Putting an end to the ongoing speculation, Disney has announced they are dropping their Doctor Who partnership after the two year deal expired.
However, the show is not completely dead.
The BBC has confirmed the end of the deal, and in the same announcement has confirmed that a new Christmas Special will be created that will air for Christmas 2026.
That will be penned by showrunner Russell T Davies, and ends months of speculation as to what’re the show would go next after a few seasons of disappointing ratings and even more disappointed fans.
Lindsay Salt, director of drama at the BBC, said in a statement:
“We’d like to thank Disney+ for being terrific global partners and collaborators over the past two seasons, and for the upcoming ‘The War Between the Land and the Sea’.
The BBC remains fully committed to ‘Doctor Who,’ which continues to be one of our most loved dramas, and we are delighted that Russell T Davies has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas special for 2026.
We can assure fans, the Doctor is not going anywhere, and we will be announcing plans for the next series in due course which will ensure the TARDIS remains at the heart of the BBC.”
The last season ended with Ncuti Gatwa regenerating, and ending the 15th incarnation of the Doctor.
The catch was he regenerated into Billie Piper, who played companion Rose Tyler during the Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant years.
It is not thought that she will become the new Doctor full-time, and this was some kind of regeneration glitch.
It is thought that the 2026 Christmas Special will be a one-off with her in the role before regenerating into the new “regular” Doctor to take the show forward.
Who knows, now it’s been fundamentally broken, they might have to send for a grumpy white guy to fix it.
The spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea will be on Disney+ and the BBC as the deal concludes.
