In Doctor Who, our titular Doctor is an alien who can regenerate into a new body whenever he is about to die. It’s a plot convenience, of course, one that explains why our hero is so unkillable while adding an in-universe explanation for why this character keeps getting played by new actors. Over time, the franchise proved to be as unkillable as the Doctor himself: after Sylvester McCoy’s final episode in 1989, the only onscreen Who content we got for a while was that direct-to-TV movie in the ‘90s (and the less said about that, the better). However, the BBC revived the franchise in 2005 with a new era of Doctor Who.
The revival was wildly successful, recruiting new fans and making several Doctor actors (especially David Tennant) household names. Eventually, things started souring: audiences reacted negatively to new Doctor Who showrunners and stars, including Jodie Whittaker. Eventually, the BBC gambled big by bringing back the first NuWho showrunner, Russell T. Davies, and partnering with Disney+. However, these two seasons were not well-received, and the new series was quietly canceled. Fans held onto hope that we’d get a Christmas Special this year to tie up loose ends. Unfortunately, Davies just took to Instagram to confirm there will be no special, he has left the series, and that the future of Doctor Who is completely uncertain.
Sorry, Kids: Christmas Is Canceled
To understand why Doctor Who fans were so hopeful for a Christmas special, you need to understand what kind of cliffhanger the most recent season left us with. After Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor sacrificed himself to save the day, he regenerated into a new body. Not just any body, either: he regenerated as Billie Piper’s character, Rose Tyler. During the 2005 revival, Rose served as the primary Companion for both Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor and David Tennant’s Doctor. In the closing credits, instead of the usual “Introducing so-and-so as the Doctor,” we simply got “Introducing Billie Piper.” Whether she was the Doctor, Bad Wolf, or some TARDIS manifestation was left as a mystery for a future season.
Unfortunately, it looks like that mystery will never be solved. Russell T. Davies, who was the Doctor Who showrunner for the first four seasons of the 2005 revival, returned to run the most recent two seasons. Those seasons largely turned fans off, and the show was quietly canceled. Fans held onto hope that Davies would explain the Rose mystery and tie up some loose ends in an upcoming Christmas special. However, Davies took to Instagram to confirm that there would be no Christmas special, that he was exiting the franchise yet again, and that there would be an indefinite wait for new Who.
Additionally, the BBC has made an official announcement about Doctor Who: they confirmed cancellation of the Christmas special and reiterated Davies’ claim that cancelling the special will help secure the future of the series. However, that will require finding a production company willing to take on the outsized budget needed to bring these fantastic stories to life.
Rubbing Fans The Wrong Way
Aside from general sadness, Doctor Who fans mostly reacted to Russell T. Davies’ Instagram post with a very Dalek-like emotion: anger. Some of this anger was due to his weirdly flippant tone. For example, after claiming that he never wrote a Christmas episode and nobody new was cast as the Doctor, Davies wrote, “You may disagree; fine, sit in that chair and wait to be proved right. You’ll wait a lonnng time.” It’s, uh, kind of weird to preemptively acknowledge how many people are going to say you’re lying, dude! Like the rest of the message, this just seemed a little too flippant for an otherwise very sobering bit of news.
Mostly, though, fans are angry at Davies for casually admitting that he never wrote a Doctor Who Christmas special script and that the special was something he “cooked…up to guarantee a future when no one knew what would happen, but now we do know, there’s no need for it.” For one thing, about six months ago, Davies was teasing what was already written in his Christmas special script via a column in Doctor Who Magazine; later, Doctor Who composer Murray Gold claimed that Davies had written “multiple” scripts. Now, Davies himself admits that not only has he not written anything but that the original announcement of the special was a complete fabrication!
Many Doctor Who fans are angry with Russell T. Davies for misleading them and, arguably, helping run the franchise he revived back into the ground. Even if you love Davies, though, his Instagram post spells bad news for this long-running sci-fi show. Doctor Who can’t return until the BBC finds a new production company with the deep pockets to bring back an expensive series whose UK viewership dwindled about 82 percent from 2008 to 2025. Over the years, the series has always taken on new forms and new actors as easily as its protagonist takes on new faces. Now, though, it’s unclear if Doctor Who as a franchise will ever be able to regenerate.
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