BBC Announces Disney Officially Out As Partner For Doctor Who, Along With A 2026 Christmas Special
After months of speculation, we finally have confirmation that Disney is out of their partnership with the BBC for Doctor Who.
The last several months have been a lot of murky press from the BBC assuring fans that everything with Doctor Who was fine, and that a Disney partnership was still potentially on the table after the failure of Russell T. Davies’ and Ncuti Gatwa’s two-season bomb of a run on the show, panned by fans and critics alike and reaching record lows of viewership for Doctor Who.
Even last week, producer Jane Tranter was obfuscating about the problems the show faced.
“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. We have got another five episodes of [spin-off series] 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,” Tranter also said in the interview.
She concluded, “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. 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.”
However, her last comments about how it must change might be more illuminating than she wanted to let on to fans, as we now know that Disney has officially pulled out of its partnership with the BBC on Doctor Who.
BBC drama director Lindsay Salt made a corporate remark on the matter, of Disney “being terrific global partners and collaborators over the past two seasons, and for the upcoming The War Between the Land and the Sea.”
“The BBC remains fully committed to Doctor Who, which continues to be one of our most loved dramas, and we are delighted that Russell T Davies has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas special for 2026,” she said. “We can assure fans, the Doctor is not going anywhere, and we will be announcing plans for the next series in due course which will ensure the TARDIS remains at the heart of the BBC.”
This announcement has more in it than simply Disney’s withdrawal, but also confirms that Davies's penned works will be back for at least one more special, with a Christmas special coming in 2026, the first news fans have heard of anything about this.
What we knew before is that Davies had written a full season three with Ncuti Gatwa in mind, but that the actor’s exit and Billie Piper’s regeneration into the Doctor was unplanned and tacked on at the last minute.
While it’s not enough time to get a full show direction going for 2026, a single special is possible, and perhaps fan questions about what’s going on with Billie Piper will get answered in that outing.
The Disney episodes were estimated to have a $13.3 million per episode budget, an all-time high for the show, coupled with all-time low ratings, marking a disaster for the franchise.
Rumors are circulating that Davies will no longer be the showrunner for the show going forward, as well, and this Christmas Special that was announced may be his swan song exit from Doctor Who.
What do you think about the Doctor Who News?
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If it's something you love, woke retards will destroy it.
I wonder if they can make people care again.