Doctor Who season 13 is being needlessly secretive - and it's damaging the show's marketing. Jodie Whittaker's final season as the Doctor is unlike any other since Doctor Who was relaunched in 2005. The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted production, and as a result season 13 is just six episodes in length. What's more, to make production easier and allow for recurring cast, it features a single overarching narrative that will run through all six episodes.
Marketing for Doctor Who season 13, which has been given the title Doctor Who: Flux, has been rather unique. The BBC launched a "Find the Doctor" viral campaign, in which fans could follow clues to unlock a secret of season 13 - which turned out to be an image of the new villain's eye. Doctor Who: Flux's release date was only announced a couple of weeks before the Halloween premiere, and when the trailer dropped it was remarkably light on story details. Even stranger was the secrecy over John Bishop's new companion Dan Lewis, with the BBC even treating his surname like a state secret. Although they did release a clip of Dan just days before Doctor Who season 13, episode 1, it was carefully chosen to reveal as little about him as possible.
Doctor Who: Flux episode 1 proves the BBC has been needlessly secretive. This is especially so when it comes to the case of Dan Lewis, because a new companion is typically a lens through which viewers get to appreciate the crazy world of Doctor Who; the better audiences know Dan before the episode airs, the more impactful the story will be. This mistake was unwittingly highlighted by the BBC when, the day after Doctor Who season 13, episode 1, the BBC released a video telling people all about Dan Lewis - and realistically, only about a minute of the video would need to be cut to avoid spoilers. It could have been edited slightly and shared on social media instead of the Halloween clip; frankly, it would have been far more effective marketing.
This needlessly secretive approach continues even now, with the BBC holding the titles of the six episodes back for as long as possible. The title of Doctor Who: Flux episode 3 was held back for an unusually long time, leading many fans to begin speculating it contained important spoilers; it was eventually revealed to be "Once, Upon Time," essentially confirming that the time traveling science-fiction TV series would feature time travel. Clearly the BBC intend to continue marketing Doctor Who in this secretive manner.
The problem with this marketing strategy is that the fans themselves are growing impatient. The "Find the Doctor" virtual campaign was entertaining, and as it built up fans became increasingly curious about where it would all lead; they'd hoped for something like a clip or a release date, but instead they got an image of an eye, so indistinct it was initially thought to be one of the new Sontarans rather than a glimpse of a new monster.
Doctor Who season 13, episode 3's title is another case in point, because the secrecy led fans to believe they were expecting something truly exciting - only to leave them underwhelmed. And, of course, Dan Lewis - who only appeared briefly in an action-packed episode stuffed with countless ideas - hasn't really gotten much of a chance to shine, meaning people haven't been able to connect with him as much on an emotional level; better marketing would have led the Doctor Who season 13 premiere to land far more effectively. All in all, marketing for Doctor Who has sadly been been disappointing - and far too dependent on secrecy.