The THT Brain Trust (OK, mainly me) were struck by the news that the second special will not be airing until Christmas, and not during some other, earlier, holiday during 2009. We had naively thought that one of the benefits of this gap year would be to realign, slightly, the season schedule to steer away from spring/summer scheme used since 2005 to a more traditional winter/spring sked, taking inherent advantage of the colder weather when people are more house-bound. It made perfect sense for the fourth and last of the Tennant specials to run at Christmas, which is after all when he bowed in 2005, and then have the regeneration lead directly, and quickly, into Matt Smith’s first season. Because we’re being purely reactive here, more information should clarify this in the days and weeks to come.
Still, if you think of it, there might be only two episodes of Doctor Who to span from Journey’s End in July 2008 to December 2009. Michael Grade’s infamous 18-month hiatus (in reality only a 9-month extension for being off air) seems mild by comparison. This is not to suggest similar circumstances, rather it’s just the bleating of an all-too-contented fan.