Will Doctor Who be returning to our screens at Christmas? That’s a good question. We don’t yet have an answer, but things are happening… The silence surrounding Doctor Who at the moment is notably deafening, just over a year since we saw Ncuti Gatwa depart the role, and the Disney+ money go away. The cliffhanger ... Doctor Who | Russell T Davies addresses rumours of 2026 no-show
Will Doctor Who be returning to our screens at Christmas? That’s a good question. We don’t yet have an answer, but things are happening…
The silence surrounding Doctor Who at the moment is notably deafening, just over a year since we saw Ncuti Gatwa depart the role, and the Disney+ money go away.
The cliffhanger at the end of the episode The Reality War saw Billie Piper return to the show, and it’s widely expected that’s on a very temporary basis. It’s also been reported that said ending was a hasty bit of reworking when it became clear that Gatwa wanted away from the show.
Bottom line: a BBC-funded Christmas special was promised for the end of this year, while the corporation hunted for a Disney+ chequebook replacement to take things forward.
Just as I took a week away though, in came a report suggesting that plans might just be changing. That the BBC was apparently struggling to find someone willing to take on the role of the Time Lord, and that a Christmas special was now a no-go. Given that it’s June and there’s been no sign of filming getting underway, it’d be a hell of a tight turnaround to get one made now. Not impossible, just very difficult.
Russell T Davies, who’s overseeing the Christmas special, has been promoting his new drama Tip Toe, and he’s also addressed the Doctor Who rumours.
Chatting to Radio 2 on its Breakfast Show, he said that an announcement has been written and is on the way. “There’s a press release lumbering through the BBC, which, as you know, is like the Jurassic period. 57 people have to sign off on every single word. So I promise you in about a week or two weeks, there will be some sort of press release.”
Which isn’t exactly putting out the flames. Ideally, said press release will tell us when the show is back, and announce that the BBC has found a new funding partner for Doctor Who. Against that, the rumour mill is deathly quiet on both counts.
Inevitably, this is one of those ‘more as we hear it’ moments. But it does appear that, for the minute, the Doctor Who mini-limbo continues.
