The Mill TV closes down. And awards news.

[ibishtar]

Oh, this is sad: visual effects house The Mill is closing down their TV department. This will mean the loss of 25 jobs and the departure of managing director Will Cohen. The company "had weathered losses in 2012 and those losses had accelerated in the first quarter of 2013", what with, amongst other things, no more Merlin and "the BBC not

Comments

[sueworld2003]

Very sad news indeed. :(

[gonzo21]

This adds to my growing suspicion that the BBC are going to announce Doctor Who going on hiatus post-50th. You wouldn't close down your effects company if you knew for sure you'd be getting work next year.

[ibishtar]

Nah, series 8 is definitely happening in 2014. Whether Spring or Fall remains to be seen. The Mill is an independent company, and they're closing due to the losses they've already suffered. The linked article explains it well.

[rhiannon_s]

That is sad news and I send deepest sympathy for the staff losing their jobs.

Bad news for Doctor Who fans since it pretty much means the the one off 50th show is pretty much it. Is there any word even on a Christmas Special?

Bad news for fantasy fans too, since it means the BBC's Merlin replacement show, "Atlantis" is not going to be F/X heavy so its not going to have much beyond the setting to recommend it. Which pretty much means that UK based sf and fantasy has died again and we're back to the 90s. And it means no BBC reboot for Worzel Gummidge either, but since I'm the only person in the world that it believes that could ever happen that isn't surprise to anyone at all (I'm not giving up on that one though!).

[ibishtar]

There's definitely going to be a a Christmas Special this year, Matt Smith will be returning to film it. Series 8 will come out in 2014, although there are rumours it will happen in the fall rather than spring as one would expect. Still, nothing confirmed.
I thought Atlantis would feature mythological creatures and stuff? The BBC will have no choice but to find another proficient VFX company anyway, they won't be able to produce Doctor Who otherwise! In fact, they must have done so already as pre-production has already started on the 3-D anniversary spectacular.

[lothy]

There's one significant reason I can't see Doctor Who being on in the autumn rather than the spring - Atlantis.

It's already been announced that Atlantis will be on in the autumn, in Merlin's timeslot. Strictly Come Dancing is always going to be on in the autumn. And both of those, like Doctor Who, are family shows. Quite frankly, you couldn't fit all three shows on one night every week, pre-watershed. Not unless you started about 5pm.

Just to add - the run of five eps we had late last year started in the late summer and ended before Merlin began. You couldn't do that with a longer series, though I suppose they could split the series up again.

[ibishtar]

I took for granted that DW S8 would be split, hopefully with both halves in 2014, but there's rumours of fall 2014/spring 2015, which would allow for it to air in the fall before Atlantis S2 like it did with Merlin. Although having another half-year filming break on the heels of a full-year one is pretty ridiculous.

[aim2misbhave]

This is so sad. It's like the Rhythm & Hues thing that happened just a few months ago here in the US :-(

[ibishtar]

Yeah, the article mentioned how there's been trouble with film VFX companies that's started to extend itself to TV ones as well. It's pretty shocking that not even companies that are at the cutting edge with their work on Life of Pi and Doctor Who can weather the crisis.

[corpsebride05]

Not good. not good at all!