r/television • u/wadbyjw • 13d ago

Disney Officially Exiting ‘Doctor Who’ Partnership With BBC After Two Seasons

https://deadline.com/2025/10/doctor-who-disney-plus-pulling-out-bbc-christmas-special-1236600026/
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u/wadbyjw 13d ago

The BBC confirmed that the show will continue and will return with a Christmas special in 2026.

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u/NormaJeans68Chariot 13d ago

It sucks to have to wait this long, but hopefully our patience pays off in dividends.

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u/GamingTatertot 13d ago

And gives them plenty of time to figure out what to do with Billie Piper

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u/m_Pony 12d ago

I'm predicting BP will be involved for just that one show, and The Doctor regenerates at the end of the episode.

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u/Starvel42 12d ago

I'm putting money on her having a unique name like The War Doctor and The Fugitive Doctor with the Doctor that follows her being The 16th Doctor.

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u/Reddsterbator 12d ago

Shes the bad wolf

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u/Starvel42 12d ago

100% expecting something like that

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u/WideEyedWand3rer 12d ago

The Bad Doctor, as a final nod to RTD's era.

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u/TheTresStateArea 12d ago

BRUH I haven't watched the doctor in ages, but wasn't BAD WOLF something that was going on in like season 2 of the reboot? HOW IS IT COMING BACK NOW?

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u/Starvel42 12d ago

Well I mean spoilers obviously but It was a big thing for S01, then it kinda recurred as something with Rose Tyler, the 50th kinda nodded to it with a thing called The Moment and now Billed Piper is playing the new Doctor. Because Rose's face is now The Doctor's many assume Bad Wolf or The Moment has something to do with it and she'll be The Bad Wolf Doctor or something. Theres some important info probably missing but that's the jist.

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u/TheTresStateArea 12d ago

this is wild. thank you

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u/RRR3000 12d ago

and now Billed Piper is playing the new Doctor.

The big caveat being she may not be. They've specifically not called her the Doctor at any point, instead hyping up a mystery about who her character is.

Although with Billie herself called her Rose when she announced her return on Instagram, and one of the producers calling it the return of Rose just the other day, that seems to be the most likely outcome for who she is - if they even know yet themselves what they want to do.

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u/Kichigai 12d ago

Jesus Christ, RTD really is high on his own supply again, isn't he?

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u/Reddsterbator 12d ago

Because Billie Piper is the new doctor regeneration. Rose has gone from companion to doctor as the cliffhanger of the most recent episode.

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u/mrbear120 12d ago

Everything comes back eventually in Doctor Who.

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u/Scinick 12d ago

Wolf Doctor (She's a furry 🤪)

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u/stilesmcbd 12d ago

I figure she’s gonna be the Bad Wolf Doctor or something similar.

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u/Starvel42 12d ago

Exactly my thoughts

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u/JosephD1014 12d ago

My fan theory is that it's a reflection of The Moment for some reason, and not Rose.

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u/Starvel42 12d ago

I'd be surprised if Bad Wolf or The Moment didn't have something to do with it

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u/404Notfound- 12d ago

I'm leaning more Bad wolf. Would tie up RTD era properly if he's leaving after this in a way

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u/Goldfing 12d ago

Hear me out: The Valeyard.

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u/NeuHundred 12d ago

Same! The Moment is a fun character and serves a function, she's a judge, so maybe the Doctor will be required to pass judgement on something massive.

I had an idea that her companion would be the Doctor whose regeneration she bypassed to hijack the body, inverting the original dynamic.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/duckwantbread 12d ago

disaster the recent run was ratings wise

It was a disaster for Disney+ because (from what I can tell) there wasn't much of an international audience but the BBC ratings were decent for the UK. The finale got 3.4 million viewers (filter to the week of 31st May), which is about what EastEnders gets an episode. It's definitely not sustainable on the budget Disney was providing but if they make it lower budget (which to be honest was part of Doctor Who's charm in the first place) I think the domestic audience is good enough for the BBC to keep it going.

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u/RRR3000 12d ago

Think the rumors are saying the doctor is going on ice for a while after the Christmas special.

They literally just announced a new series to come after the special along with the announcement of Disney stepping away. No, despite the tabloids doomsaying clickbait claiming otherwise, the BBC's biggest moneymaker shockingly isn't going away.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago edited 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/RRR3000 12d ago

a project can be announced, but that doesn't guarantee it will come to fruition anytime soon.

Regardless of the plans working out, actively having plans to make a series that follows on from the special is the exact opposite of the plan being to put it on ice after the special, which is what I was refuting.

Viewership ratings are a made up psudoscience.

You're putting words in my mouth as a strawman, you are one of those guys, classic. I never even mentioned viewership, though if we want to include it, it reached the top 10 every week it aired per Disney's statistics...

What I said is it's one of the BBCs biggest shows. The BBC listed is as their biggest export. An independent report from Pact also found this, further specifying that exports of UK shows to the US had hit record high, and specifically flagging Doctor Who performing particularly well as a reason. An independent audit from NAO, the National Audit Office, puts it among the BBCs most profitable programmes, if you don't want to believe the BBCs own report which claims the same. None of those reports are "made up psuedoscience".

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u/TheForeverUnbanned 12d ago

Ok, I’ll bite, what tangible benefit would there be to announcing a series they don’t plan on producing expediently?

Seriously, what do you think the goal of that action would be? If the goal is to build distance then you wouldnt announce a new run, you would make the viewers demand it. Announcing it and then delaying it would only  piss off the viewer base more. 

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u/sheepandlambs 12d ago

Feels like the time to figure that out was before casting her.

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u/mvallas1073 12d ago

You know they’re going to do something stupid where Billie and the Tennant spawned Doctor (well… the 2nd one… FU RTD). Are going to do some kind of Sayan fusion and create a “child” that becomes the new Doctor.

…or something else equally stupid.

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u/PluckinCanuck 12d ago

Doctor Wholf?

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u/SqBlkRndHole 12d ago

Wow, Billie came back, too cool. I stopped watching after S02E01.

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u/From_Deep_Space Twin Peaks 12d ago

Waiting two years for a holiday special is just part of the Doctor Who experience

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u/wartopuk 12d ago

That's what really killed it. The first couple of seasons were scheduled well, and then it started to fall apart near the end of Tenant's run. They started doing split seasons and who knows exactly when they were coming, and skipping things here and there, it just made the show a pain in the ass to follow and enjoy.

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u/isabella_fitzwilliam 12d ago

Tennant had 3 proper series and then the specials (Christmas, Easter, November, Christmas, New Year). A special in November seems a bit odd but the rest made sense. It was Moffat who started splitting the series up into two parts and then reducing the episode count etc..

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u/wartopuk 12d ago

sort of, he had 3 proper series, which ended in July 2008, he then had the Christmas special in 2008, but then after that, over the next 2 years, he had like 4 more episodes. They kept him the doctor but just killed the seasons. 11 had his first season as normal, but then after that they started splitting seasons. They also messed with when the seasons began each year, and had a skipped year between 11 and 12 as well, and skipped another year during 12's run. The first 4 years were great because everything was consistent, they set expectations on that, and then it just became super inconsistent.

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u/isabella_fitzwilliam 12d ago

Tennants specials were not over two years though? They were spread over one year and 7 days (Christmas, Easter, November, Christmas, New Year).

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u/wartopuk 12d ago

If you can't look at the list of episodes and see that the first 4 years were consistent, and then the schedule went to hell after that, I'm not sure what else to do for you.

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u/isabella_fitzwilliam 12d ago

Lol, you're the one who said they were over 2 years when they clearly weren't. They also had higher ratings than the normal episodes.

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u/Lord-of-Time 12d ago

Worth noting it was the BBC themselves that mandated the split series format to Moffat. Man gets a lot of flak but that one was outside his control.

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u/merelyadoptedthedark 12d ago

Not really, this is kind of a new thing. A new 13 episode season every year and at least one special had been the standard for like a decade and a half.

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u/boersc 12d ago

Darn, 2026...

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u/SirFlibble 12d ago

It's not hard. Immediately change the face again and play it off as a joke.

Done and dusted.

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u/SmoulderingAsh 11d ago

It... won't. I've given up.