BBC, Disney+
As previously reported, the future of “Doctor Who” remains in limbo. Disney’s attempt to bring the franchise to a wider global audience saw the budget increase, but it failed to find an audience in the UK or on the Disney+ service internationally.
The show ended its run with Ncuti Gatwa’s The Doctor regenerating into a new The Doctor with the face of prior companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). The mystery of that will be dealt with in an upcoming Christmas special on the BBC coming this year written by showrunner Russell T. Davies.
After that, no one knows what’s coming beyond Disney no longer being involved. It’s widely suspected this special will serve as Davies’ swan song with the franchise, which will take a break before a new creative team comes on board to work on a tighter budget and overhaul it.
But that’s not set in stone either. Speaking with Half the Picture, the show’s long-running composer Murray Gold indicates that several variations of the special are being made in readiness for various contingencies:
“I know that Russell’s written, I think, multiple versions depending on certain outcomes. So that’s all I really know, and I’m not sure I’m even supposed to know that. I think we’re at a precarious point for Doctor Who. I am hopeful that it’s all going to be the start of a wonderful new era. So I really hope that that’s what happens. If someone asks me and says, ‘Would you? Do you want to do it?’ Of course, I would always say, ‘Yes.’ I don’t think I’d ever say, ‘No’ to Russell anyway. It’s fun, even when it’s hard!”
Such a thing is not that unusual for ‘Who’. Piper’s return, for example, was filmed very late after Gatwa decided he wouldn’t be returning.
Meanwhile, Disney+ still has yet to announce an international release for the limited series spin-off “The War Between the Land and the Sea” which aired in the UK back in December.