\u201cWe should be sitting here announcing The Nyssa Adventures or The Return of Donna Noble<\/a>,\u201d he told Paul Kirkley (who writes for Doctor Who Magazine and RadioTimes.com<\/a>). \u201cThe whole science fiction world is so creative and so money-making right now, I think your wildest dreams can come true.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Since then, we\u2019ve had no official news on spin-offs, but if recent tabloid scuttlebutt is to be believed, the folks at Bad Wolf have a number of offshoots in the planning stages, including shows centring on some of Doctor Who\u2019s most iconic baddies<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFans can expect to see Sontarans, Weeping Angels and Sea Devils in separate series showing what they get up to when the Doctor isn\u2019t there to stop them, along with Daleks and Cybermen,\u201d a source told The Mirror<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n If true, this is a pretty radical plan. Every Doctor Who spin-off before now \u2013 on TV at least \u2013 has focused on the good guys of the Whoniverse, whether it\u2019s K-9 (K-9 & Company), Sarah-Jane Smith (The Sarah-Jane Adventures), Captain Jack Harkness (Torchwood) or, er, the pupils of Coal Hill School (Class).<\/span><\/p>\n Yet over at Big Finish \u2013 the audio company who, since 1999, has been producing officially licensed Doctor Who stories \u2013 villain-centric ranges have been a mainstay of its output for years.<\/span><\/p>\n Dalek Empire was one of the company\u2019s first offshoots, yet crucially it wasn\u2019t told from the Daleks\u2019 point of view, instead zeroing in on a fresh set of protagonists. Ditto its Cyberman series of plays. Even though their TV voice, Nicholas Briggs, was in charge of these ranges, he was savvy enough to know that an hour of Daleks or Cybermen talking among themselves is likely to send even the most devoted fan crazy.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cShowing what they get up to when the Doctor isn\u2019t there\u201d is the slightly concerning detail. These spin-offs don\u2019t necessarily need the Doctor to pivot round, but they do need protagonists, a person or persons that we can identify and empathise with, that the monsters can pit themselves against.<\/span><\/p>\n Is there really potential in a Sea Devils show showing us what they do when they\u2019re just hanging out with each other, shooting the breeze? And if we\u2019re getting a Weeping Angels series that\u2019s going to show us what they do when no one\u2019s watching (darting about all over the place, presumably), isn\u2019t that going to tarnish some of their carefully cultivated mystery?<\/span><\/p> Back in the 1960s, Dalek creator Terry Nation attempted to launch a series based around his fascistic pepperpots in the US. He didn\u2019t get far. But the fact that, even with their titanic popularity and Nation\u2019s not inconsiderable wealth, we\u2019ve never had a small-screen Dalek spin-off tells you something about their limitations as characters.<\/span><\/p>\n The short-lived Daleks! web series from 2020 arguably only worked because of its relative brevity (it consisted of just five 13-15 minute episodes).<\/span><\/p>\n The trouble with a series focused tightly on those monsters named by The Mirror is that any show would be blighted by an aural and visual sameness. A bunch of Daleks or Cybermen talking monotonously amongst themselves, each character indistinguishable from the next, does not good telly make.<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s presumably why Star Trek has never considered a Borg or Klingon-focused series and why Disney isn\u2019t planning any Star Wars shows based around the Hutts. None of these potential WhoCU series necessarily need the Doctor, but they do require some kind of human character for us to lock onto, however speciesist that sounds.<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, this is all wild speculation. The newspapers have got it wrong before, and may well have done so again. For all we know, The Nyssa Adventures may be in its final stages of planning, and who knows, maybe she\u2019ll be fighting Sea Devils and Weeping Angels as part of it.<\/span><\/p>\n And if RTD and Bad Wolf really are planning an avalanche of new shows and spin-offs, maybe one featuring the Daleks and the Sontarans really are a small part of it. But, according to social media, villain-centric spin-offs are not what fans want.<\/span><\/p>\n When RadioTimes.com\u00a0<\/strong>asked what spin-off fans would most want to see, the overwhelming response was calls for a return for Paul McGann\u2019s Eighth Doctor<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n 8th Doctor missing adventures. It’s about time!<\/p>\u2014 stuart (@extrachunkystew) November 8, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/04\/daleks-centenary-0003a2b.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2020\/02\/doctor-who-cybus-cybermen-3deb71b.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C349"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>