But would it still have seemed relatively low?
Spoilers Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
- Start date
New year. New rumors
- The current plan is to film the 2026 Christmas Special sometime in Spring 2026.
- The working title is The Lost Doctor.
- Both Billie Piper and David Tennant are expected to reprise their roles - as well as Yasmin Finnley as Rose Noble (and a possible cameo from Ncuti)
- The draft script is currently circulating around the BBC as pre production rapidly gets underway.
- The story is described as " a big space hopping adventure with a Guardians of the Galaxy style feel, with a ww2 narrative thrown in"
- The plot reportedly follows the Fourteenth Doctor, Billie Piper’s Rose, and Rose Noble as they attempt to find the true Sixteenth Doctor, who has been kidnapped by the mysterious boss type character. The Daleks will also be featured who in the backdrop will be plotting a universe wide invasion.
- Pre production is well underway, particularly for a brand new Dalek design - "the daleks do some really interesting things in the current script which has made me extremely curious on how this new design will turn out"
- The Sixteenth Doctor will not be fully revealed (if at all depending how things go) until the end of the episode and will spend most of the story "locked within the regeneration process"
- This is apparently RTD’s final episode, so expect loose ends from seasons one and two to be tied up here.
- Going forward, the BBC reportedly wants to use this special to set a new standard for the show. Instead of eight episode seasons every year, they are hoping to follow a Sherlock style model with three to five large scale episodes released every year or so.
- The BBC is currently searching for a new showrunner for a fresh season in 2027 or 2028. Names reportedly being considered include Jack Thorne (who has apparently just written a Lord of the Flies series for the BBC which they are incredibly pleased with), Neil Cross, Miguel Sapochnik (approached, but unlikely), and Sally Wainwright. However, I have heard that RTD and Bad Wolf are strongly pushing for Pete McTighe to take over, while the BBC is less enthusiastic. The new Doctor also won’t be cast until the next showrunner is decided.
is rtd really leaving the doctor who universe or is it just word on the street
If this rumor hill is to be believed, the executive talk at the Beep surely can't be very off from the following:
"So, if I read this chart correctly, seems like the base fans of the show don't like they're getting only eight episodes per year... what are we going to do?"
"hm... makes you wonder."
"I KNOW! How about, LESS episodes per year? That would make them less unhappy, surely??"
"So, if I read this chart correctly, seems like the base fans of the show don't like they're getting only eight episodes per year... what are we going to do?"
"hm... makes you wonder."
"I KNOW! How about, LESS episodes per year? That would make them less unhappy, surely??"
Also, if RTD were really leaving, wouldn't a replacement be announced much sooner than the announcement of a 2026 Christmas special? Like, RTD was announced years before he took over, and same with Chibnall before him, and Moffat before him. It takes a long while to take over, but the "talk" before this rumor mill was that a DW series coming in 2027? Which is it?
Finally, The Lost Doctor as a title? Really?
Why Trail of the Doctor Who too on-the-nose?
Why Trail of the Doctor Who too on-the-nose?
Doctor Where?
Hmmm, we're starting rumours eh?
here's a few more..
12. To ensure funding for the episode the new Doctor will be a vaping enthusiast AKA vapist. Their new sonic screwdriver will also be a vaping device to sell to the kids. Hilarity will ensue when the Doctor can't find their sonic screwdriver/vaping device, becomes highly irritable and cruelly snaps at their companion with cutting remarks about the size of their waist after Christmas feasting.
13. The episode will be in two parts, the second part to be released on Christmas Day 2036.
here's a few more..
12. To ensure funding for the episode the new Doctor will be a vaping enthusiast AKA vapist. Their new sonic screwdriver will also be a vaping device to sell to the kids. Hilarity will ensue when the Doctor can't find their sonic screwdriver/vaping device, becomes highly irritable and cruelly snaps at their companion with cutting remarks about the size of their waist after Christmas feasting.
13. The episode will be in two parts, the second part to be released on Christmas Day 2036.
I think I'm actually the origin of that one, and posted it here a while back!
The Production Company for the special has TLD in the name and in the past Bad Wolf have used abrivations of titles as part of the names.
Where are these rumors coming from? Because I have to say, that sounds like something a fan site would come up with.
Thing is it sounds like the kind of 'everything but the kitchen sink' story RTD would put together.
I can't see a Ncuti cameo happening but I guess anything's possible.
On those show runners.
Cross. Hard no. Has he ever done anything other than Luther that was any good? I wasn't fond of either of his Who episodes and Hard Sun was awful.
Wainwright has done great stuff but I think only Renegade Nell comes close to a Who vibe. Her name has come up before. Chances of getting someone like Suranne Jones or Nicola Walker as the Doctor would be high. (And I would be very happy with either)
Thorne might be the best pic of all given his experience.
Sapochinik I know little about. Good experience but feels more a producer/director rather than a writer. But hey maybe that's what the show needs.
Re the Sherlock model, I can see how people are pissed off but if it's produced consistently is it really a bad thing? We're never going to get back to 12/13 episodes every year, it's just not going to happen.
What would people rather?
8/10 episodes every two or three years or a guaranteed three 90 minute episodes plus a Christmas special every year?
Of course if it was me I'd revert to a 30 minute episode model with 3 x 3 episode stories (same as three 90 minute films but means the show runs for 9 weeks not three)
I can't see a Ncuti cameo happening but I guess anything's possible.
On those show runners.
Cross. Hard no. Has he ever done anything other than Luther that was any good? I wasn't fond of either of his Who episodes and Hard Sun was awful.
Wainwright has done great stuff but I think only Renegade Nell comes close to a Who vibe. Her name has come up before. Chances of getting someone like Suranne Jones or Nicola Walker as the Doctor would be high. (And I would be very happy with either)
Thorne might be the best pic of all given his experience.
Sapochinik I know little about. Good experience but feels more a producer/director rather than a writer. But hey maybe that's what the show needs.
Re the Sherlock model, I can see how people are pissed off but if it's produced consistently is it really a bad thing? We're never going to get back to 12/13 episodes every year, it's just not going to happen.
What would people rather?
8/10 episodes every two or three years or a guaranteed three 90 minute episodes plus a Christmas special every year?
Of course if it was me I'd revert to a 30 minute episode model with 3 x 3 episode stories (same as three 90 minute films but means the show runs for 9 weeks not three)
Anyway, if this synopsis is even half true, it would be a trully terrible exit bow for RTD, and an even worse curtain (post-curtain?) for the Fifteenth Doctor era. If I were RTD, I'd bring back Ncuti for the Christmas special, as a Doctor whose regeneration is "failing" and keeps regenerating briefly as his past companions (goes back and forth between Rose and whoever else can cameo for a day's work) before returning always to his look as the Fifteenth, and tries to work that out as he resolves whatever Christmas episode obstacles are on his way, regenerating fully well at the end of it.
I could do without more Pete McTighe, after The War Between the Land and the Sea.
Even Luther went off the rails.
I would really be curious to see what Wainwright could do, given the range she's demonstrated over the years. I've seen a fair chunk of At Home With the Braithwaites, all of Unforgiven, Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax, Gentleman Jack, and To Walk Invisible, I'm about 80% of the way through Scott and Bailey, and Britbox has just started showing Riot Women. She gets outstanding actors and gives them really good character work, whether in cop shows or historical biographies or mildly soapy shows, and she can do suspense and humour too. Looks like Renegade Nell is on Disney so I'll add that to the watchlist.
And heck, it's been a long time since Verity Lambert.
I’ve loved everything I’ve seen by Sally Wainwright but I don’t really see her as a fit for Who. But then again, I might well have said the same about the writer of Queer As Folk.
There was some optimism not too long ago about bringing back the writer who successfully revived Doctor Who in 2005, but not everyone's convinced that worked out all that well. Maybe someone who doesn't seem like the right fit is what the show needs. Wainwright has, if anything, a broader range than Davies did in 2005, but Davies was already a well known Who fan who'd written one of the New Adventures novels back in the 1990s. I don't remember offhand any Doctor Who references in Wainwright's shows (aside from a lot of cast members who've been in it), but she did throw in Star Trek and Life on Mars references in Scott and Bailey, so she may know a bit about SF TV.
What a pile of nonsense. RTD2, bar some hiccups, has been exceptional.
If that's a response to me, it's a simple matter of fact that some people, not necessarily including myself (I like some of it), have not been impressed by RTD2, just as it's a simple matter of fact that Disney dropped the show.
It has indeed been exceptional. Very.
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