“Doctor Who” showrunner Russell T. Davies exits series as BBC scraps Christmas special

Key Points

• Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies has announced he is exiting the series seven months after Disney+ ended its partnership with the BBC to distribute the long-running sci-fi adventure series.

• Davies told fans they’ll have to wait “a bit longer” for what that “big new future” entails for the series, “but you’ll be waiting for MORE Doctor Who than a one-off. So it’s worth it!”

• BBC also announced that it will not air the show’s previously announced Christmas special this year, which has been a fixture on the network for several years.

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies is bidding farewell to the TARDIS once again.

The writer took to social media to announce his departure on Wednesday, telling followers that while he’s saying goodbye to the franchise, it’s the start of a “big new future” for the BBC series.

“And so GOODBYE from me to Doctor Who but HELLO to a big new future for the show, as the BBC announces it’s putting the show out to tender,” Davies began in his Instagram post featuring a drawing of the iconic blue police box from the long-running series. “As a result, there won’t be a Christmas Special – we only cooked that up to guarantee a future when no one knew what would happen, but now we do know, there’s no need for it.”

Davies told fans they’ll have to wait “a bit longer” for what that big new future entails for the series, “but you’ll be waiting for MORE Doctor Who than a one-off. So it’s worth it!”

The Doctor Who Christmas special has been a fixture of festive TV for the network, with the most recent Doctor — portrayed by Ncuti Gatwa — making his full-episode debut in the episode “The Church on Ruby Road” on Christmas Day in 2023.

“For the record: there was no script, I never wrote it, and no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor,” Davies revealed to his followers. “You may disagree; fine, sit in that chair and wait to be proved right. You’ll wait a lonnng time 🪑”

Looking on the bright side of his exit, Davies wrote that now he can be “as excited as anyone to see what comes next!”

“Will they keep the theme tune? Will they lose the blue box? Will they bring back the Drahvin?! It’s all up for grabs,” the wrote, “which is so Doctor Who, exciting and unpredictable and new! Here comes the future, vworp vworp 🌪️”

Davies served as the showrunner for the first season of the modern revival of Doctor Who starring Christopher Eccleston in 2005, as well as the subsequent three seasons (and specials) starring David Tennant from 2005 to 2010. He later returned to the show for the anniversary specials in 2023, and returned to his showrunner role for both of Gatwa’s seasons as the Doctor.

BBC shared the news of the Christmas special cancellation in a post on the show’s official website. The update explained that “putting the show out for tender” meant the broadcaster is inviting production companies to put themselves forward to help co-produce the next series.

“After careful consideration, the BBC, Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf have collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor Who Christmas episode,” the post read. “This decision was not taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one off special, we are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory.”

For any fans worried about other Doctor Who properties, BBC added that the previously announced new animation series for CBeebies is “currently in production.”

Disney+ announced in October 2025 that it ended its partnership with the BBC to distribute the long-running sci-fi adventure series.

The two broadcasters’ team-up spanned two seasons starring Gatwa as the titular Time Lord as well as five specials between 2023 and 2025, and the five-episode spinoff series, The War Between the Land and the Sea.

Disney+ exiting Doctor Who may makes accessing the series outside of the United Kingdom a little more tricky, as Disney’s platform streamlined the show’s international distribution outside of its home country.

Additionally, Davies previously told Entertainment Weekly that the Disney+ deal gave Doctor Who a larger budget for every episode, which presumably means that the streamer’s departure will bring the budgets back down to the show’s pre-Disney days.

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.

The last season of Doctor Who aired in May 2025 and was the final one to star Gatwa, who breathed new life into a show that premiered more than six decades ago, which made his abrupt departure after two seasons a surprising one for fans and marking his tenure as the shortest-serving Doctor in 20 years.

More surprising still: In the final moment of the season finale, Gatwa regenerated into Billie Piper, who previously starred on the series as Rose Tyler, thus marking the first time that an actor has pivoted from playing a companion to (seemingly at the time) playing the lead role of the series.

With BBC preparing for the next phase of the show, it’s anyone’s guest who will take over the reigns of the TARDIS next.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly