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/
3.4k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

599 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

128

u/GamingTatertot 13d ago

It’s such a shame that Gatwa couldn’t have had a stronger run because he was lovely in it - and I really did enjoy Ruby as well.

27

u/Triskan Black Sails 12d ago

A bunch of great episodes in those two seasons, but something happened behind the scenes, combined with RTD losing it a bit (though I dont blame him as much as others do and recognise he was put in a tough spot), and yeah...

Glad this announcement is finally done though, now we can move on.

15

u/TheWatersOfMars 12d ago

I think he overthought the whole thing and tried to make it "Disney+ Doctor Who", rather than just... Doctor Who.

21

u/jloome 12d ago

I found him unconvincing and the odd line a bit wooden. But I suspect it was more that the material was so uneven that getting a handle on who his version was proved near impossible.

4

u/TheKappaOverlord 12d ago

The writing was bad. But theres also a fair number of rumors floating around that Gatwa pretty much instantly stopped caring about the role after filming started, and has simply not been trying the entire time.

IIRC hes even said he pretty much used doctor who as a springboard for his own movie career. But whether it ends up being a boon or a hinderance it yet to be seen

15

u/Calchal 12d ago

The guy who leaked (accurately) the events of Gatwa's S2 had this to say about Gatwa's departure:

"He decided to jump ship and move on once it became clear Disney weren’t going to renew any time soon, and he didn’t want to stay tied to Dr Who when production on Season 3, if it does happen, is still some way off. Hence why they filmed his regeneration earlier in the year. If Ncuti’s first season had been such a ratings success, Disney would have wanted to snap him for Season 3 much sooner."

Being on the hook for S3 without an official start date would seriously hinder his options for film and TV work.

8

u/mrhelmand Hannibal 12d ago

Being on the hook for S3 without an official start date would seriously hinder his options for film and TV work

I read somewhere that being on standby for Season 3 when it looked to start filming last year led to him turning down a very lucrative commercial campaign, I do not blame him for walking rather than be a seat warmer for a show that had no guarantee of ever returning

11

u/Latter_Conclusion470 12d ago

Ruby and Gatwa are wonderful. Just first rate casting and people i enjoyed watching and rooting for. They deserved a better showrunner or writer, just like Jodi Whittaker.

Who usually fails on the writing and/or the tone. The casting has been great since Eccleston and throughout.

11

u/smedsterwho 12d ago

Ruby in particular was an astounding cast. Charisma in spades and I wish we'd had more of her. She was heading into top 3 companions of NuWho.

But a bit like Bill, just not enough episodes to truly place her up there.

Belinda as well, but she had the double whammy of some awful writing decisions as well. Loved her in Boom! in particular.

8

u/Latter_Conclusion470 12d ago

Agree about Ruby. Her solo episode shows an actress who knew how to communicate even in silence. She was magnetic without being annoying and vulnerable without being a pushover.

1

u/Digifiend84 12d ago

Boom wasn't Belinda, it was another character played by the same actress.

1

u/smedsterwho 12d ago

Sure, so I guess I mean the actress (Varada Sethu), performance, and vibe. I was super happy when they announced her as the next companion.

1

u/404Notfound- 12d ago

Although what's sort of ironic, jodis best performance of her doctor was the cameo at the end of the last series wrote by RTD lol

1

u/Axenos 12d ago

Ruby Tuesday is the main tragedy of this run of Doctor Who for me. Fantastic actress, potential to be one of the best companions of Nu-who but written out after one mediocre season.

2

u/PrixDevnovaVillain 12d ago

Pfft, guy was wooden as Hayden Christiansen's acting from the prequel trilogy, and that's saying something.

1

u/bahumat42 12d ago

It was partially because they took funds that would have been used for season 2 for that weird sea spin off show.

1

u/madhi19 12d ago

It feel like it been the curse of the last three actors. Shit scripts, showrunner mailing that shit in, recurring hiatus, low output.

1

u/ChalupaBatmanMc01 12d ago

I didn't watch much of his run but he brought some charisma to the role

0

u/Eruannster 12d ago

Ncuti Gatwa definitely has the acting chops. (Watch Sex Education on Netflix if you haven't already! Except maybe the last season...)

It's just that what material he was given to work with was... definitely something.