Doctor Who: Chris Chibnall's Approach To Spoilers Has Made The Show Exciting Again
Chris Chibnall's time on Doctor Who has been notable for clamping down on potential spoilers for upcoming episodes, which has injected genuine surprise and excitement into his era. There's always been a fine line in promoting the series between exciting teases to draw in viewers and outright spoilers that ruin surprises, which previous showrunners have sometimes fallen foul of. Russell T Davies, for example, received criticism for revealing the new Dalek Sec/human hybrid on the front cover of a TV listings magazine before they were revealed on-screen. Steven Moffat's final season, the last before Chris Chibnall took on the showrunner role, revealed season 10's huge John Simm return in a trailer.
In his first season, Chris Chibnall arguably went too much in the other direction - releasing too little information and talking of keeping the secrets when there were no big secrets to be revealed. However, when a lone Dalek returned in Jodie Whittaker's first New Year's special, it became clear that the era's clampdown on spoilers was able to reap big rewards. Rather than reveal returning monsters months in advance, risking the announcements getting lost in the deluge of pop-culture commentary, returning 80s companions or old villains are strategically dropped into the episodes themselves.
In an age where streaming services dominate, and live television schedules are malleable to the whims of the individual, it's an interesting way to flip the promotion of the series. In withholding so much information in promoting the series, the big reveals can create watercooler moments that can draw lapsed viewers back via on-demand services. It's even more rewarding for those dedicated viewers who tune in each week, however. Doctor Who is genuinely exciting when an audience doesn't know what's coming next. Chibnall's approach relies on exciting viewers to the extent that they go on social media to discuss the latest twists and reveals, raising the show's profile and enticing back viewers who may have fallen away in recent years. It's an approach that has given audiences some truly memorable and exciting moments throughout Jodie Whittaker's era.
The most obvious of these moments was the jaw-dropping cliffhanger to part one of "Spyfall". Prior to airing, a trailer was released which revealed that the Cybermen would be back at some point in the twelfth season. Throughout "Spyfall" the mysterious, ethereal, Kassavans occasionally recall the imagery of the ghostly Cybermen in the Tenth Doctor and Rose story "Army of Ghosts". Airing on New Year's Day, exactly one year after Chibnall brought back a surprise Dalek, audiences could be forgiven for thinking the Cybermen were behind the attacks on global intelligence services. It was a masterful piece of misdirection that paid off handsomely when the pretense of Sacha Dhawan's O fell away to reveal the Doctor's arch-nemesis, the Master.
It proves that Chris Chibnall and his team are acutely aware of the delicate balance between appointment television and promotion. For example, at the end of 2022's New Year's special, they revealed that, without prior warning, the Sea Devils would return in the next episode. Similarly, the trailer at the end of "Legend of the Sea Devils" revealed that 80s companions Tegan and Ace would be returning for Jodie Whittaker's last episode. These reveals were more talked about than the episodes themselves in the hours that followed their broadcast, but without prior promotion, or an already captive television audience, they wouldn't have been nearly as exciting as they were. As Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker prepare to leave Doctor Who, it's fair to say that they've reintroduced the shocks and surprises that the show needs to continue being essential viewing.