{"id":59944,"date":"2026-06-11T21:03:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T13:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=59944"},"modified":"2026-06-11T21:03:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T13:03:58","slug":"doctor-who-likely-now-off-air-for-years-report-suggests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=59944","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who Likely Now Off Air For Years, Report Suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Doctor Who is unlikely to return on-screen for up to five years, a new report has suggested.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Yesterday, the BBC stunned fans by confirming that its previously-announced Doctor Who Christmas special had been scrapped, as the rights to produce future series were now being offered to other production companies. The announcement also acknowledged the departure of veteran showrunner Russell T Davies and production studio Bad Wolf \u2014 effectively placing the show on indefinite hiatus.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Now, Deadline has reported that the breakup between the BBC, Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf was a mutual decision, based on the realization that Doctor Who &#8220;required a level of surgery that could not be masked by the sticking plaster of a festive episode.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-slideshow\"><button type=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"jsx-2228525885\"\/><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">The 25 Most Essential Doctor Who Episodes<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img alt=\"Here are - in chronological order - 25 essential Doctor Who stories!\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3381835873 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\" style=\"mask:url(https:\/\/kraken.ignimgs.com\/_next\/static\/media\/RightChevron.272be43c.svg?cors=1) no-repeat center center \/ contain;background:currentColor\"\/><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/output><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Many fans had assumed the Christmas episode would have been Davies&#8217; swansong, with the one-off special announced simply to wrap up his remaining plot threads \u2014 such as the unexplained reappearance of Billie Piper, whose role may now never be established. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Whether she was playing the Doctor or not, though, the episode would likely have been expected to establish who exactly is the Doctor now, following the departure of Ncuti Gatwa&#8217;s incarnation. It may be that the answer to that question simply could not be determined in time to produce an episode this year \u2014 or that it is a question the BBC would now rather leave to the series&#8217; next showrunner.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Whatever is the case, clearly it has been decided that the show&#8217;s future will be served best by starting afresh \u2014 and this will take time, even starting sooner rather than later. Deadline reported that &#8220;2028 at the earliest&#8221; was the soonest fans could hope for, though this was &#8220;an outside bet.&#8221; Another production source suggested a hiatus of up to five years, which the series could use to take a proper break.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-video\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Speaking to several unnamed production companies involved in making UK drama, however, Deadline found hesitation about taking the show on, after concerns over recent storylines and Davies&#8217; &#8220;sledgehammer&#8221; approach to tackling topics of diversity. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">&#8220;You would have to be mad,&#8221; one source said. &#8220;[It&#8217;s a] bit of a nightmare for any producer in this market with the shadow of the Disney fallout,&#8221; said another. A third suggested the series&#8217; budget would likely be around $3 million per episode \u2014 half of the budget for the episodes Disney previously funded.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">The report tallies with comments from former Doctor Who Magazine editor Tom Spilsbury, who last year suggested it would likely be &#8220;five or six years before we see anything new,&#8221; as the series&#8217; next incarnation is determined. &#8220;At which point, it will be the children of 2005 who will be bringing the show back, just as Russell predicted. As ever, time will tell.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">That said, there seems to be no doubt that Doctor Who will eventually regenerate. While it may take years, the series&#8217; long-running nature, adaptable format and large fanbase make it feel inevitable \u2014 even if fans have to go the long way around.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Image credit: Jerod Harris\/Getty Images.<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Tom Phillips is IGN&#8217;s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky <\/em>@tomphillipseg.bsky.social<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/doctor-who-likely-now-off-air-for-years-as-report-suggests-production-companies-cautious-about-continuing-series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Doctor Who is unlikely to return on-screen for up to five years, a new report has suggested. Yesterday, the BBC stunned fans by confirming that&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[364,1352,554,10370,59],"class_list":["post-59944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-air","tag-doctor","tag-report","tag-suggests","tag-years","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}