deep Breath, critics of the Smith era seemingly approaching the new Series with cautious optimism, while fans of Matt Smith were made to feel at home with an Eleven cameo and other Smith-era familiarity in the opening episode.
The Emmy Award winning Steven Moffat gave us something of a series in transition, the Smith era motifs and feel fading away as the series progressed along it’s path to it’s dark conclusion, Peter Capaldi winning universal acclaim for his performance in the lead role, no matter most fans thoughts toward the rest of the current era.
While ratings may not ever ascend again to the RTD highs, they remained consistent for the most part with Series 7 and with a major worldwide tour and with a continuing improvement to American exposure and ratings, alongside regular acclaim in the popular media and amongst a majority of fans, the Doctor leaves 2014 in rude health.
2: Peter Capaldi Wows Critics in First Season
Some loved everything about Series 8… some hated it, some liked most of it, others hated most of it.
Like every era of the show, Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who has won over legions of fans and at the same time alienated others, yet one thing almost every fan and critic seemed to agree on in 2014 was that Peter Capaldi had stolen the show with his darker and more alien portrayal of the Doctor during Series 8.
Despite the constant comparisons to the likes of Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, Peter Capaldi put his own unique stamp on the series throughout the year, evoking memories of the dominating and brooding classics, yet bringing the ethos right up into the 21st century.
The boyhood fan who once wrote letters to the production team had been preparing for this role all his life, Michael Hogan of The Telegraph believing he had made the role his own:
“This has been a cracking series, with the show back to its darkly compelling best and Capaldi - clever, complex and unpredictably otherworldly - making the role truly his own.”
Simon Brew of Den of Geek agreed:
“It feels like Doctor Who has undergone a real resurgence of sorts with him in the Tardis, and his Doctor remains one you can barely keep your eyes off.”
With Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy looking toward Series 9:
“Chief among its selling points has been a fantastic, fascinating lead performance from Peter Capaldi and with the growing pains of this era out of the way, I have a feeling series nine could be something very special indeed.”
Perhaps the highest praise however came from the 4th Doctor himself Tom Baker who said:
“Instantly one felt: this fellow comes from far far away, he’s strange. An instant frisson. And what’s the word? Yes, got it! Alien, he’s an alien. I salute him”
3: Should I Stay or Should I Go? Jenna Coleman Remains in the TARDIS
Following media reports in August that Jenna Coleman was to leave the show at Christmas, it seemed such a certainty that she would be moving to pastures new that odds were being given on her replacement and the actress remaining noncommittal on the rumour.
With the Danny Pink storyline tied up and Clara departing the TARDIS at the conclusion of Death in Heaven, her future away from the show seemed assured after one last Christmas jaunt, until…
Being the show’s possibly first ever shock non-departure, Jenna had decided to remain on the show after much “to-ing and fro-ing.”
Speaking to BBC News she confirmed her appearance in all of the forthcoming Series 9:
“It’s wonderful, I get a whole other series of stories with the Doctor and I couldn’t walk away with the story being unresolved. There is so much more to do. I think they’ve finally just reached a point where they really understand each other. The arrival of the 12th Doctor has just kind of dropped this whole bombshell and allowed the dynamic to totally change, so I think just when Clara was feeling more comfortable in the relationship, it has suddenly thrown something new up.”
Relatedly, here’s Arthur Darvil’s performance of Let it Go from April!
4: The Master Mistress Returns
After strong rumours all year that the Master would be returning during Series 8, speculation ran rampant as to the identity of the new Doctor’s arch-nemesis, particularly following comments from Sylvester McCoy on the issue.
As Series 8 developed and the mysterious Missy made her presence known, many believed The Master was now out of the question…
Reaction to the reveal was mixed, with some not liking the change, with others preferring a different or new villain in the role. Reaction was mostly positive however, thanks perhaps in part to a much praised performance from Michelle Gomez. Rumours currently indicate Missy will return in Series 9.
5: The Omnirumour Rumbles On: Phil Morris, Anthony Horowitz and the Meltdown of the Year
After a tense and often outright belligerent 2013, offset with the amazing news of The Web of Fear and The Enemy of the World‘s return, 2014 saw the intrigue of Doctor Who‘s missing episodes further divide fans of the classic series.
Despite optimism at the beginning of the year that The Underwater Menace might be released in 2014, exciting news from Ian Levine and optimistic comments from the Steve Roberts, by April the rumours descended into infighting and behaviour unbecoming of Doctor Who fans and professionals, strong words and barbs traded on all sides. With no fresh news on potential discoveries or the release of known existing material, it seemed the so-called omnirumour was on the wane… until Phil Morris finally found his voice online that is.
Starting relatively quietly by calling the omnirumour “nonsense,” Morris began to make increasingly outlandish statements online during the early weeks of Series 8, including “outing” Anthony Horowitz as the next show runner, accusing Steven Moffat of institutionalised sexism, claims of uber-fans running the show and finally bringing forth the spectre of Jimmy Savile.
Mr Morris retired from online activity soon after following criticism and there has been no further movement on the missing episodes issue, save claims from BBC Worldwide they hope to release the partially animated Underwater Menace in 2015.
6: All Around the World
2014 saw the Doctor Who cast and crew engage in their most comprehensive promotion to date, the World Tour that saw Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Steven Moffat visit seven countries in twelve days, beginning in Cardiff on August 7.
Despite some criticism from South Korean fans, the World Tour was a huge success for BBC Worldwide, raising the show’s profile around the world and bringing legions of fans closer than ever before to the Doctor Who phenomenon.
7: The Return of the Alleged Gay Agenda: Complaints and Controversy
Despite the positivity in most sections over Series 8, some small minorities were seemingly more inclined than ever to have their voices heard, particularly over the so-called “lesbian kiss” in Deep Breath, a scene that received a mighty six complaints and reared the particularly ugly head of the “gay agenda” on the show, the Independent saying:
“Although the Victorian London couple, portrayed by Neve McIntosh and Catrin Stewart, have appeared as lovers for three years, their first on-screen kiss sparked some people to attack what they saw as a ‘blatant gay agenda’.”
The issue was further inflamed when the BBC removed the “offending” scene from Asian broadcasts of the episode.
The complaints and controversy didn’t end there as the knives seemed to out in some sections of the press, there were reports of complaints over a hair pulling scene in Deep Breath, the show being too scary, a beheading being removed and some fans being unable to understand Peter Capaldi.
Things even sank to the level of complaints over Clara holding a copy of the Guardian!
8: Big Finish’s Sublime Year
Beginning the year in style with a BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Online or Non-Broadcast Audio Drama for Dark Eyes, it was an eventful and high quality year for Big Finish Productions, with perhaps the announcement in July of Russell T. Davies’ Damaged Goods one of the highlights, alongside of course the company’s landmark 15th anniversary and The Worlds of Doctor Who.
Besides the anniversary release, the company however produced some of it’s highest regarded material in 2014, including the excellent Philip Hinchcliffe Presents, Dark Eyes 2 and 3, more Jago & Litefoot, more Benny, the return of Adric in the very well received Fifth Doctor Box-Set and the debut of The Early Adventures. Following their successful recasting of The Master and Romana, Big Finish strode out to further define their own legacy by recasting the parts of The Rani and Barbara Wright.
The year however was perhaps denied being one of overt celebration with the sad passing of Paul Spragg in May and Maggie Stables in September.
9: Attack of the Killer Camargo
Despite all the optimism from fans, cast and crew alike for the new series, things couldn’t have got of the a worse start in July as the scripts for the first five episodes leaked to the internet, quickly followed by unfinished copies of Deep Breath. It appeared to be death by a thousand cuts as one episode after another leaked days apart. Following Deep Breath, Into the Dalek leaked, followed by Robot of Sherwood, Listen, Time Heist and The Caretaker.
Despite the image many had in their head of a raging Steven Moffat, the producer was reflective:
“There isn’t any way to handle it. There isn’t. What do I do? Just say to everybody bring their hard drives into Leicester Square and put them in that skip? What am I going to do? I tell you what I did, I sat in my house and went ‘Oh nooo, bugger.’ There’s nothing else I could do. Hope. That’s my official policy. Let’s all really hope.”
10: Matt Smith… Naked!
It would be remiss of us not to mention the actual most read story of the year here at DWW… Was it reaction to the series finale? the fallout from Deep Breath? something about casting, or something Steven Moffat said?
No, it was the leaking of Nude photos of Matt Smith and Daisy Lowe as a sort of epilogue to 2014’s stand-out online event, the fappening.
While we obviously can’t show the photos in question, here’s a wet Matt Smith as part of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to make up for it… almost:
So long 2014, it’s been a hell of a ride and a memorable year!
Don’t forget to let us know your highlights of 2014 in the comments section and via Facebook and twitter. Here’s to 2015 and Series 9!
