The End of the End Board

It’s our final look at Doctor Who endboards for now, and during our last look through Seasons 51-56, we see arguably the most amount of changes than ever before in such a short space of time.

The Last Winter (2016)

Ahead of the 2016 Christmas special, Doctor Who’s aspect ratio had changed from 16:9 to 2.35:1, matching that of spin-off ‘The Elysium’ since 2015, and the endboard was updated to go with it.

In April 2016, BBC Studios was founded; the new venture for producing programmes made in-house by the BBC. Like most shows, Doctor Who’s endboard was affected by this. Programmes that were produced by other ‘nation regions’, such as Scotland, as well as Cymru Wales and Northern Ireland shared space with the BBC Studios logo, appearing together; BBC Studios on the left, nation logo on the right. The CBS logo remained in a similar position as before.

Another addition was the ‘Albert Sustainable Production’ logo at the bottom. Again, many UK TV programmes would use this practice, and was used for shows where during production, effort was made to reduce the use of carbon footprint. This endboard was used only for ‘The Last Winter’.

The Demons of Madison Road-The Sinister Minister/The Martian Equinox-Terror on Tolia (2017-18)

Some time before Season 51 aired, the BBC Studios logo had changed already. While it was initially assumed that the nation produced logos were gone, the name lived on underneath the logo, reading ‘BBC Studios Scotland’, and was moved to the centre. This was used for Season 51 (sans ‘False Prophets’ which we’ll get to in a mo), and again from ‘The Martian Equinox’ until ‘Terror on Tolia’, in Season 52.

False Prophets (2017)

Season 51’s finale, ‘False Prophets’ was somewhat of a crossover with The Elysium. As such, Left Bank Pictures, who handled production of the show, were credited on the endboard as the scenes set on Taoter III were produced by them in this serial. The BBC Studios Scotland logo moved to the left, in the same position that it did in ‘The Last Winter’, just with Left Bank’s logo next to it on the right. CBS’ logo remained unaffected again.

Friends on a Train-The New Empire (2018)

Another radical update to the endboard took place for Season 52. Following the firing of Ronald D. Moore, the production schedule had changed, and two episodes rushed to be completed to fill the rest of the first half of the season. During this, the BBC Studios logo changed once again, now with the BBC’s new corporate font, Reith, replacing Gill Sans. The endboard was now layered differently, with the BBC Studios logo at the top, now reading a lengthy ‘BBC Studios Scotland for BBC and CBS Television Studios’. The Albert Sustainable logo was made bigger and moved closer to the left. The copyright line now read ‘© BBC MMXVIII’, returning to the pre-S43 style. This remained in use for the rest of Season 52 from ‘Friends on a Train’ to ‘The New Empire’.

The Doomsday Cannon-Praxeus (2019)

For Season 53, the endboard remained similar, with the only tweak being the last remnant of BBC Scotland gone, with the Scotland tag removed, and it just reading ‘BBC Studios for BBC and CBS Television Studios’. This was used from ‘The Doomsday Cannon’ to ‘Praxeus’.

The March of Evil-The Fourth Continent (2019-20)

A tweak to the endboard was made from ‘The March of Evil’, that being an update to the Albert Sustainable logo at the bottom, with an updated design and the logo now animating. This continued up to ‘The Fourth Continent’ in Season 54.

The Last Supper-Journey into the Unknown (2020-21)

In October 2020, CBS Television Studios was renamed CBS Studios under the ownership of ViacomCBS. Once again, the endboard was tweaked to include the new name and logo, but otherwise remained mostly the same. This was used from ‘The Last Supper’.

During Season 55’s broadcast, the BBC debuted a brand new logo, ridding of the Gill Sans version after 24 years of use, first used on Who’s endboard in Season 34.

Despite this, the endboard remained unchanged throughout the season, and even more confusing, a new endboard system was released at the same time, with BBC Studios splitting its sectors up into genres; most of which still used the 1997 logo!

SEASON 56

So, now we’ve reached Season 56, and, sorry Toffa is gone, and I, DDWF, have taken over, to guide you through all of the Daleks’ Master Plan End Boards, including the ones from Episode 5 and 6!

The Carnivorous Jungle/The Face of the Enemy (2022)

The BBC 2021 rebrand will go down in history as being laughably slow to roll out, consistently, and even by May 2022, the End Board for the first episode of Doctor Who’s latest season, exclusively features the 1997 BBC logo. However, never fear, this isn’t always the case, this year.

The Guardian’s Tale (2022)

Episode 2: The Guardian’s Tale, saw an alteration to the End Board, swapping out the 1997 BBC logo with the 2021 logo (hurray!), but only one of the two BBC logos on screen. So, awkwardly we see a 1997 logo, with a 2021 logo below it. Well done BBC! Well done!

For Episode 3, however, the End Board went back to the design as seen on Episode 1. Why? Who knows?

The Cry of the Past (2022)

Episode 4’s End Board managed to have the exact opposite problem to Episode 2’s, whereby the BBC logo was updated to the current logo, but only on one of the two logos. This time being on the BBC Studios logo. However, there was another change, in that this was the first to include the new “BBC Studios Drama Productions” logo, which the show should’ve been using since mid-Season 55, however, well done for finally getting there!

The Secret of Kembel (2022)

Episode 5 is the first one that finally gets everything right. Correct BBC Studios logo! Correct BBC logo! Paramount+ logo... what? Yes, while unexpected, the old “for BBC and CBS Studios” is gone and is now “BBC and Paramount+”. Why is CBS Studios’ logo here at the top? Well, Episode 5 was shot at CBS Studios in Canada, as a co-production. This used to be the way things were done before 2018, when the End Boards stopped acknowledging that CBS Studios actually had a hand in making the show too.

The Mutation of Time (2022)

Finally, Episode 6 is the first correct “normal” End Board that we’ve had, since the BBC rebrand. For the first time since 2005, CBS don’t receive a credit, at all, as CBS Studios didn’t contribute to the actual production of this episode. The episode was made by BBC Studios for the BBC and for Paramount+, with both of those companies financing the production. It’s a complicated matter, but this end board finally gets it right.