- 8 minutes ago
The future of Doctor Who and Disney has FINALLY, OFFICIALLY been confirmed! Some things are as expected... and others, not so much. Here's Ellie with the latest!
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00:00Hello everybody, Ellie here for Who Culture, and we finally have some news with regards to the future of Doctor
00:07Who.
00:07So I think let's start with the one that maybe is the least surprising, the least shocking.
00:12I don't know if anybody went, really, when they saw this, which is, of course, that Disney Plus are not
00:18going ahead with another deal with Doctor Who, with the BBC.
00:22Are any of us surprised? Was anyone surprised? Really? Don't lie. No, you weren't.
00:27We've been saying this for months, it feels like, years, it feels like, you know, we've been saying this right
00:32from when season two ended, we were fairly certain that Disney were not going ahead.
00:37But we now have confirmation, Disney, after the war between the land and the sea, are done with Doctor Who.
00:43So this is the full statement from the BBC, it says,
00:59Lindsay Salt, director of drama BBC, said,
01:03We'd like to thank Disney Plus for being terrific global partners and collaborators over the past two seasons, and for
01:09the upcoming The War Between the Land and the Sea.
01:11The BBC remains fully committed to Doctor Who, which continues to be one of our most loved dramas, and we
01:16are delighted that Russell T. Davis has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas special for 2026.
01:23Okay, so first of all, Christmas special 2026.
01:27Hold that thought, because I'm going to come back to that, but let's just focus on the Disney side for
01:31just a second.
01:33Obviously, as I said, no one's really surprised by this, but it does raise a few questions.
01:38It does raise the question of where will Doctor Who be distributed internationally in the future now?
01:45This Christmas special coming next year, where will that be available for international viewers?
01:49You would imagine there's going to be another streamer, so then the question is, when are we going to find
01:54out who the next streamer will be?
01:56Because surely they are going to have to make a deal with another streamer of sorts.
02:01As much as, you know, I'm saying just go back to the BBC and Bad Wolf, in terms of international
02:07viewers, you've opened those floodgates now, and you can't now go back on that.
02:11So the question now is, where will international viewers be watching Doctor Who in the future?
02:15That's question one.
02:16Question two is, what will happen to the Disney-era episodes of Doctor Who, the 60th anniversary specials, season one
02:26and two, that are part of the Disney deal and are, at the moment, exclusively on Disney Plus in the
02:32US and around the world?
02:34The question then is, what happens to them?
02:38Do they remain on Disney?
02:40Will they be moved to whatever the next streamer is?
02:45Or, you know, will Disney still host them but have no financial input with the show?
02:51What happens there?
02:52Now, at some point, the Disney deal, the current Disney deal, will come to an end.
02:57And at that point, I guess they can remove it, sell it.
03:01I don't know the ins and outs of what's going to happen there.
03:03But there is a kind of question lingering about those three, well, two and a half seasons and what the
03:09future holds for them.
03:11Now, obviously, the BBC does have stakes in those as well.
03:14So in my mind, when the BBC looks for another streamer, and, you know, we know that deals have come
03:22to an end recently with regards to the rest of the modern era of Doctor Who.
03:27So I don't think that they haven't thought about what's going to happen with those episodes, those seasons.
03:35In my mind, they'll be moving to whatever the next streamer will be.
03:37But it is a question.
03:38It all depends, I guess, on whether things ended amicably with Disney or whether things didn't.
03:45Now, as you guys all know, I've spoken about this plenty of times.
03:47I'm not mad about Disney leaving.
03:50I don't feel that Doctor Who needed that giant Disney budget.
03:54I think from a distributor point of view, in terms of international viewers, it was a good idea.
03:59It was a good place for it to stream globally.
04:02But I think beyond that, Disney had so much control and input in the actual creation of Doctor Who,
04:08and it made it become this multi-million dollar franchise.
04:13I'm paraphrasing.
04:14I don't actually know what the money looks like.
04:15But it felt like all of a sudden there was so much money thrown at Doctor Who,
04:19and it kind of stripped away for me what the core elements of Doctor Who are.
04:23So for it to go back to just the BBC and Bad Wolf Studios, at least for the Christmas special
04:28next year,
04:29that is totally fine by me.
04:31And I think the show actually would benefit from scaling back again.
04:36So for me, Disney saying goodbye.
04:40Bye-bye.
04:40I don't really mind about that.
04:43We tried it, we saw what it could be, but I think fundamentally Doctor Who doesn't need someone like Disney.
04:50Streaming-wise, distribution-wise, it does need something, but that's a different conversation.
04:56And I hope that the BBC and the creatives of Doctor Who have learnt maybe from this experience,
05:01and when they go into making deals with other streamers,
05:04they think about exactly what it is they're agreeing to when making these deals.
05:08So, let's talk about the Christmas special.
05:11Now, just to clarify, that is not a Christmas special this year.
05:15No 2025 Christmas special.
05:182026.
05:18So, just over a year.
05:20Well, yeah, just over a year.
05:22We'll go with that.
05:22Some people might be like, it's not nearly Christmas, but come on.
05:25In the grand scheme of the year, it's nearly Christmas.
05:282026 Christmas special, written by Russell T. Davis.
05:32So, we know at least until the Christmas special next year, Russell T. Davis is sticking around.
05:38Could this be his last hurrah?
05:40Could this be his final input for RTD2 before he steps down and walks away?
05:47There's no mention of him staying beyond the Christmas special in this press release,
05:51which isn't to say that he's not going to,
05:53but it's interesting that they've highlighted that he will be here for that Christmas special,
05:57but then kind of made a point of saying they're going to continue having discussions about the future of the
06:03show beyond that.
06:04And if you think about the initial announcement of when Russell came back as showrunner,
06:09they kind of stated he'd be there for the 60th anniversary and seasons beyond, series beyond.
06:14So, it's interesting they haven't said that here.
06:17In terms of the plot for this Christmas special,
06:20the fact that it's written by Russell T. Davis, I think, is a good thing in as much as things
06:25have been set up.
06:26There are threads hanging that need to be tied off before he even thinks about walking away.
06:33So, I think, if this is the last hurrah for Russell T. Davis,
06:37then it will be good for him to tie up at least the Billy Piper situation.
06:41I think what will happen is the Christmas special will tie up Billy Piper.
06:46I think she will be in one episode, the Christmas special, and that will be it.
06:51And to be perfectly honest with you, I think that is the best way of doing it.
06:54My thoughts on this have been quite consistent throughout.
06:58You will probably be well aware of this by this point,
07:00but I kind of felt like maybe a few specials in a similar vein to the 60th anniversary for Billy
07:07Piper,
07:07whether she's the Doctor or something else, would be okay.
07:11But beyond that, I think that would be too much to go into a full series,
07:15a full season with Billy Piper as the Doctor.
07:18But a Christmas special where we can tie that all up, answer the big lingering questions,
07:22and start fresh with whatever the future then is going to be, I think would be a really good idea.
07:29Now, speaking of the next series, it has been confirmed that they are having discussions.
07:32There is going to be more Doctor Who beyond that Christmas special.
07:36We have no release window as of yet.
07:38My assumption would be probably 2027 at some point.
07:43Now that we know at least that Disney are not going ahead,
07:47obviously the question still being whether they're going to find another streamer
07:50and how much involvement that streamer is going to have.
07:52But for all intents and purposes, things can get going now.
07:56Filming can start happening.
07:57Presumably filming for this Christmas special will begin maybe beginning of next year.
08:03So once that's done, they could be in theory announcing who the next Doctor is going to be
08:08at some point next year, maybe midway through next year.
08:11My brain is saying Christmas special ties up everything that Russell T. Davis has set up,
08:16ties up Billy Piper and that mystery, ready for the next series, whatever that might be,
08:21whether it's season three, whether we're doing another reset of the numbering,
08:25let's not even go down that road at the moment.
08:27But I think that will be setting up something fresh with a new Doctor and a new vision.
08:30So at the moment, that does then look like we have quite a long wait for any more Doctor Who.
08:36No Christmas special this year, but we do still have The War Between the Land and the Sea
08:41and of course, don't forget about the CBeebies project that's coming soon.
08:45So more from this press release regarding those two shows.
08:47It said,
08:48Before next year's special, fans of the beloved series will still have much to enjoy
08:52with The War Between the Land and the Sea heading to BBC iPlayer and BBC One later this year,
08:57as well as a brand new animation series for CBeebies, which is in development.
09:02So actually, maybe we will have something around Christmas this year,
09:08because this is saying The War Between the Land and the Sea is coming this year.
09:13Now if you'll remember, a few months ago, we actually released a video
09:17because someone at the BBC had suggested that The War Between the Land and the Sea
09:21wasn't coming until 2026. But stick with me here, because I still stick by my original theory for
09:28this. I think what's going to happen is it's both are true, because I think this spin-off,
09:34The War Between the Land and the Sea, is still going to fill that festive slot.
09:38But rather than be a Christmas special, I think it's going to fold over into New Year
09:45and air across five consecutive days over New Year. So technically it will release right at the very
09:52end of this year and the very beginning of next year. That's my theory, I'm sticking with it.
09:58Part of me does feel like, now that we know there's a Christmas special coming next year,
10:02will they hold out and push The War Between the Land and the Sea further into 2026,
10:07to try and fill this gap a little bit more. But part of me also feels like it would be
10:13silly
10:13not to fill the festive gap if you can. Doctor Who at Christmas is quintessential Britishness,
10:20we've spoken about that lots before. If we don't have a Doctor Who Christmas special,
10:24if they can put the spin-off there, then I think that would be a good idea. So yeah,
10:29that's my theory. We're still going to get it technically this year and next by going over
10:33New Year. The question also with regards to The War Between the Land and the Sea, presumably this
10:38does still state, this press release does still state that obviously Disney was involved, is involved
10:44with The War Between the Land and the Sea. But there's no indication in this press release about
10:49The War Between the Land and the Sea releasing on Disney+. It specifically says on BBC iPlayer and BBC
10:54One later this year, but there's no mention of Disney there at all. Presumably this spin-off is going
11:00to be released on Disney+, because it was part of that initial Disney deal. But interesting that
11:05they haven't chosen to announce that here, which maybe lends credit to another theory that has been
11:11floating around the internet, that it's not going to release on Disney at the same time as the BBC.
11:17There was a rumour floating around that it was going to drop this year, later this year on BBC,
11:24but not until 2026 on Disney+. Now that, I don't know if that's true or not. That is pinch of
11:31salt,
11:31just a rumour I've seen floating around. But it is interesting that Disney hasn't been mentioned
11:36with regards to the release of The War Between the Land and the Sea in this particular press release.
11:40So maybe there is truth to that rumour. Who knows? And then of course, yes, we still have the
11:45CBeebies show coming as well. Now we don't really have much information about that at the moment,
11:50so there's not really much more we can say on that. We have no idea in terms of a time
11:55frame or a
11:56window for when that will be coming. We know it is currently in development, so we do know, at least
12:03from today, that it is still happening, because quite often, you know, plans are spoken about, ideas are
12:08had, and then they fall through. So it's nice to know that that is still happening as well. So it
12:14does
12:15look like we are getting back onto some sort of straight track here. We've been all over,
12:20all round on a roller coaster. Nobody's really been sure what's going on. But it's nice to know
12:25that we have some clear, a clear direction for where the show is going at the moment. As I said
12:31right at the beginning, no one's really shocked to hear that Disney aren't sticking around. But it's
12:35nice to have actual confirmation of that rather than just the countless videos of speculation we've
12:40been doing. It will be interesting to find out where we're going to go with regards to international
12:45distribution moving forwards, and what's going to happen there, whether that will involve more
12:50creative input, or whether they've learned from that, and they're going to kind of reword those
12:55contracts a little bit. And a Christmas special next year. So if nothing else, we can at least be
13:00excited knowing there is going to be a Christmas special in 2026, even if there isn't one this year,
13:06which there still might be in the form of the war between the land and the sea. But it's honestly
13:11just so nice to have some concrete things to talk about, and not just speculation after speculation.
13:16It's wonderful. We are back baby, we are heading in the right direction. Let me know your thoughts
13:22on all of this in the comments down below. What do you think the 2026 Christmas special is going to
13:29look like? Written by Russell T Davies, just a BBC and Bad Wolf Studios production. I quite honestly am
13:35very excited about that prospect. About it not having Disney dollars, about it not having this
13:41massive production to it, and hopefully seeing it go back to its roots. That's what I'm most hopeful
13:47for with this Christmas special. But let me know your thoughts in the comments down below. In the
13:52meantime, I've been Ellie for Who Culture, and in the words of Riversong herself, goodbye sweeties.
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