{"id":727691,"date":"2026-06-10T15:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T15:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/727691\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T15:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T15:56:09","slug":"bbc-abandons-plans-for-doctor-who-christmas-special-doctor-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/727691\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC abandons plans for Doctor Who Christmas special | Doctor Who"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC has cancelled this year\u2019s Christmas episode of Doctor Who<\/a> as its showrunner Russell T Davies announced his departure from the long-running sci-fi series.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster said production of the programme would now be put out to \u201ccompetitive tender\u201d as part of its royal charter agreement.<\/p>\n

The Doctor Who Christmas special has long been a fixture of festive TV in the UK, with the most recent Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, making his full-episode debut in The Church on Ruby Road on Christmas Day in 2023. David Tennant debuted in similar style as the 10th Doctor in The Christmas Invasion in 2005.<\/p>\n

In the 2017 Christmas special, Twice Upon a Time, audiences saw Peter Capaldi\u2019s 12th Doctor regenerate into Jodie Whittaker\u2019s 13th.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Christmas special was due to be written by Davies and made by the production company Bad Wolf. It would have been this year\u2019s only episode of Doctor Who, following on from a cliffhanger ending last May, in which Gatwa\u2019s Doctor regenerated into Billie Piper, who previously played the Doctor\u2019s travelling companion Rose Tyler.<\/p>\n

In its announcement on Wednesday, the BBC<\/a> acknowledged that the news would be disappointing for fans, after it previously promised a Christmas spectacular for 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter careful consideration, the BBC, Russel T Davies and Bad Wolf have collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor Who Christmas episode,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster said it had opted instead to \u201cinvest in the long-term future of the show\u201d, so that, when the Tardis returned, it would do so \u201cin all its glory\u201d.<\/p>\n

Doctor Who originally ran from 1963 until 1989, with Davies spearheading its revival in 2005 and remaining as showrunner until 2010. He returned in 2023, when the series became a co-production between the BBC, Bad Wolf and Disney.<\/p>\n

The end of the Disney partnership was announced last October, and Davies\u2019s departure \u2013 along with Bad Wolf \u2013 leaves the BBC free to seek a new independent producer to regenerate the series once again.<\/p>\n

Davies posted on Instagram: \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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said fans would have to wait a bit longer for a new Doctor Who, \u201cbut you\u2019ll be waiting for MORE Doctor Who than a one-off. So it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davies added: \u201cFor the record: there\u2019s 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\u2019ll be waiting a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m 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 [one-off 1960s antagonists] the Drahvin? It\u2019s all up for grabs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shake-up comes during a turbulent time for Doctor Who. The Disney partnership that coincided with the show\u2019s 60th anniversary failed to revive viewing figures to the highs of the Tennant era, and Gatwa announced his departure from the title role after just two years.<\/p>\n

The developments have prompted speculation about the show\u2019s future, but the BBC insists it is committed to commissioning new episodes.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the BBC insists it is committed to commissioning new episodes, and confirmed that a new animated Doctor Who series for CBeebies was in production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC has cancelled this year\u2019s Christmas episode of Doctor Who as its showrunner Russell T Davies announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-727691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727691","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=727691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}