Yes, it's confusing.  It seems few people know what the next series (or season) of Doctor Who actually is.

First, in the US each new batch of episodes are called a "season".  In the UK each new batch of episodes are called a "series."  In the US this is confusing because a season takes place within a series, but in the UK a series takes place within a series.  Yep, damn confusing.

Further, David Tennant's reign as The Doctor took the current new TV episodes of Doctor Who to series 4 in the UK (season 4 in the US).  But since then Tennant has also appeared in a number of "specials" which some fans classify as being a self-contained fifth series (or 5th season in the US).  But of course all this talk of series/seasons doesn't take into account the series/seasons of Doctor Who right back to the beginning.

First, the specials are not a season or series.  They're just specials.

Based on that, Matt Smith's reign as The Doctor begins at season/series 5.  If you take the US approach and call Doctor Who itself, from the beginning, a series (which makes much more sense), then Matt Smith's reign begins as Season 31.  If you apply the same principle but using UK terminology, Matt Smith's reign begins at Series 31.

Just when you thought you had your answer, here comes the wobbly.  The BBC recognize the confusion and so, unhappy that it's not confusing enough, they're going to throw in an additional smoke grenade.  Word is, to coincide with the new production team that's come on board with Matt Smith's era, they're going to press the reset button and call the new series/season the first.

So, erm, next year's new season/series of Doctor Who is season/series 1.

Personally, that's all too much for me. As far as I'm concerned, Doctor Who is a television series.  It's not multiple series, it's one series and it's called Doctor Who. There have been 30 "groups" of episodes since it started (excluding specials) but since the word "series" has already been applied, we're left with the word "season" to label those groups.

Therefore, it's easy to simply say Matt Smith's era begins at Season 31.

With that said, check out the animation of the new Season 31 logo:

Tags: Doctor Who