{"id":707515,"date":"2026-07-23T18:31:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/707515\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T18:31:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:31:16","slug":"doctor-who-hard-reboot-would-be-bad-idea-argues-former-showrunner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/707515\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who hard reboot would be “bad idea”, argues former showrunner"},"content":{"rendered":"

As fans await more news on Doctor Who’s<\/a> future, Steven Moffat<\/a> has given his take on how the beloved sci-fi should proceed.<\/p>\n

The BBC recently announced that the planned 2026 Christmas special<\/a> has been cancelled, with the series being put out to competitive tender<\/a>. Bad Wolf will no longer produce the show and showrunner Russell T Davies<\/a> has stepped back.<\/p>\n

It’s very possible that Doctor Who will undergo some big changes before coming back to screens, but former showrunner Moffat has argued that a hard reboot would be a “bad idea”.<\/p>\n

“It’s not because I’m obsessed with continuity, or because I’m a hardcore fan,” he told Doctor Who Magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n

“It requires more explanation than a soft reboot. Normally when you reboot something, you can tell it’s a reboot. In Sherlock<\/a>, I didn’t need to explain that Benedict Cumberbatch is not playing a continuation of Jeremy Brett, because he’s a different actor.<\/p>\n

“You don’t really expect Daniel Craig to be continuing the story of Pierce Brosnan. Because there’s a new actor, you instantly reset and say, ‘We’re starting again, it’s a new version’.<\/p>\n

\"Doctor<\/p>\n

Steven Moffat.\u00a0Richard Ansett<\/p>\n

“But with Doctor Who, the fact it’s a new actor doesn’t tell you that at all, so most people casually watching would just be assuming, ‘Oh, it’s the next version of Doctor Who, he’s changed again’. Then they’ll say, ‘Why doesn’t he know who the Daleks are?’ And you start getting confused. You’d have to keep reminding the audience, \u2018We started from the beginning again.’<\/p>\n

“Unless of course you did the nightmare option \u2013 which is exactly the wrong thing to do \u2013 which is starting with Doctor Who stealing the TARDIS and running away from Gallifrey. That’s a terrible beginning for Doctor Who.”<\/p>\n

Just how much Doctor Who is set to change is purely speculation at this point. After all, the CEO of BBC Studios has confirmed it’s set to compete in the tender<\/a>, so the show could still be made very close to home.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Matt Brittin<\/a>, the BBC’s new Director General, also recently pledged the broadcaster’s commitment to the Doctor, saying: “That\u2019s a show that has regenerated multiple times in its 60-plus year history, and we\u2019ll do so again.<\/p>\n

\"Doctor<\/p>\n

Doctor Who Magazine<\/p>\n

“I think that\u2019s one of the great things about the 100-year history of the BBC. We can do that, and we can creatively renew shows that people love, and we\u2019ll be working hard on that right now.”<\/p>\n

As Moffat previously told Radio Times<\/a>: “Brave heart everyone. It\u2019s a cliffhanger \u2013 the Doctor ALWAYS survives those.”<\/p>\n

Doctor Who Magazine is available to buy now. Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n

Add Doctor Who to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app<\/a> \u2013 download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.<\/p>\n

Check out more of our Sci-fi<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As fans await more news on Doctor Who’s future, Steven Moffat has given his take on how the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-707515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707515","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=707515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}