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00:00Hello everybody, Ellie here for WhoCulture and we have some more news for you! You all thought
00:23that we'd have this dry spell and we wouldn't have things to talk about, but we do have some
00:28things to talk about. As with the last video, there will be some timestamps in this video so you can
00:32jump around the various tidbits, but before I get into the main bulk of what this video is going to
00:38be about, I do have another thing that I want to talk about first. And this revolves around the
00:44upcoming spin-off, The War Between the Land and the Sea, because folks, the BBC have done it to me
00:49again. They've done it to me again! If you recall in the previous video, I said, well, The War Between
00:57the Land and the Sea was in the autumn highlights for the BBC, so we'll be seeing it in autumn 2025
01:03at some point. Well, at Edinburgh TV Festival yesterday afternoon, the BBC confirmed that
01:11the War Between the Land and the Sea will be coming in 2026, not 2025, so. As per usual, I say something
01:20in the BBC proved me wrong. Now, to be honest with you, when it came up in the 2025 autumn slate,
01:28I was a bit surprised because I think we all expected it to probably come in 2026, so this
01:33isn't exactly a surprise, I think this is what we thought was going to happen, but I do still have
01:38my theory because I've always thought, I think this maybe will fill the Christmas slot this year.
01:43Technically, if it's at Christmas, it's not 2026, but hear me out here. Technically, they can still
01:49fill that Christmas slot if they did it for New Year. We've had precedent of episodes coming out
01:56on New Year, New Year's Day, New Year's Eve instead of Christmas Day, so if they do it how I think
02:02they're going to do it and release all five episodes one day after the other as opposed to weekly,
02:08technically, if they did it on New Year's Day 2026, I mean, it technically still counts as a
02:15holiday special, but it's in 2026 and then could fill that New Year's gap. Or it'll come out in
02:21spring or summer or autumn next year, who knows? We honestly don't know when it's going to come up,
02:25but that's my theory, that it's still going to fill that seasonal spot, but it will be New Year
02:32and just 2026, maybe. To be honest with you, maybe they don't know. I think a lot of this all depends
02:39on the ongoing conversations that are happening, and perhaps originally the plan was to put it out
02:45in autumn this year, but maybe discussions are happening about the main show that mean
02:50they're going to push it, which is highly likely. We've also had some plot details revealed
02:56recently as well, because star Russell Tovey commented on The War Between the Land and the
03:02Sea earlier this week, and this is what he had to say.
03:04It's set in our world. Climate change is a huge factor. Again, it needs to be factored more into
03:10art so we really get an understanding of it. It's this narrative of this guy who, basically,
03:15he's someone who works in the offices and books people's taxis, but by some series of events,
03:20he ends up becoming a very important figure in the world. And in true Doctor Who fashion,
03:24he's saving the planet. I'm really proud of it, and I'm terrified of it and excited by it.
03:29All of those things. But working on it was brilliant, and the scripts were fab.
03:32That sounds like such a Doctor Who concept, doesn't it? Somebody who's not important becoming
03:38important. I mean, literally, Donna, Martha, Rose. It's a thing in Doctor Who. An ordinary person.
03:45When I say not important, I mean an ordinary person who becomes so important. You know,
03:51there's that whole line of, I've never met anybody who isn't important. Like, I feel like that's such a
03:56good concept that Doctor Who does very, very well. I'm just glad we're getting a bit more information
04:00about it. I spoke about my thoughts on the war between the land and the sea in our previous
04:04video. I'm very excited about it, more so than I was originally. I think the trailer we saw has
04:10definitely piqued my interest. I also am drawn to the fact that I think it's going to be more mature
04:15than the main show has been in terms of the topics and the subject matter. So I am intrigued. I'm
04:22excited to see where it's going to be, and God knows when we're going to see it, but apparently
04:262026. But the main thing I want to talk to you about today is the fact that the BBC has finally
04:32issued some sort of firm statement about Doctor Who's future. Now, this came straight from the
04:39horse's mouth, as it were, from Kate Phillips, who is the chief content officer at the BBC,
04:44and she was also at Edinburgh TV Festival yesterday afternoon, and this is what she had to say.
04:50Any Whovians out there, rest assured, Doctor Who is going nowhere. Disney has been a great
04:56partnership, and it continues with the war between the land and the sea next year. But going forward,
05:01with or without Disney, Doctor Who will still be on the BBC. So just to get this out of the way
05:06right at the beginning here, because there are some people saying that, again, this is a clever word
05:10play, and that she's referring to the brand and the back catalogue of Doctor Who, as opposed to
05:15the future of Doctor Who. But why would she need to reiterate that? Of course Doctor Who is going to
05:21stay on BBC. Like, the brand of Doctor Who isn't going to leave the BBC. But I don't think that's
05:27what she's saying here. She's not saying the back catalogue's suddenly going to disappear off of the BBC.
05:31Also, I can hear a lot of people saying, this isn't news. This is not news. This is news. This is the
05:37most definitive thing that the BBC have said on this topic in quite some time. And honestly, we should
05:45know because we're the ones covering all of this news. We are monitoring this all of the time. But
05:50I can agree, it doesn't feel like news in the sense that, well, yeah, this is literally what
05:56we've all been saying the entire time. Now we have confirmation of it, which is news because we
06:02hadn't had that previously. But it's not news in the fact that we all kind of figured that out
06:07already. And obviously, this is just confirming what we already had speculated that, you know,
06:11the BBC does not want to let go of Doctor Who. Yes, it might go on a break for a year
06:16or two, but they were never going to get rid of Doctor Who, the brand, ever. It's one of
06:22their best brands that they have on the BBC. I mean, let's look at some of the statistics
06:26here. In 2023, Doctor Who is one of the top British TV exports, contributing to a 13% increase
06:34in UK distributor revenues from the US. 2024, the BBC names Doctor Who one of its key brands
06:40for the future alongside Bluey. And that was in an official audit. Also, in 2024, Stephen
06:47Moffat explained why Doctor Who is so valuable to the BBC. That's a hard word to say. Valuable.
06:55This is what he had to say, quote,
06:58Everyone talks about ratings as if they matter. I was in a position to know how much money that
07:02show generated. That's the number you want to look at. And that's why Doctor Who still
07:06gets made. It's a massive show and it's never not culturally important. Exactly, right? There
07:11is more to Doctor Who than just the ratings. There is more things to consider in terms of
07:16the brand as a wider thing. We talk about the merch, the toys. You know, that is a big thing
07:22for the BBC as well. Doctor Who is so important for so many reasons based on the stories it tells,
07:28based on so many things. And it's not just about the ratings. Especially now, in this time
07:35of streaming and all these things, money is a very big factor as well. There is so many
07:40things to consider. Doctor Who is a goldmine for the BBC, so they are not going to want
07:47to get rid of it. But I feel like I'm kind of just repeating myself here because, as I
07:51say, this is what we've been saying the whole time without confirmation. But it's nice now
07:55to have that confirmation. The question now is, when will we hear more information about
08:00its return? Will it be after the war between the land and the sea heirs? Will it be before
08:05then? And the big question on everyone's lips at the moment is, will it be with Disney or
08:10will it be with somebody else? Or will it not be with a partner at all?
08:14Now what's quite interesting is that this statement says, with or without Disney. Would they really
08:20say that if negotiations with Disney were still happening? It feels like an odd statement
08:25to make if they were still in the midst of making plans with Disney. This, to me, seems
08:31like that decision has been made. Whether it's with or without, we don't know. But it seems
08:35to me like those negotiations have been sorted at this point and they're just holding back
08:40on commenting. If you want my two cents on the situation, that says to me they're now looking
08:45for somebody else. But why would you say with or without Disney if those negotiations were
08:50still happening? It just feels like a weird thing to say. But again, this is a question
08:54that we've been asking many, many times. Everyone wants to know where is it going to
08:59end up? We do have a video out on the channel, The Future of Doctor Who, where we break down
09:03all the various streamers and the likelihood of those being the choices that are made and
09:08why we think they would be a good fit or not. So do go and check that out. I don't want
09:12to just repeat myself by talking about all the various streaming options again. But it is
09:17obviously a conversation that we have had on the channel, many fans are having. We are getting
09:22this news, but it's kind of news but not news. As I say, this is news because it's confirmation.
09:28But it's not really telling us anything we didn't already know. And we're still waiting
09:33for that. As I say for me, with or without Disney suggests to me that that conversation
09:38is over now. Seems like a weird thing to say if they hadn't finished those negotiations.
09:41But I don't know, I'm not in the room so who knows what's happening. I do have one more
09:45quick thing to comment on about this. Oh, it's likely nothing. But when Deadline covered
09:51this news, they stated season 15 ended on an ambiguous note as Gatwa regenerated into
09:58Billy Piper's Rose Tyler. Rose Tyler? Hmm? Now this is probably just an editorial thing.
10:06They've just said that because that's who they know Billy Piper to have played. But there
10:10is a tiny, tiny, tiny, slim chance that Deadline seems to know something that nobody else does.
10:15And have they just confirmed or leaked that Billy Piper is actually playing Rose Tyler
10:20as opposed to the Doctor or any other version that we're not sure yet? I doubt it. I think
10:26this is probably just whoever wrote the article knew that Billy Piper played Rose Tyler and
10:31that's what they've said. But could you imagine if this is how we found out if someone had
10:35accidentally leaked some very vital information? I honestly still think that at this point they
10:40don't know. I still don't think they have an idea what they're doing with Billy Piper.
10:44You know. Hopefully we'll find out one day. So yeah, basically there is a lot of questions
10:50still up in the air but it's nice to have some confirmation. It's a little unsettling
10:55not knowing what the future of the show is at the moment, what the plan is for at least
10:59the next couple of years. I do actually have a video coming very soon with my pitch for what
11:05the show should look like over the next couple of years. What decisions I would make in terms
11:10of Billy Piper, in terms of showrunners, in terms of stories. So keep your eyes peeled
11:15for that. It should be a fun watch. Let me know your thoughts on this situation in the
11:20comments down below. In the meantime, I've been Ellie for Who Culture and in the words
11:24of Riversong herself. Goodbye, sweeties.
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