Russell T. Davies recently won A Gaydio Pride Award, and at the ceremony, he gave a cryptic response implying there will be no “next Doctor” for the BBC science fiction show Doctor Who.
Doctor Who has been embattled in controversy ever since the return of Russell T. Davies as showrunner, adding Ncuti Gatwa to the role of the Doctor and turning the show into one giant lecture on the LGBTQ+ agenda since his return.
Ratings on the 60th Anniversary Specials were already the lowest on record for Doctor Who specials, with viewership at 5.08 million, 4.83 million, and the final special, “The Giggle,” only receiving 4.62 million.
With a new doctor in Ncuti Gatwa, the Christmas special that followed these, “The Church On Ruby Road,” saw a small uptick to 4.7 million for its ratings, but the audience quickly tuned out as each of the new “season 1” episodes as they branded this new Disney+ iteration received many of the lowest ratings in Doctor Who history as well.
The lowest came with Episode 7 of the 8-episode season, “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” posting a dismal 2.05 million for the overnight ratings. The finale saw a small uptick again, but the trend is clear—audiences are not interested in the gay, black Doctor who constantly lectures them on identity politics.
Now, the new Christmas Special, “Joy To The World,” is reported to have the lowest overnight ratings for a Christmas special yet again, with 4.11 million, according to Doctor Who TV.
With such atrocious numbers, the BBC stated that they were waiting until season two’s numbers came in to make any moves on Doctor Who being renewed or not, despite rumors that Ncuti Gatwa would be exiting at the end of season 2 persisting because he allegedly was not happy with how the show was received.
Over the last month leading up to the second season, rumors began to swirl regarding both Ncuti Gatwa and Russell T. Davies potentially departing the show.
The first rumor came from The Sun’s Rod McPhee, who reports, “DOCTOR Who is facing the axe, with star Ncuti Gatwa poised to quit and crew claiming to be laid off.”
An alleged anonymous insider told him, “Ncuti doesn’t want to be tied to the series beyond this and plans to relocate to Los Angeles with several Hollywood projects standing by for him.”
“His team also see a lot of fan backlash from the series, and don’t want the perception of him still being The Doctor to get in the way of any future work,” the insider added.
The BBC issued a statement dispelling these rumors, saying, “"This story is incorrect, Doctor Who has not been shelved. As we have previously stated, the decision on season 3 will be made after season 2 airs. The deal with Disney+ was for 26 episodes - and exactly half of those still have to transmit. And as for the rest, we never comment on the Doctor and future storylines."
However, after this, Russell T. Davies went on David Tennant’s podcast, joking that when his run ends, he won’t go back a third time. Tennant replied he thought he wouldn’t go back a second time either.
Davies replied, “That’s very true, but I’m not getting younger, darling.”
This added to fan speculation that the show would eventually get canceled.
Last week, Davies was given a Gaydio Pride Award, apparently for being gay. Davies showed his full narcissism in an interview, saying, “I gotta say we’re three years into these awards, what kept you?” as if he were entitled to be receiving it. “God, how hard have I worked?” he also said.
But his cryptic statement came to a question asked by Express as they asked him who the next Doctor might be while he was walking the purple carpet of the awards.
"What do you mean next Doctor? What are you on about?" he replied.
The implication is that there may not be a next Doctor, which could confirm that the show is in trouble and might not make it past this second season. With the Chrsitmas Special for 2025 already not going to be coming this year, it seems that this second season might lead to the BBC shelving the show for awhile.
What do you think of Russell T. Davies's comments on Doctor Who? Leave a comment and let us know.
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I want the line 'it's about time' and out pops a Scottish redhead Doctor.
Also, I'd like a visit to Brutus and his fleet as they land on his namesake, Britain, as the beginning of the Welsh people. Brutus being a descendant of Troy.
Also, another Welsh one, with the two 'dragons' aka 'dinosaurs' which fought for hours near a king's castle in full view of the inhabitants. These are memorialized on the Welsh flag as the red and black dragons.
Or one themed on the junior officers of the Navy who put a stop to slavery. Have fish like aliens in slow moving fish finned spaceships which have to go to an underwater travel to the stars portal coming to Africa to buy 'fresh meat for dinner', and have a British captain give them a 42 gun broadside. Dr. Who can point out he's not that familar with them as they are water transport users, and he's a space kinda guy.
There is a lot of real history unexplored which is fantastic. Of course, it being Dr. Who, the dinos become aliens, and Brutus gets visited by one of the goddesses who intervened at Troy who is actually an alien.
So my comment about Mr. Davies is that there is a huge amount of untapped life in the concept if you have the bravery to do a real story about real things.
I like the old Doctor Who's. Russel Davies has run this series six feet under the crypt.
Let it die and lay for 10 years, then let someone who loves it regenerate the time lord.
It died once and was kept alive by radio plays.
Maybe it's time to let the old man sleep.