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BBC Wales’ flagship hit Doctor Who has been rocked by claims of chaos after its former boss left amid allegations of massive overspends and filming over-runs.

Broadcast chiefs insist the show is safe but are unable to say how many episodes of the prime-time hit, which has seen overnight viewer numbers dwindle in the last two series, will be filmed next year.

It is also not clear if the BBC will be forced to pay star Matt Smith his full year’s salary despite the fact that as few as four episodes could end up being filmed in 2012.

Yet senior executives at the broadcaster have come out strongly behind the show insisting that it is till a ratings hit and there will be another full series, although the dates cannot be confirmed.

BBC communications boss Julian Payne told Wales on Sunday that despite the lack of certainty about the next series of the show, it remained a firm part of the BBC1 schedules.

He said: “Doctor Who in 2011 has had one of it’s strongest performances with 10.3 million people tuning in.

“Moving forward it is business as usual for the show. We are preparing for the new series now and Stephen (Moffat, head writer) is hard at work on the Christmas show as we speak.”

BBC Wales’ new head of drama Faith Penhale is understood to be bringing in executive producers to run the next series of Doctor Who after the departure of her predecessor Piers Wenger.

Mr Wenger was brought in to run the show when writer Russell T Davies and executive producer Julie Gardner, who brought Doctor Who back to our screens in 2005, left for Los Angeles where they have been working on the widely-hailed latest series of sci-fi spin off Torchwood, which will broadcast this summer.

He left the BBC in May and it is understood that his fellow Doctor Who executive producer Beth Willis, who joined with him two years ago, is not expected to return for the next series either.

Mr Wenger’s time at the show was dogged by rumours of massive overspends, filming overruns and the departure of many crew members who had been stalwarts of the series since it was relaunched.

Overnight ratings for the show during the last two series have also fallen significantly to just 5.5m for June’s episode A Good Man Goes to War, compared to more than 13m who tuned in to watch the final episodes of David Tennant’s doctor.

However, the new figures do not account for the increasingly popularity of the BBC’s on-demand iPlayer service, for which the broadcaster does not release figures.

Steven Moffatt, pictured left, the writer and huge Doctor Who fan brought in to fill Russell T Davies’s shoes, remains one of the BBC’s stars thanks to both Doctor Who and his modern-day adaptation of Sherlock, which has been a critical and ratings hit. Yet even he has been caught up in the row engulfing Doctor Who’s production – as he was forced to publicly deny BBC 1 controller Danny Cohen’s claim that the scheduling difficulties were partly down to the fact he was doing too much with both Sherlock and the sci-fi series.

Moffat, who oversees all Doctor Who episodes, tweeted: “The scheduling of Dr Who has got NOTHING to do with Sherlock.”

In response to a message from novelist and Doctor Who writer Neil Gaiman wondering whether he was “being shafted” Moffat thundered: “It’s not your imagination. Unbelievable. Unacceptable.”

Auntie also played down fears that the decision to split the current series of Doctor Who into two halves will leave BBC Worldwide unable to get together a lucrative Doctor Who DVD package together in time for the Christmas market.

Internet fans forums have been left in confusion by the rumours surrounding the show as the series has remained hugely popular and the BBC’s insistence that there will be a full new series has reassured fans.