We have dipped into the series. We watched Capaldi because he is a neighbour. He seemed mostly unloved as a doctor.
Of the recent series, the quality of production is definitely better, and serious money is spent on this. The effects are good, for tv.
What we have seen has been dominated by several things: desperately poor acting, incessant loud music unrelated to the action, poor use of the assistants (especially a most recent one) and a plot that is hard to follow.
It’s the latter that is our biggest problem. The show refers back to things that happened dozens of series ago. There’s no way in for the new viewer. While the loyal fans may pick at stories to find links to the past (and errors), the casual viewer on a Saturday night at prime time, like us, will look at the show and wonder just who people are and what is going on.
With Gatwa gone after just two short series (and he did not even appear in all those episodes), maybe it’s time for a re-boot. We know of Daleks and Cybermen, but we’ve had our fill of those. We need a fresh start, something that will attract and keep a new audience.
Disney buying into it does not help, and the face of an old assistant played by Billie Piper at the end seemed to imply this may well not happen.