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Doctor Who is currently at a turning point the likes of which we haven't truly seen since 2005, which is exciting but also tinged with sadness. Big change is coming, and the show is likely going to feel the most different it's ever felt since the revival began. Here's why!
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00:00Right now, as of May 2026, it feels like we're staring down the barrel of the biggest turning
00:06point in Doctor Who for quite some time. We've had major changes in recent history, of course.
00:12The handover from Stephen Moffat to Chris Chibnall and then Chris Chibnall to Mickey
00:15Mouse brought significant differences to the show both in front of and behind the camera.
00:22And yet, despite all the change, you could also argue that things have been the same
00:26for a while now. Hello everybody, I'm Ellie for Who Culture and today we're going to talk about
00:31why Doctor Who is about to change forever.
00:44So let's go all the way back to the early 2000s. Doctor Who is a dormant yet still very popular
00:50franchise that's about to make a comeback under the guidance of acclaimed drama writer Russell
00:56T. Davis. Working alongside him not just on that first series but in subsequent series
01:01were writers like Mark Gatiss, Paul Cornell and Stephen Moffat, all of whom had some sort
01:07of Doctor Who pedigree in one way or another, be it contributing to the expanded Who-niverse,
01:13writing comedy sketches or simply just being known as a big fan of the show.
01:18Russell was also joined by composer Murray Gold, who he'd worked with previously on Queer as Folk
01:24and The Second Coming, and producers Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson, who would all go on to have
01:30significant impact on Doctor Who across the modern era. Ever since 2005, it's been this general ballpark
01:38of creatives that have been at the core of Doctor Who, literally right up to the present day.
01:44Russell is still here, Murray is still here, Julie and Phil are still here, and Stephen Moffat
01:49was just here. Billy Piper and David Tennant are also here. Even the show itself still using a 45-minute
01:56Monster of the Week format feels a bit archaic at this point, when a lot of its peers have moved
02:01on
02:01to more complex serialised narratives. Again, despite all the change we've seen over the last 21 years,
02:08Doctor Who has sort of stayed the same. I think a perfect example to compare this to would be Star
02:14Trek.
02:14If you look at how Star Trek used to be in the 60s, in the 90s and in the early
02:202000s,
02:21it still followed that same structure that Doctor Who is following still. 45-minute episodes,
02:27Monster of the Week episodes, very episodic. Not a lot of crossover across its stories. And that
02:33absolutely did work. But where Doctor Who hasn't, Star Trek has then moved into the more serialised
02:41format. Some of those shows, it really, really worked for. Others, they've attempted to kind of
02:46create a combination of both. Strange New Worlds is a perfect example of where they're trying to stick
02:51to that episodic formula, but also introducing elements of that serialised storytelling as well.
02:57And for me, I would actually say that that's probably the best structure of all of the more
03:02modern Star Trek shows. And it is something that I feel Doctor Who could embrace more in the future.
03:09Trying to find a good balance of having an episodic of sorts structure and making sure we do have
03:15Monsters of the Week and aren't sticking to the same monster across all of the episodes. But also
03:20finding a way to have more of a through line. And it is something we have seen explored in Doctor
03:25Who,
03:25but not necessarily as much as we need to, to kind of embrace the modern landscape of television
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04:40are saying. What about the Moffat era? What about the Chibnall era and the Disney era? Those are all
04:45big changes too. And on the surface, it does seem that way. If you really think about it, they actually
04:50weren't that different at all. The handover from Russell T. Davis to Moffat brought a fresh,
04:55enchanting vibe to the show and a new lead cast, but it was very much a continuation. Storylines
05:01like River Song, the best character, and things like The Time War helped maintain a sense of rhythm
05:07with what had come before. And behind the camera, it was a similar story as well. Moffat, of course,
05:12having penned some of the most acclaimed episodes already in the Russell T. Davis era,
05:16and Murray Gold continuing his brilliant work into the Moffat era as well. And there was even a brief
05:22period where David Tennant was going to stick around for one more series under Moffat, demonstrating how
05:29close-knit everything was at that time. The Chibnall era brought with it probably the biggest change in
05:34the show since 2005, with a vastly new creative team and a completely different direction for the
05:40Doctor. But with Chibnall himself being raised in the house that RTD built, having written Doctor
05:46Who episodes like 42 and The Power of Three, and contributing significantly to Torchwood,
05:52that DNA still remained. Particularly as the era progressed. You know, it started off with
05:56we're not going to be bringing back any known monsters, we're going to be doing new things,
06:01but then it kind of got to all the Gallifrey being destroyed again, Captain Jack Harkness returned,
06:06and so did the Bronze Daleks. And then we have the Disney era. It was billed as a seismic change
06:12for Doctor Who in just about every way. But really? It was basically 2005 Volume 2. Hey,
06:18look, I'm not complaining about that. It was absolutely great to see all of my childhood
06:22favourites come back to our screens. Whether that was David Tennant, whether that was Catherine Tate,
06:27or whether that was Murray Gold, or even Russell T. Davis himself. But all of this undeniably
06:31contributed to the feeling that there's been a bit of stagnation around Doctor Who for a while now,
06:36with the show seemingly stuck in the past. Old storylines, old characters, old villains
06:42were aplenty. And that tried and true Monster of the Week format, with hints at a wider arc,
06:47had never felt more tired than in the Disney era. You could not have picked a more perfect,
06:53lingering note for an era that many have accused of being unable to move on from the glory of those
06:58early revival years than the face who set that glory in motion. Now don't get me wrong,
07:03maintaining all these familiarities has made the show feel safe. And it's probably a really big
07:09reason why Doctor Who has become this comfort show for many of us who really don't deal well
07:15with major changes in our lives. On the other hand, if the creative well becomes dry, even that
07:21familiarity just becomes less comforting, and more predictable and unsatisfying. Especially
07:27when it feels like the safety of what's familiar and nostalgic has almost been twisted into a form
07:34of lazy storytelling, as opposed to being a genuine desire to provide comfort to the audience.
07:53And this brings me to the now. Why I think this will be the biggest change Doctor Who has seen
07:59in
07:59over 20 years. Assuming things pan out how we all expect them to, that is. Now for one thing,
08:05it's widely expected that the upcoming Christmas special will see Russell T. Davis' departure from
08:11the show. Now you can imagine the Christmas special wrapping everything up from the last few years,
08:15and then leaving a clean slate for whoever comes next. So if Russell does leave, I can see Murray
08:21Gold probably following suit as well, and even potentially Bad Wolf Studios, along with producers
08:26Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter. Now whether you enjoyed the Disney era or not, nobody can argue
08:32that it clearly hasn't gone as well as everybody expected it to, and that falls at the feet of the
08:38people who made it. So it does feel a little bit like there's a thank you but goodbye moment going
08:43on
08:44behind the scenes right now, with the BBC ushering the previous era out of the door and taking its time
08:50to decide what will come next. Big change has to be stirring. How else do you explain such a long
08:57period of deafening silence? We have heard absolutely nothing. Anything you've heard is a
09:04rumour. Speculation. Doesn't matter how many times you've heard it, there is no concrete information
09:09about the future of the show. The last we heard was a Christmas special. Almost a year of silence.
09:17Basically, Doctor Who looks set to lose all of its ties to the 2005 revival for the first time
09:23since that revival began. Without Russell T. Davis, without Murray Gold, without Stephen Moffat,
09:29without Chris Chibnall, and without all their adjacent creatives who've jumped in and out of
09:33the show for the last 21 years, Doctor Who will be the most different it has ever been since 2005.
09:41Now there are rumours of Jack Thorne taking the reins as showrunner, which does feel like
09:45just as bold a swing as getting Russell T. Davis in the early 2000s was. Now whether that happens or
09:50not,
09:50it's not going to be a case of Russell T. Davis handing the baton back to one of his mates.
09:56It's going to be someone completely new with a completely new vision for the show. You can picture
10:01whoever comes in ditching that 45 minute episodic format and going for full serialisation. And there
10:07are even murmurs of three 90 minute specials a year akin to Sherlock, which would certainly be
10:13interesting, although I'm not sure if that's the route I would like the show to go down. But even away
10:17from the creative side, the current turmoil over getting big budget television funded actually
10:23dictates that Doctor Who will need to adapt in the future, which is surely one of the reasons why
10:29it's taking the BBC so long to decide what comes next. It's sad in a way because 2027 onwards will
10:36likely be the first time since I and probably many of you started watching the show that it won't have
10:43that sense of familiarity. No familiar Murray Gold music, no returning characters or storylines,
10:49no Moffat or Russell T. Davis episodes to look forward to. Look, I've got nothing but respect
10:54for everyone who's made the modern era of the show what it is. And without Russell T. Davis and
10:58Steven Moffat in particular, I mean, Who culture literally wouldn't exist. I would not be sat here
11:03today. My childhood would be entirely different without these creatives. But at the same time,
11:10I am excited and ready for something massively different. And now that I've said all that,
11:17cue the announcement that Steven Moffat will be returning a showrunner.
11:20Look, it does feel like it's time for some changes. As I say, Star Trek is the prime example
11:27to compare to. They made changes when they brought the show back with Star Trek Discovery. They opted for
11:33something a little bit more serialised. They opted for different ways of storytelling that just showed
11:40the evolution of storytelling in television in the years since the previous Star Trek series had aired.
11:47And although Doctor Who is slightly different in terms of its budget, in terms of its audience,
11:53it also has to follow the same formula and format of all of its competitors on television,
11:59otherwise it's going to get left behind. Now that's not to say that I want it to become this
12:04big budget programme. In fact, that's completely the opposite of what I want. I don't want things
12:08to change in terms of the kind of foundations of what Doctor Who is. But if it wants to survive
12:14in the current climate of television, it has to adapt. An experiment at the very least of trying
12:20to approach something more serialised would be definitely a good move. Obviously they did approach
12:26that with Flux. But Flux came at a very odd time, which had other things playing against it. And it
12:31would be interesting to see if they tried to approach that way of storytelling again, if it would have
12:36the same results as Flux, or whether it actually would perform pretty well. Don't get me wrong,
12:42I still want to see multiple aliens in multiple episodes. I don't want to completely eradicate the
12:47monster of the week formula. Not at all. I love that. It's nice that you can just come in one
12:51week and
12:52not necessarily need to have seen all of the previous episodes. But we know from what we saw
12:57in the previous two seasons, that with a reduced episode count, you have to reconfigure your way
13:04of looking at how you're telling the stories. Because eight episodes was just not enough time
13:09to cram in all the things they were trying to cram in. And that's not going to change. Unfortunately,
13:15we're not going to go back to having series that are 14 episodes long. It's just not the way television
13:21works anymore. So there has to be some sort of change. How do we tell the stories in a way
13:27that
13:27feels satisfying when we don't have as many episodes to tell the story? Maybe we need to simplify things,
13:33cut things back a little bit, not try to tell five great major stories all at once and not have
13:39enough
13:39time to flesh it out. Big changes are needed. I sense big changes are coming and I'm hoping that sooner
13:46rather than later, we will hear about some of these changes and then we can get excited about them.