{"id":727366,"date":"2026-06-10T12:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/727366\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T12:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:22:13","slug":"doctor-who-christmas-2026-special-cancelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/727366\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Doctor Who&#8221; Christmas 2026 Special Cancelled"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/doctor-who-christmas-2026-special-cancelled.jpg\" data-caption=\"The BBC\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/doctor-who-christmas-2026-special-cancelled.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"doctor-who-christmas-2026-special-cancelled\"\/><\/a>The BBC<\/p>\n<p>The BBC has officially cancelled the special Christmas episode of \u201cDoctor Who\u201d.  In addition, showrunner Russell T Davies and producer Bad Wolf are also both exiting the sci-fi series.<\/p>\n<p>The network made the announcement on Wednesday, saying they\u2019re aware it\u2019ll be \u201cdisappointing for fans\u201d after promising it last year.  However, they add this is being done \u201cin order to set the show up for future series\u201d.  They continue:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one-off special, we 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With both Davies and Bad Wolf exiting, the BBC is now putting the series out to competitive tender, so either BBC Studios or an independent producer will have the opportunity to reinvent the franchise:<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of the news, Davies took to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZZqSzANqIK\/?\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a> to confirm it and added that all the talk of a completed script and potential actors was a smokescreen:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd so GOODBYE from me to Doctor Who but HELLO to a big new future for the show, as the BBC announces it\u2019s putting the show out to tender. As a result, there won\u2019t be a Christmas Special \u2013 we only cooked that up to guarantee a future when no one knew what would happen, but now we do know, there\u2019s no need for it.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll have to wait a bit longer for new Doctor Who\u2026 but you\u2019ll be waiting for MORE Doctor Who than a one-off. So it\u2019s worth it! For the record: there was no script, I never wrote it, and no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The cancellation of the special frees up the franchise to potentially undergo a complete reboot, or go in a direction vastly different to what has come before.  Either way, The Doctor won\u2019t be on screens again for at least a few years.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doctorwho.tv\/news-and-features\/an-update-on-the-future-of-doctor-who\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DoctorWho.tv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC The BBC has officially cancelled the special Christmas episode of \u201cDoctor Who\u201d. In addition, showrunner Russell&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,142132,134,427],"class_list":["post-727366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bigslider","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}