{"id":439783,"date":"2026-02-22T15:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/439783\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:09:15","slug":"multiple-script-versions-written-for-2026-doctor-who-christmas-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/439783\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiple script versions written for 2026 Doctor Who Christmas special"},"content":{"rendered":"

While interviewed on Half the Picture<\/a> podcast, composer Murray Gold revealed that Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has written several different versions of the the script for the 2026 Christmas special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that Russell\u2019s written, I think, multiple versions depending on certain outcomes\u2026 So that\u2019s all I really know and I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m even supposed to know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What could these unnamed outcomes be? A good guess would be the version of the script ultimately used will depend on casting and availability.<\/p>\n

At the end of the Doctor Who Season Two finale The Reality War, Ncuti Gatwa\u2019s Fifteenth Doctor mysteriously regenerated<\/a> into an unknown character portrayed by actress Billie Piper.<\/p>\n

However, Piper was never introduced as the Doctor, leaving open the possibility that, along with a possible role as the Sixteenth Doctor, her Doctor Who Christmas special role could possibly be the one she is best known for in the programme, Rose Tyler; or her Day of the Doctor role, The Moment; or the entity Rose Tyler briefly became after staring into the heart of the Doctor\u2019s TARDIS, Bad Wolf; or perhaps another role all together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The choice of script may depend on Piper\u2019s role and the amount of time to which she is able to commit when it comes time to shoot the special.<\/p>\n

Script decisions could also depend on who is cast as the Sixteenth Doctor and whether they are cast by the time the special commences filming.<\/p>\n

There are no known plans for Doctor Who after the 2026 Christmas special so the version of script used could also depend on decisions regarding future series<\/a> or specials \u2014 but Gold is hopeful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re at a precarious point for Doctor Who. I am hopeful that it\u2019s all going to be the start of a wonderful new era. So I really hope that that\u2019s what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As for Gold\u2019s plans, he reiterated in the podcast that he would \u201cnever turn down Doctor Who.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone asks me and says, \u2018Would you? Do you want to do it?\u2019 Of course, I would always say, \u2018Yes\u2019. I don\u2019t think I\u2019d ever say, \u2018No\u2019 to Russell anyway. It\u2019s fun, even when it\u2019s hard!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A 2026 Doctor Who Christmas special<\/a>, produced by Bad Wolf and penned by showrunner Russell T. Davies<\/a>, is expected to go into production in some time in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While interviewed on Half the Picture podcast, composer Murray Gold revealed that Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[160141,160142,10331,96,160143,149279,125471,146760,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-439783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-2026-doctor-who-christmas-special","tag-bad-wolf","tag-billie-piper","tag-entertainment","tag-murray-gold","tag-rose-tyler","tag-russell-t-davies","tag-the-moment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}