So, Piers Wenger will be in charge of Doctor Who for season 5. I can't say I'm reassured. I haven't seen Housewife, 49 but I did see Ballet Shoes, his other recent project and I think it was flawed in exactly those areas where Doctor Who is currently having problems. If someone wanted to repeat the mistakes of recent episodes, it seems to me that Piers Wenger might be the man to do it.

I don't know if anyone saw Ballet Shoes. It looked lovely, it was acted delightfully and it was only at the end that I realised they'd forgotten to set up and pay off any sort of story. It had very much the look of a book adaptation where all the important scenes from the novel are represented - but without any appreciation of the emotional function they're supposed to serve. In Ballet Shoes, the two spoiled brats appeared to get exactly what they wanted, mainly by dint of behaving like brats. I'm fairly sure the source material had them learning a valuable lesson, but it was missing from the TV adaptation. And Sylvia got the man she was hoping for, but his declaration was made to look so much like a parting thought, it removed most of the romance from it (to my way of thinking). Similarly, Theo's last-minute rebound romance is shoehorned in so briskly that it was only on later reflection that I realised she would be the solution to the question of who would chaperone Pauline in Hollywood. The last ten minutes of Ballet Shoes was a dog's breakfast of editing just when real skill was required. I get a bad feeling when I see so many signs that someone high up doesn't know how to pay off storylines. So much professional excellence seemed to me to be allowed to drift off the road and into the weeds. The director must take most of the blame, I suppose, but Mr. Wenger presumably had the option of correcting matters - and either chose not to, or didn't realise there was a problem.

Only the other day I was hoping for someone to take over Doctor Who who really understands the structure of storytelling (as opposed to simply the staging of drama). On first glance, it doesn't look good. Personally, I think the BBC should have swallowed their pride and recruited a first-rate showrunner from America with the intention of transplanting some of that expertise permanently to the U.K. Britain has writers and crews and all manner of expertise, but it doesn't seem to have the showrunner role quite sorted yet. There shouldn't be any shame in learning from others. I bet Jane Espenson or Tim Minear would have been interested (and I daren't even breathe the name Joss Whedon - plus I don't want anyone distracting him right now).