I am suspecting from the posts so far, that nobody here knows who Chibnall is....
He is the man who gave Ianto's partially Cyber Converted Girlfriend Lisa, a Metal Bra and High Heels (like every Cyberman, Not!) he is the man who basically is the reason why the first couple of Torchwood seasons, if not totally bombed, then certainly nowhere near as popular as it should have been - he is a big reason why instead of Torchwood being the "adult sci fi drama set in the Dr Who universe, it was mostly more like it was aimed at sniggering, juvenile 15 year olds - You know Children of Earth was received much better and the Starz co-produced Torchwood Special was extremely popular? Guess what, Chibnall was not involved in them.... I don't know how the "normal" people viewed them, but his Dr Who episodes are very widely disliked amongst the Fans.
Remember Camelot and the UK remake of Law and Order? No? oh yeah, they bombed, big time. It has been pointed out that Broadchurch on which he was Show Runner was quite popular, and a couple of one of dramas, which fans generally seem to like, despite expecting crud since Chibnall was showrunner. Basically, his career of the last few years suggests that he is perfectly capable of running and writing a traditional drama series, but he cannot write decent Science Fiction, especially not Dr Who, and his episodes under Moffat were only not even worse because he had Moffat looking over his shoulder, unlike RTD's era where RTD was more concerned with giving mates jobs, than whether they were decent writers.
I have been a Fan since I was 5 in 1983. There have been lots of things I didn't like, and I was extremely worried when they revealed a chap who looked about 14 was hired to be the 11th Doctor, though thankfully, that turned out extremely well, as Matt turned out to be an awesome doctor. The Announcement that Chibnal is becoming Show Runner is the One and Only thing that is seriously going to challenge my love and loyalty to the show. I am seriously concerned that his first season will see our wonderful show Cancelled, and sent back to the Dark Times.
He simply does not have the experience, nor the skills to be the show runner of a major science fiction series, not one he has proven to struggle to write for well. Funnily enough when Camelot was canned after 1 series, he then turned round and claimed "I decided I was not going to work on the second one anyway" Like the Moff, he is a lifelong fan, but I am not sure he has the Moff's skill in putting the wider audience before the fans. End of the day, the Moff has been writing for, show running, and show creating a variety of different genre programmes for over 25 year years, RTD for all his various faults, did very well on a good day (hence the surprise when he was bad) and of course, he not only engineered the Show's return, but made it so popular, it is still here 10 years later, but then, like the Moff, RTD has also been writing, show running, and creating a variety of different genre shows for over 25 years. In contrast Chibnall has Show Run 2 major shows that were axed due to the audience switching off in droves, a couple of one off drama's 1 major show that was in fairness successful, and episodes for Dr Who, Life on Mars & Torchwood - Not really the CV for someone to be running Dr Who, yet.
The worst thing is though, and I wont ever forgive him for it, is they are literally kicking Capaldi out, so Chibnall doesn't throw his toys out the pram for not getting a Doctor of his choice. Absolutely frelling disgraceful. Yeah The Moff got to start with a fresh doctor, but that was because Tennant wanted to leave. Capaldi does not, he has 2 or 3 years left in him. This last Series, he was finally the Doctor he could be, though it was not his fault, after his shaky first series, When the Moff was writing him as bit of a rude word, far too nasty & arrogant.
It's very old news, but a lot of Fans, especially older ones who were there, or saw it at the time cannot forgive him, there was some sort of guest interview either on TV, or at a major Convention, with Pip and Jane Baker, the 80's Who Writers. Chibnall got a chance to chat to them on stage, and proceeded to be extremely and deeply unpleasant to them.
It is going to be frustrating waiting 2 years to find out if he is going to destroy the show, or if he can rise up to the challenge, in which case I will be extremely apologetic, and since I don't own one of my own, I shall borrow someone's Hat and eat it!!
Incidently, I don't know if anyone hear knows or remembers, but do you remember RTD's "first" Doctor Who Series, made in 1991?
It featured the Doctor in his weirdest Regeneration yet! And he gave us a Female Doctor at that!!!
I am of course referring to Dark Season, the main Heroine being 13 year old Marcie/The Doctor , and her two 15 year old Companions Tom and Reet (Kate Winslet in her first major role!!)
The villain of both Stories was a strange blonde chap, who never took off his sunglasses called, Mr Eldritch. Frustrated by Marcie, at one point he rants (I forget the exact sentence but its along the lines of) "Always there! Always trying to Stop me! Interfering with my Plans..."
Eldritch is of course The Master. Dark Season is actually a wonderful show, and I am amazed it has not yet been Rebooted as it would be perfect for 2016 - story 1 involved Eldritch gifting advanced computers to schools, which turn out to have some "extras" like brainwashing the user into Eldritch's slaves - so it is easily a story that would work well with the spread and variety of technology we now have - even the 2nd story, where Neo Nazi's led by Jacqueline "Blake's 7" Pierce who was a scientist of some sort working for the British War Effort in WW2, but was a Traitor, giving the Nazis secrets iirc" Her people are digging down to open up a top secret but forgotten by the government Bunker from ww2, where a massive Computation Device called "Behemoth" was constructed, and she believes she can use it to assist her in creating a new World Order...
Dark Season - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
