Yahoo News Doctor Who’s Chris Chibnall says Flux series was almost axed by BBC
Doctor Who tried something different with its 13th outing in 2021. The six-part series Flux was the first time the science fiction show had used the serial format since it was revived.
But it turns out that the series may not have happened at all, thanks to the COVID pandemic.
Now, former showrunner Chris Chibnall has been speaking on Radio Free Skaro about the difficulties of bringing Flux to the screen, stating that it came very close to being dropped.
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"There was a week where it was not going to be made," Chibnall explained. "There was a week where I was, I’d been offered another job. And because the BBC was just like... 'where’s the money coming from? How are we going to do this? Is it too difficult?'
"And it literally went down to the wire of like, yeah, there was an hour on one day when it’s like: it was done. And yeah, we had to do — there are certain things I had to do to get that season made. Because they couldn’t find a way to do it."
The commitment to get the series done extended to its lead star, with Chibnall explaining that Jodie Whittaker turned down a lot of other projects to do the delayed six-parter.
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"Jodie had a thousand job offers... I know what jobs she gave up to do the third season, which, obviously because it had moved in the schedule, you know," he stated. "She had stuff lined up for when we were supposed to finish shooting, but then was delayed by the pandemic. And you know, she’s in demand, and so she sacrificed a lot. Everybody sacrificed a lot."
When Jodie herself spoke to Digital Spy last year, she talked about the difficulty she had filming the serial, and the nerves she had watching it air.
Doctor Who returns later in 2023 on BBC One in the UK and Disney+ elsewhere. Meanwhile, in the US, the show airs on BBC America, with series 1-12 available on HBO Max. Classic Doctor Who streams on BritBox in the UK.
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