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The announcement that the BBC has abandoned the planned Doctor Who Christmas special, and is ending its partnership with showrunner Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf production company, will not have come as much of a surprise to many fans. It has been rumoured for some time. Aside from the gossip, the fact that no filming appeared to have taken place for a programme that traditionally requires a lengthy post-production process had already suggested something was up.
The BBC has said the show remains an important part of its portfolio, stating it wants to ensure that “when the Tardis lands once more, it does so in all its glory”. While it isn’t inconceivable that Bad Wolf might bid to make the show under a new regime, Davies appears to have hung up his Tardis keys for good, posting on Instagram: “Now I’m as excited as anyone to see what comes next!”
It was a surprise in 2021 when the BBC announced that Davies would return for a second bite at the showrunning cherry, less so that David Tennant was wheeled out for the anniversary specials as a publicity hook. Those three episodes in 2023 were generally well received and introduced Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor at a time when the actor’s stock was high after his popular turn as Eric Effiong in Netflix’s Sex Education.
Gatwa’s run as the Time Lord, though, has seen viewing figures dip to the lowest in the show’s history – although the current streaming landscape makes it difficult to make like-for-like comparisons with previous eras. The highest figures ever obtained by Doctor Who, after all, were in the 1970s, when there were only three channels in the UK and when ITV was on strike.
The second Davies era had some real high points – 73 Yards, Boom, The Well and the racism parable Dot and Bubble are likely to feature highly in “best episodes” lists for years to come. Meanwhile, the cartoon-come-to-life of Mr Ring-a-Ding and Eurovision cutie Dugga Doo provided new characters who will no doubt feature heavily in merchandise and fans’ hearts for ever.
However, there is no doubt that neither series finale landed with fans or casual viewers. Convoluted arcs brought back villains last seen in the 1970s and 80s, only to bafflingly turn them into big, and easily defeated, CGI monsters. There was fan frustration, too, that some excellent casting choices – notably Archie Panjabi as the Rani – were given so little to do.
Davies’s early 2000s revival will always cement his place as a legend with Whovians, even if this comeback has not ended well. There was a growing feeling that his recent masterclasses – It’s a Sin, Years and Years and Tip Toe – were light years ahead of what he was writing for Who. The first Davies era felt grounded, full of moments and tight dialogue in a way that the Bad Wolf and Disney years simply have not.
When 1980s producer John Nathan-Turner suspected the show faced cancellation, he and script editor Andrew Cartmel carefully left the series open ended. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred walked off into the distance with a monologue from him that became fandom lore: “There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea’s asleep and the rivers dream, people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice and somewhere else the tea is getting cold. Come on, Ace, we’ve got work to do.”
Davies and Bad Wolf, conversely, have left the show on a series of cliffhangers that are unlikely ever to be resolved. Why did we suddenly get flashing psychic messages from the Doctor’s granddaughter in the middle of the Interstellar Song Contest? Why did the Doctor appear to regenerate into the face of a former companion?
The 2005 revival worked because Davies threw away the continuity baggage, only gradually reintroducing old elements. Assuming a new production company wants a clean slate – a new showrunner, Doctor, companions and a reimagining of the concept – the end of The Reality War and the lingering question of: “Is or isn’t Billie Piper the new Doctor?” feel like a poisoned chalice.
Part of the problem remains that the BBC is unclear as to what it wants the show to be. It is a valuable franchise and a British cultural touchstone, but it lacks the global reach of Star Wars or Marvel, despite having to compete against them for attention. At the same time, the BBC still thinks it can use it on Saturday linear TV to unite a family audience that probably no longer exists. Putting the show out to tender suggests they are looking for somebody else to square those circles.
At its best, Doctor Who is an irresistible storytelling format: a clever and kind alien can go anywhere in time and space, and put the baddies on the back foot with words and intelligence rather than guns and violence, while holding a mirror up to our own times. The adventures of the Doctor will, of course, continue in many forms even if the show is absent from our screens for quite some time. There are audio dramas featuring former Doctors, graphic novels and the occasional original novel, plus an ongoing comic strip in Doctor Who Magazine which continues – for now – to be published monthly. When it will next be able to preview an upcoming television series, however, remains entirely up in the air.
