Ncuti Gatwa’s departure & Billie Piper’s arrival made instant headlines, including on the BBC News website.
At the end of season 2, Doctor Who achieved the closest the show has ever got to a surprise regeneration.
Usually, due to production cycles and casting announcements, viewers are in the know well in advance of the change. Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi had special television programmes devoted to their reveals. In 2017, Jodie Whittaker enjoyed a beautifully shot promo which debuted after the Men’s Wimbledon final.
Going back to the classic series, Tom Baker appeared on Nationwide (The One Show of its day) months in advance to announce he was hanging up his scarf.
With Ncuti Gatwa, his impending departure had been the subject of press speculation – primarily due to reshoots that took place long after the main production concluded. Rumors of Billie Piper’s return to the show, and the guest appearance of the 13th Doctor, were also out there. Crucially, you had to be actively looking or risking the depths of YouTube to discover them.
Fans complain about BBC spoilers
However, unlike past regenerations, Ncuti Gatwa’s leaving was not public knowledge ahead of ‘The Reality War’.
Doctor Who has always engendered press speculation when the lead role changes hands, and this time was no different. In that regard, it’s different from any other television series and shares more in common with the attention afforded to the casting of a new James Bond.
The news was splashed across numerous news outlets, including the BBC. Some were restrained in their handling of the change, offering spoiler warnings, others not so much.
The BBC’s handling of the regeneration provoked complaints from some viewers – particularly for an article headed Ncuti Gatwa regenerates into Billie Piper as he leaves Doctor Who, which appeared within minutes of the show’s airing.
To be fair, the Billie Piper element of the story came later in the evening as an update.
Here’s the BBC’s response to those complaints:
Some people contacted us to complain that the headline gave away the ending, spoiling this Doctor Who episode for them. Others requested that the BBC be more conscious of spoilers going forward, particularly in the use of headlines.
Ncuti Gatwa’s departure from the series had been widely speculated and many fans will have been aware that this was a possibility.
The headline on the news homepage that evening referred to Ncuti Gatwa’s departure because this was a legitimate entertainment news story in its own right, and it is not unusual that we would carry this type of story once a programme has been broadcast and the details in the public domain.
While we cannot account for everyone’s viewing habits, we initially held back from headlining the announcement of Ncuti Gatwa’s regeneration into Billie Piper. This extra detail was added later in the evening and our approach was consistent across the BBC site.
BBC journalists are of course entitled to use their judgement to decide which stories to cover and the manner in which they are reported. We also want our headlines to be as informative as possible.
Although every story is different, we have discussed your concerns on this occasion with senior editors and we will be mindful of your views for future coverage.
Attitudes to Spoilers
It’s a judgement call from the BBC, and of course it’s worth remembering that BBC News is a different entity from the television channel BBC One. They compete for readers’ attention along with all the other news outlets, as well as the more focused entertainment press.
Attitudes to spoilers also vary wildly from person to person. Some fans avoid trailers and don’t even find out the episode titles before watching each week. Others seek to hoover up any tidbit of information, gamely scouring the internet for clues or attending filming locations. The production routinely teases the fans via social media and on this occasion showrunner Russell T Davies warned people to avoid spoilers and watch asap. However, the BBC’s suggestion that fans would have been aware of press speculation seems a rather weak excuse.
The Streaming Era
Another thing to consider is that we’re in a different era now – Doctor Who is a streaming show for most of its audience. Only the BBC gives it a linear transmission, while swathes of viewers watch via the iPlayer, or internationally on Disney+. A BBC One timeslot doesn’t have the import it once had, and many viewers watch in the hours after transmission.
Interestingly, we didn’t watch on transmission this time and made it to a viewing later that evening unspoiled. However, it did mean swearing off the internet entirely for a number of hours!
As the BBC response says, they can’t account for everyone’s viewing habits. For us, the crucial difference here is that this was an in-story reveal, not something telegraphed well in advance. We imagine they wouldn’t blow the ending of a detective show that had unmasked a killer within moments.
Of course, the flip side of all this is that it’s great that Doctor Who cast changes remain newsworthy. With the main show’s future up in the air, seeing it still have that impact is heartening.
In short, a few hours of grace from the BBC might have been nice on this occasion!