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.
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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
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