Doctor Who Producer Says Show ‘Will Change’ — but Blasts ‘Rude’ Writer Who Claimed It Was ‘As Dead as We’ve Ever Known It’

The executive producer of Doctor Who has hit back at “rude” comments from a former writer who claimed the show was now “as dead as we’ve ever known it” during its current production hiatus.

Jane Tranter, co-founder of Doctor Who production company Bad Wolf, said that the comment by Doctor Who writer was “really untrue,” though went on to suggest that fans will just have to “wait patiently to see” when the show might eventually return, and how it will “change” when it does.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales, as reported by Deadline, Tranter was asked for her response to recent comments made by Robert Shearman, who wrote classic 2005 episode Dalek and numerous Doctor Who novels.

Shearman’s comments, made earlier this month, arrived amid a time of huge uncertainty for Doctor Who in general, following a mixed response to the series’ recent era and the departure of lead actor Ncuti Gatwa, whose exit scenes were added in reshoots.

Specifically, Shearman had been commenting on the shock return of former Doctor Who actress Billie Piper in the closing seconds of the series’ most recent finale, a last-minute addition by Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies. Piper’s unexplained appearance — presented on-screen as a new incarnation of the Doctor, though deliberately left ambiguous — has placed the franchise in narrative limbo, Shearman suggested, until a time it is explained.

“That’s really rude, actually. And really untrue,” Tranter said, responding to Shearman’s suggestion. “The plans for Doctor Who are really simply this: the BBC and BBC Studios had a partnership with Disney+ for 26 episodes. We are currently 21 episodes down into that 26-episode run. We have got another five episodes of [spin-off] The War Between The Land And The Sea to come.

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“At some point after that, decisions will be made together with all of us about what the future of Doctor Who entails,” Tranter concluded.

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It’s worth breaking down what Tranter has said here in a bit more detail. Fans have known for some time that Disney’s initial Doctor Who deal was for two seasons of the main show, plus its upcoming UNIT-based spin-off The War Between The Land And The Sea (which has been filmed, though is yet to be broadcast).

But the way the deal is being described seems to imply that Doctor Who would have always been left within this current period of production hiatus, which contrasts oddly with Russell T Davies’ 2023 promise of “annual Doctor Who, no gap years, lots of content, on and on and on.”

With no word on when The War Between The Land And The Sea will air, and no word on the future of Doctor Who until after that, it seems highly unlikely the show will be returning to screens in time for a fresh season next year.

Indeed, Tom Spilsbury, the former editor of the official Doctor Who Magazine has suggested the show could remain off-air for the rest of the decade if Disney ultimately decided not to renew its deal and a fresh production partner needed to be found.

“I suspect the show will indeed come back at some point, but as of right now, nothing is commissioned and nothing is guaranteed,” Spilsbury wrote back in July. “Those are the facts. Time will tell, of course, but I don’t get the sense of much optimism for anything very soon from anyone I’ve spoken to.

“Everything is moving much more slowly in television at the moment,” he continued. “On the assumption that Disney doesn’t renew before its option officially expires, that will be the point when the BBC can start to shop the show around. And that process could take a fair bit of time – it may require more than one partner just to raise the money needed.”

Months later, Tranter concluded by saying fans would need to continue to be patient for more news, as and when it materializes — though suggested “change” would be part of any new Doctor Who era.

“It’s a 60-year-old franchise,” she concluded. “It’s been going for 20 years nonstop since we brought it back in 2005 [when I worked at the BBC]. You would expect it to change, wouldn’t you? Nothing continues the same always, or it shouldn’t continue the same always. So it will change in some form or another. But the one thing we can all be really clear of is that the Doctor will be back and everyone, including me, including all of us, just has to wait patiently to see when — and who.”

Image credit: BBC.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social