“Doctor Who” Dead At Disney, But Still Alive?

The writing has been on the wall for a while now that The BBC’s deal with Disney+ for “Doctor Who” hasn’t worked out the way anyone would’ve hoped.

The property has been struggling for years – the highs of the Tennant & early Matt Smith era of the program began to slide in Smith’s latter run, and was somewhat rocky during the Capaldi era (which is now looked back on more fondly) before hitting rough waters with Chris Chibnall’s divisive work as showrunner during the Jodie Whittaker era.

The return of Russell T. Davies as showrunner, the casting of Ncuti Gatwa and the injection of Disney cash felt like a needed shot in the arm and while there have been some highs like the second Tennant special, “The Well,” “73 Yards,” “Boom,” “The Devil’s Chord,” and “Dot and Bubble” – there’s been some real lows as well including “Space Babies” and the recent overcooked finale “The Reality War”.

Gatwa’s performance was generally well received, but his limited first-season screen time and the heavy-handed writing have all been criticised.

Whatever the case, the surprise return of Billie Piper in the finale will have to be answered. The credits made it clear she is NOT the new Doctor – but why did he regenerate into Rose Tyler? That is a mystery we’re unlikely to see resolved for years.

Now, DanielRPK (via CBM) is reporting that: “Doctor Who is only dead at Disney, but there are active talks to revive it elsewhere, and things are looking promising.”

This follows on from reports a few weeks ago that The BBC was planning to ‘take back’ the program and produce it on a budget more akin to the Whittaker era. What other parties might be interested isn’t clear.

The report today also follows one from The Sun last week which claims Piper’s return is simply paving the way for David Tennant to come back to the show. The actor’s 14th Doctor is still out there and the new Rose-Doctor teaming up with #14 for at least a special seems a given.

Right now, there’s no Christmas special this year and a third season isn’t in active production. Davies has previously indicated that writing for a whole new season had already made substantial progress but it’s not clear if it’ll have to be changed with the change in Time Lord.

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