FWIW, I personally liked Capaldi a lot, bar the middle bit Jim noted. His aloof, alien first series was interesting, and his last was the best of Moffat’s run. On merchandising, I have no insider knowledge, but have heard from multiple parties that things went very wrong during that area, and it was in part due to kids not being thrilled about toys of an old bloke. That said, the BBC’s inability to get the show out for a run every year doesn’t help—and, frankly, baffles me.
Even shorter series would work. Eight episodes and a festive special, like clockwork, would be fine if the individual episodes were all bloody good. Keep them standalone and focused and thread a light arc through them. Perhaps two-part the finale.
I liked P.Caps finale speech, but then 2017 had in general been an all time low for me so maybe I just really responded to one of my favourite living actors effectively telling a future him that everything will be alright and change, no matter how painful or unwelcome, is always good.
For what it’s worth, I wasn’t against the general sentiment of the speech, just that it went on far, far too long.
