The future of Doctor Who is a bit up in the air at the moment, with the BBC and Disney not yet confirming whether they will continue working together on the franchise or not. That lack of information hasn’t just got fans worried, but also the people involved with the universe.
In the latest issue of the official Doctor Who Magazine, writer Robert Shearman — who has written multiple Whoniverse books and audio dramas, and the 2005 episode ‘Dalek’ — has argued that the show is “probably as dead as we’ve ever known it”.
He also bemoaned the inclusion of a hastily-filmed scene in which Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor regenerated into a character played by Billie Piper without explaining if she was The Doctor, Rose, the Bad Wolf persona or someone else, meaning no books, comics, or audio dramas would touch the character until the TV show reveals what’s going on.
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In response, Jane Tranter from the show’s production company Bad Wolf spoke to BBC Radio Wales and said that the “dead as we’ve ever known” quote was “really rude, actually”, as well as “really untrue”.
Tranter reiterated statements made by herself and BBC chief content officer Kate Phillips that no announcement on the future of Who on TV will be made until the after the airing of spin-off The War Between the Land and Sea.
BBC
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“The plans for Doctor Who are really simply this: the BBC and BBC Studios had a partnership with Disney+ for 26 episodes. We are currently 21 episodes down into that 26-episode run,” she said.
“We have got another five episodes of The War Between The Land And The Sea to come. At some point after that, decisions will be made together with all of us about what the future of Doctor Who entails.
“It’s a 60-year-old franchise. It’s been going for 20 years nonstop since we brought it back in 2005. You would expect it to change, wouldn’t you? Nothing continues the same always, or it shouldn’t continue the same always.
BBC
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“So it will change in some form or another. But the one thing we can all be really clear of is that The Doctor will be back and everyone, including me, including all of us, just has to wait patiently to see when — and who.”
While the future of Doctor Who on TV will remain a mystery for now, one thing is certain: the franchise will continue at the BBC, with or without the help of Disney.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I’m a Fish.