BREAKING: WHO’s Christmas officially cancelled. Future uncertain…

‘It’s beginning to look a lot like… not Christmas…‘

Well, I’m not going to say that I prompted an overdue response, but less than 24 hours after the FYI opinion article ran here saying a clarification from the BBC was overdue and needed to be addressed for the sake of the show, we now finally know the official situation with Doctor Who. (I jest that I had any effect whatsoever, but let me have my delusional moment)…

But, really, it’s as I sadly pondered and circumstances were indicating… not only is there not a new Doctor, there will now not be a Doctor Who Christmas Special this year.

The BBC‘s official statement reads:

“As part of securing the next phase of the show for future generations, and in line with the BBC‘s Charter and Agreement requirements, the BBC will put Doctor Who out to competitive tender this year. Doctor Who remains an important part of the BBC and this tender underpins the BBC‘s continued commitment to Doctor Who ensuring audiences will enjoy the show for years to come.

After careful consideration, the BBC, Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf have collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor Who Christmas episode. This decision was not taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one off special, we are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory.”

That’s clearly disappointing. But circumstances change, that’s the nature of the industry.

However, Russell T. Davies is a bit more forthcoming and states that apparently the announced Special was always something of a placeholding concept that was never really addressed (which also casts doubt on his previous statement that he knew exactly what was going to happen in it) and that composer Murray Gold’s assertion that there were varied version of the script in case various people were/were not involved is also inaccurate… as Davies says, nope, he never even wrote a script. And it looks like Davies won’t be involved in the future of the show.

“And so GOODBYE from me to Doctor Who but HELLO to a big new future for the show, as the BBC announces it’s putting the show out to tender.,” he wrote on Instagram. “As a result, there won’t be a Christmas Special – we only cooked that up to guarantee a future when no one knew what would happen, but now we do know, there’s no need for it. You’ll have to wait a bit longer for new Doctor Who… but you’ll be waiting for MORE Doctor Who than a one-off. So it’s worth it! For the record: there was no script, I never wrote it, and no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor. You may disagree; fine, sit in that chair and wait to be proved right. You’ll wait a lonnng time 🪑 Now I’m as excited as anyone to see what comes next! Will they keep the theme tune? Will they lose the blue box? Will they bring back the Drahvin?! It’s all up for grabs, which is so Doctor Who, exciting and unpredictable and new! Here comes the future, vworp vworp…”

While the statement is welcome in that any statement has been made and that the industry circumstances might well have been unavoidable in the competetive and financial climate of recent years, Davies’ attempt at positive-spin will likely do little for the more passionate parts of the Doctor Who fanbase who could well feel they were misled from the beginning and that Davies and the BBC‘s announcement of the Special and a series of some sort to follow) were never really in officially in play – more an idealistic Hail Mary.

And leaving the latest run on a cliffhanger that’s now revealed as another ‘we’ll fix this in post’ type situation (one that might have to be totally ignored rather than start a whole new era resolving it)… that’s narratively a mess.

I took no joy in being worried (my piece was more about the nature of there NOT being an announced decision rather than the decision now being reached) AND I still have no doubt that Doctor Who WILL return to screens eventually… even if what returns is no longer what made it once essential viewing to me personally… and this forestalling may actually end up being the best thing to resolve what has obviously become problematic – but with 2026 out of the picture it now seems unlikely it could even be 2027. It does NOT mean the doomsayers and those actively wanting its demise were completely right or should have anything to celebrate, but nor is this a great day to be excited for the Doctor.

If it’s a bitter pill to swallow and also a statement on the state of the business,  one hopes it’ll turn out to be good medicine and surgery scheduled for the long run…