Doctor Who has had successful spinoff series before. Would a spinoff that focuses on Missy work?

Fans of Doctor Who know that the reboot era sparked two terrific spinoff series: Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Sadly, due to the untimely death of Elisabeth Sladen, there will not be any further episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures. On the other hand, hope springs eternal for another go at Torchwood, especially since both John Barrowman, who played Captain Jack Harkness, and Eve Myles, who played Gwen Cooper, have both been so supportive of the idea. In fact, an April Fools article that we wrote about John Barrownman returning to Doctor Who and Torchwood went unexpectedly viral on us. So, no one can say that spinoffs aren’t of great interest to the fans.

Now, a new idea has sprung up. Michelle Gomez, who plays Missy, recently joined Twitter. She’s been pretty active on her own account. Additionally, she has guest tweeted on the official Doctor Who account. Whilst having a Twitter Q&A on the official Doctor Who account, the following exchange happened:

In all likelihood the tweet was just friendly banter. There was no further mention of the spinoff idea on Gomez’ personal account. The closest she has come is retweeting accolades from fans who like her portrayal of the character, who we like to call a deranged Mary Poppins on crack.

The odds are that the BBC will do something more with her character — there are already action figures and online games. No doubt a Doctor Who novella and a radio script may pop up that feature Missy. The question is, though, would an entire spinoff series focussing on Missy work?

We are actually leaning toward “no” for a couple of reasons, not least of which is that we can’t imagine how you’d feature a deranged lunatic with no moral compass as the protagonist of what is billed as a classic, family friendly show aired at tea time in the U.K. It would be like having a homicidal Miss Piggy take over The Muppets. One minute Fozzie Bear is fine, and the next minute Miss Piggy has karate chopped him for good and she’s got a new bear rug. No one’s seen Kermit, and suddenly frog legs are on the menu. Following the antics of Missy wouldn’t be much better.

The other factor that we think is important is that certain characters wear out their welcome. If you see them too much they aren’t scary or intriguing any longer; they get boring. For example, we’ve had a nice reprieve from River Song. She’ll return during the Christmas special this year, which is just enough of a break from her last appearance. River is good in small doses, as is Missy. For bigger than life characters, to remain bigger than life, you can’t have them on all the time or they lose their flair.

All this isn’t to say that we don’t want a spinoff for Doctor Who. We’d love a Torchwood reboot either utilizing the former cast, or with a new one. We also think there is room for a series with Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. It could even work as a kids series. On top of that, maybe there’s room for something featuring U.N.I.T. Surely they’re having encounters with other alien life forms when the Doctor isn’t around. How about giving them a series?

Where do you stand on ‘Doctor Who’ spinoffs?