Should Doctor Who become more like Stranger Things in tone.

Shows like Stranger Things and Wednesday are big hits with all ages watching them, when you go into shops you see lots of merch from both of these shows yet hardly anything from Doctor Who, and it makes me wonder why that is the case.

I wonder if DW is pitching it's tone wrong. Is the tone it's going for not one that is connecting with a wider audience who enjoy genre television.

I think DW needs to get more spooky, more risky, dial up the horror and turn down the camp a bit.

The young people I know don't watch Doctor Who but they do watch Stranger Things and Wednesday..my parents, my aunts, my siblings and their children have all watched both of those Netflix shows, 3 generations all watching those shows, yet it's only me and one aunt who watches Doctor Who. (just to give a example).

Everyone in the UK has access to the BBC, not everyone has access to Netflix, yet shops fill their shelves with merch from those two shows that are found on Netflix not the one on the BBC, I think that is very telling.

I try to take myself out of the uber-who fan mind that I have and think what it must be like to be a general fan of genre TV or just TV in general, imagine what it must be like for them to give DW a try and they watch The Church on Ruby Road or Space Babies..and well, I don't blame them for not sticking around, I enjoyed them (though SB is weak) but I can see why that wouldn't grab people who are not already uber-dw fans, it's a far cry from the likes of Stranger Things..on one hand scary monsters and kids being kidnapped into a strange world, on the other talking babies with driveable prams.

I think DW needs to start taking itself more seriously (although with humour of course), get rid of the knowing winking meta stuff, get scary, get spooky, have danger, have actual weight to things (if someone dies they are dead, nothing more), actually have other world settings not just Earth all the time (the balance is way off), stop referencing the past, stop relying on past creations and instead create cool new ones, get creative, get weird, and make a great show.

I think modern writers wrongly think in order to get kids watching they got to dumb down a bit, and I think that is completely wrong, kids want to watch something that makes them feel grown up, DW should feel like a show they shouldn't be watching but get too, they won't be getting that feeling from episodes like Space Babies which launched the season.

So does DW need a tone change? should DW be pitching its tone at something more like Stranger Things? Let me know below and remember not to click and subscribe as this is not YouTube, but you can like my comment to give me a warm feeling inside 😜