BBC Reveals Plans For A Post-Disney+ “Doctor Who” Era

One of the unique things about “Doctor Who” and why it’s been around for over sixty years is that when an actor has decided they want to move on to other roles, the Doctor can regenerate, allowing a new actor to take over the role.  

It’s been over a year since the season two finale of “Doctor Who” was released on Disney+ around the world, in which we saw Ncuta Gatwa step away from the iconic role, to be replaced by Billie Piper, who previously starred in the show many years ago as the Doctor’s companion, Rose.

That season finale was supposed to set up the next Christmas Special and ultimately future seasons, but unfortunately, that Christmas Special has now been cancelled due to lots of changes behind the scenes.

When the season finale was released on the BBC in the UK and on Disney+ around the world, there was some hope that Disney would continue to invest in the sci-fi show for future seasons, but following poor viewership figures due to many issues, including complaints that the show was too political, Disney decided not to renew its deal.

Today, the BBC has announced some major changes to “Doctor Who”, revealing that the showrunner/writer of the Disney+ seasons, Russell T. Davies, and the production company, Bad Wolf, will no longer be involved in future seasons of “Doctor Who”.

It was also revealed that in line with the BBC’s Charter and Agreement requirements, the BBC will put “Doctor Who” out to competitive tender this year. This is because, according to the BBC, “Doctor Who” remains an important part of the company and by putting the show out to tender, it underpins the BBC’s continued commitment to “Doctor Who”, ensuring audiences will enjoy the show for years to come.

This decision by the BBC was apparently not taken lightly, and the BBC has said that it knows the decision will be disappointing for fans, but is doing it, in order to set the show up for future series.

As part of the decision, rather than bridge the gap with a one-off special, the BBC are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show, which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory.

While Disney had the distribution rights for the two recent seasons, along with some specials, the BBC owns the show.

Russell T. Davies took to social media to confirm the news and also reveal that they weren’t that far into development on the Christmas Special, which was supposed to arrive later this year.

And so GOODBYE from me to Doctor Who but HELLO to a big new future for the show, as the BBC announces it’s putting the show out to tender. As a result, there won’t be a Christmas Special – we only cooked that up to guarantee a future when no one knew what would happen, but now we do know, there’s no need for it. You’ll have to wait a bit longer for new Doctor Who… but you’ll be waiting for MORE Doctor Who than a one-off. So it’s worth it! For the record: there was no script, I never wrote it, and no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor. You may disagree; fine, sit in that chair and wait to be proved right. You’ll wait a lonnng time 🪑 Now I’m as excited as anyone to see what comes next! Will they keep the theme tune? Will they lose the blue box? Will they bring back the Drahvin?! It’s all up for grabs, which is so Doctor Who, exciting and unpredictable and new! Here comes the future, vworp vworp.

Last Christmas, the BBC released a new spin-off series, “The War Between The Land And The Sea”, however, the global release on Disney+ still hasn’t happened, over six months later and could possibly not even happen.  No follow-up season is also planned for the spin-off series. 

Roger’s Take:  This decision by the BBC feels like a long time coming.  The partnership with Disney on “Doctor Who” just wasn’t going to last in the long term.  Disney likes to invest in franchises it can own, so that it can use these characters in their theme parks, on their cruise ships and in other licensing opportunities.  The “Doctor Who” deal was made at a time when Disney was investing heavily in producing as much content as possible for Disney+.  That’s not the case any more.  

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a major political shift around the globe, with a very modern version of “Doctor Who” not going down well with a large part of the audience, leading to constant negative headlines and a general backlash, usually aimed at Disney.  With Disney wanting to retreat from the culture wars, it was very noticeable that it did the bare minimum to promote “Doctor Who” and didn’t want to be involved with it, making the renewal chances very small.  

Getting a new partner in for the future of the show is going to be interesting.  Will one of the big global streaming partners like Paramount, Netflix or Amazon step up to have a stab at this iconic franchise, to distribute it on their platforms?  Or will they take one look at what happened when Disney was involved, opting to stay clear.  I also very much doubt Disney would want to be involved again, either.  

The BBC might just be better off developing the entire show with a new production company, then selling off the rights to different platforms separately at a later date.  

With regard to Billie Piper’s return to “Doctor Who”, whoever takes over the franchise will have to find a way to get around this plot hole, but I’m sure they’ll manage it, whoever it is.   But whoever it will be, they’ll have lots of rebuilding to do, especially with the audience, as the Disney+ era was the nail in the coffin for so many fans.  

Regardless of who the BBC teams up with, it looks like we won’t be seeing the new “Doctor Who” on our screens for many years to come. 

You’ll find both recent seasons of “Doctor Who”, along with a number of Christmas and Anniversary specials, available to stream now on the BBC iPlayer in the UK and on Disney+ around the world.

What do you think of the BBC’s decision with “Doctor Who”?  Let me know on social media!