(Note: this essay is part of a series.)
As early as January 2025, it was claimed by people “in the know” that Disney would not be renewing the deal. Shortly after Season 2 aired, it was openly stated by a news website. Though FilmStories based this on nothing more than rumours, from this point it was considered an open secret: Disney were out of the picture and the BBC were seeking a new “global streaming [funding] partner”. But why would any get involved after seeing how badly it went for Disney? The other question was whether, and how, the BBC would get rid of Russell T Davies. Did they realise how much he was to blame for Disney backing out?
They had only to listen to their own employees, who by now were going off-script. Dead Ringers did a parody of RTD2, mocking it on multiple grounds: the obsessive wokery, overbearing gayness, annoying lead actor, mawkish sentimentality and incoherent plotting.
While the BBC might have been unsure how much to blame Davies, fans were unsure how much to blame Disney. After all, that corporation had destroyed many franchises by 2023, so why would they be any better with Doctor Who, especially when they held the purse strings? But according to Davies, Disney never complained about his choices. He told Men’s Health magazine in 2024:
I want to think about where we are in the world and what’s happening to the world. It’s very important to bring that to it. But I do that automatically, I don’t have to put much thought into it… and I feel very trusted by the BBC and Disney+ to let my voice be heard. They don’t stop me, nothing’s ever censored or challenged, it’s a very fruitful relationship.
However, on the 14th of June 2025, a post was made on Reddit purporting to be an insider’s account from someone connected to the Disney side. I find this account credible because it rings true, accords with what we know about Davies’ personality, makes sense given the documented facts, and also for the simple reason that it is well-written. It was very soon deleted from Reddit, which is a shame because, if true, it is the only insight we have into what went on.
early in the production process Disney executives were quick to stress that they did not seek to creatively interfere with the show. There was, from the outset, deep respect for the BBC and Doctor Who as a brand, and genuine admiration for Russell T Davies, whose return as showrunner was viewed as a major win. The intention was never to impose a Marvel-style formula or Americanize the property, but rather to support its global growth and long-term viability in a modern streaming environment.
So Disney did not pressure Davies to “Marvelise” or “Americanise” the show. That awful shallowness which marred and cheapened RTD2, presenting British culture as a gaudy, gay caricature… came from Davies himself!
Disney understood that Doctor Who thrived on its Britishness, and since they were American they felt they should leave it to the Brits to “do their thing”. Just like the BBC, they trusted Davies and were happy to give him the money and leave all the decisions to him.
But they did give some practical advice:
Disney also brought with it a clear understanding of what factually performs well in the streaming age for the audience that Doctor Who seems to be appealing most to: sharper and sophisticated narratives and dialogue, stronger serialized (not necessarily completely) storytelling, complex character [arcs], stronger hooks, tighter pacing, and concepts designed with subscriber behavior in mind.
Frankly, this is exactly what worked in classic Doctor Who, in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a faster pace and a narrative sophistication, a depth, that was not expected back then and only emerged in the classic show in its final years (1988-89). Had Davies taken that as his model, he might have found himself very much aligned, even if coincidentally, with what Disney wanted. But instead, he favoured the format he had pioneered in 2005: self-contained fifty-minute stories, but with a new fluffiness and shallowness that even he hadn’t subjected viewers to in 2005. The show had always been made for children of all ages, whereas RTD2 seemed aimed at five year-olds. (Grotesquely, this iteration of Doctor Who was the most childish but, in terms of LGBT content, the most adult.)
[Disney’s] insights were grounded in extensive audience research and cross-platform analytics, all of which Disney simply provided in support rather than to enforce.
Again, Disney (like the BBC) were trusting Davies. What neither party knew was that Davies had lost all inhibition and sense of proportion. This became apparent once they began seeing footage:
While Disney+ teams regularly shared data-backed feedback (including from test screenings) and actionable insights into contemporary audience preferences, RTD reportedly remained confident in his creative instincts, favoring a traditional strong episodic structure that prioritized a fun tone and thematic continuity over edgier more sophisticated storytelling with more serialized cliffhangers or bingeable arcs.
Again, this is what classic Who used to provide, but Davies was stuck in the format of his 2000s heyday, and in his new, infantile “fun tone”. Unfortunately, Bad Wolf and the BBC backed him up:
Creative leadership within the BBC and Bad Wolf appeared at times resistant to these discussions, and internal Disney sources noted repeated instances where critical audience feedback was met with pushback or misunderstood entirely.
By 2024 Disney were backing away from overbearing wokery, but what really bothered them about RTD2 was the shallowness, the “fun tone”:
During test screenings, the show’s tone - while in keeping with Doctor Who’s family-friendly legacy - was described internally as “isolating” to viewers in the late teens to millennials age groups feeling that the show was meant for much younger audiences than they originally believed, something which wasn’t just picked up in the more light-hearted episodes, but also the somewhat darker episodes such as Boom and Dot and Bubble due to quality concerns, particularly in regards to dialogue, characterisation, and forced emotional beats
If this is all true (and I believe it is) then the summary is: once Disney began seeing footage, they tried to reason with Davies about his awful writing but found him implacable and, furthermore, insulated by two layers of devotees: his friends at Bad Wolf, and his bosses at the BBC. There was no way to get through to him. Disney could try “talking tough”, but they had already sent the money.
The “insider’s account” also sheds new light on Davies’ various claims that Disney never “challenged” him. They did. He just refused to listen. As a result:
Disney [became] aware early on that this was not going to be a show that aligned with what modern global audiences or Disney+ expect
In short, Davies was insisting on writing for morons, and there weren’t enough of them around - even in the age of Marvel.
Around the same time (11th June 2025) there was another purported leak. It concerned the BBC’s then-current struggles with the show, after Season 2. Again, it could be fake, but I find it credible.
the BBC is currently in advanced talks with a potential new partner following the collapse of the Disney+ deal.
I find it plausible that the BBC were seeking a new streamer (funder) to replace Disney because, as outlined before, that is the only way to get the huge budget they were convinced Doctor Who needs.
This new partner is said to be on a similar scale to Disney, but… is pushing for greater creative control than Disney had… believing that in order for success, the show needs to “take itself more seriously” and shift its focus toward an older teenage audience...
However, Russell T Davies is said to strongly believe that the show’s fun, campy, family friendly tone … is the key to its success.
His “strong belief” defied not just Disney’s advice but Doctor Who’s sixty-year history. Did these American streaming corporations understand the show better than he did? No! He was just intent on changing it to what he wanted it to be - light, fluffy and shallow.
The potential partner is reportedly already offering a mix of fresh and seasoned creatives… and are enthusiastic about the potential deal and eager to get involved in the show in any way they can, whilst ensuring that the show remains [retains] its British identity and core values. However, RTD remains extremely cautious and apprehensive, as he is known… for being HIGHLY selective and protective about who he collaborates with and allows to write for the show...
At this stage, both the BBC and Bad Wolf are reportedly backing RTD’s vision (who is looking to stay on for at least 3 more seasons), but they’re also aware of the financial challenges of continuing the show without a major partner.
Two things are astonishing here:
that Davies still hadn’t realised the error of his ways
that the BBC were still tolerating him
RTD2 had failed because he insisted on wokery and shallowness, an insistence he was allegedly maintaining even now, with an IP wrecked, a fanbase forlorn, a fortune squandered, his own reputation destroyed, Disney exited, and the BBC struggling to find a new partner to keep the show going.
As for the BBC not firing him… It should have been obvious to them that, even if he still had talent, he was a deeply arrogant man who refused to recognise the damage he had done, and was intent on maintaining that approach, destroying a valuable IP.
The BBC’s chance with a massive new streaming partner seems to have fallen through - from the sounds of things, because they were insisting on retaining Davies.
Everyone else could see that he was kryptonite. Perhaps the BBC could as well, but felt they had nobody to take his place so simply had to stick with him, even now.
If all of this is correct, then Davies, having brought the show to an unprecedented low and driven Disney away, was now sabotaging the BBC’s attempts to secure a future for Doctor Who. If he couldn’t be showrunner, and if he couldn’t control who would replace him, then he would be the last showrunner.
Signing off from the “producer’s column” in the official magazine in June 2025, Davies said:
No, not the end, don’t be mad. Doctor Who will never end! There are pathways leading to potential futures… But we don’t know what’s happening yet, and while everyone works that out, I’ll take a pause on this page… Hopefully, we’ll have some news soon
Just a few weeks later, pessimistic comments were posted on Reddit by yet another insider. From his discussions with industry people, he expected it would be “five or six years” before any new Who appeared, meaning the RTD2 era was decisively over.
Even now, Davies was unrepentant about the wokery, saying in interview:
It’s 2025. And you also have to look at what the others are doing. I find a lot of the other science-fiction franchises are very straight, very masculine, very testosterone-y. And so that’s our space, that’s where Doctor Who can fill a space.
He also said that, while funders always have “conditions” and “things to say”, he enjoyed total free rein on Doctor Who, “because I’m very responsible”.
By late summer 2025, Davies was overseeing production of his next TV series, Tip Toe, about a gay man being murdered by a White homophobic father. As ever, the existential threat to gays was on his mind. He said to Big Issue:
But now things are rapidly and urgently getting worse. What happens in America always happens here - and as we look down the barrel of a Reform government, we, the gay community, queer community, should be revolting in terror and anger and action.
Davies won a prestigious award for “outstanding achievement in family programming”. Not even a month later, another award: BAFTA Cymru’s “outstanding contribution to television”.
Yet, for all these accolades, Davies felt persecuted. Accepting his latest BAFTA, he ranted about censorship and oppression. He specifically mentioned people in America being fired and sued for mocking Charlie Kirk’s murder. How is it “oppression” to get fired for celebrating, simply because you dislike his politics, the murder of an innocent man? Has Davies ever cared about people getting fired for holding right-wing views? Of course not. He wrote the media, and continues to write the media, that “justifies” such firings.
In his rant, Davies also mocked the TV industry’s demand that writing should be “balanced”. Given rumours that he had just been fired as showrunner of Doctor Who, it is possible that his new-found frustration with industry “compliance” stemmed from this demotion. It is certainly a stark contrast to his attitude in recent years, saying that nobody had ever told him what he could and couldn’t write.
Former Who writer Robert Shearman broke consensus by saying that the show was “as dead as we’ve ever known it”. Confronted with these words, Bad Wolf boss Jane Tranter hit back deludedly. On the same day it was revealed that her company had commissioned a portrait of their darling Russell T Davies:
Finally, in late October, the BBC admitted that the Disney deal was over. However, they also announced that, while there wouldn’t be a Christmas special in 2025, there would be one in 2026. It would be written by none other than Russell T Davies. Plans for the show’s future beyond that would be announced in “due course”.
The announcement’s wording, that Davies had “agreed” to write the special, could only mean that he was no longer showrunner. Presumably, then, the special would be his final contribution to Doctor Who, and the BBC were letting him do it only to tidy up the mess created by his stunt cliffhanger ending to The Reality War. It would be unfair, after all, to leave that for some new showrunner to deal with.
In November, Davies said of the special:
I know exactly what happens in it, don't worry about that.
However, he added that he wasn’t writing it yet, because he was busy promoting the spin-off and making Tiptoe. Nonetheless, he did find time to take his young boyfriend, Oliver Cole, to the TARDIS set at Bad Wolf Studios and film him playing the Doctor.
Then, regarding the future, he teased fans:
He also assured BBC Newsbeat that his ideas for the special left BBC bosses “with jaws agape, loving it”.
A few weeks later, Christmas 2025 passed without a Doctor Who festive special, for the first time since 2004.
As 2026 began, everyone knew this would be the year RTD2 died. The assumption was it would happen on Christmas Day at the end titles of the special.
There wasn’t much news about it. On the 10th of February, Deadline interviewed BBC executive Zia Bennett, who said:
We’re… all motivated to make sure Doctor Who has a long and flourishing life… We’ve got the Christmas special coming.
In late February, composer Murray Gold revealed the script was being kept flexible:
I know that Russell’s written, I think, multiple versions depending on certain outcomes. So that’s all I really know, and I’m not sure [that] I’m even supposed to know that.
As for what those different “outcomes” might be, that was probably to do with uncertainties in casting. Given that this special might be the last Doctor Who episode for quite some time, would previous Doctors appear? How many? And what about the Billie Piper problem? Would she play the role throughout, with the regeneration completing at the end of the episode and an entirely new actor taking over for the long term?
Then the Sun newspaper claimed the BBC were struggling to find an actor who was prepared to take on the “poisoned chalice” role. It’s worth bearing in mind that, until 2018, this was one of the most coveted roles in British television.
By now (March) people were starting to wonder how long the filming could be delayed, given post-production and a deadline of December. Rumours abounded. They were waiting for Billie Piper to become available… They were waiting for David Tennant… They were negotiating to feature the Daleks… It would be a simple storyline, it would be complex… It would be low-key to end with dignity, it would be a blockbuster to end with a bang…
Davies took some time out to attend an industry event in France, where he declared the young today “have all been radicalised into bastards”. He railed against social media, especially Twitter which he called a “hate site” and not representative of fan opinion.
In April, Davies wrote in the official magazine:
Wouldn’t it be great if we got to this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special and nothing had been spoiled and everything was new?
In late May, echoing its claim from March, the Sun reported that production of the special was delayed because no actor was willing to take on the role “partly because it now feels like a role that comes with all the baggage of the most recent series”. Furthermore, they claimed the special might have to be entirely scrapped. These claims were repeated by the Radio Times, usually a loyal BBC mouthpiece.
On the 1st of June, Davies said a big announcement from the BBC was imminent. He sounded as happy and blasé as ever.
RTD2 was officially axed on the 10th of June, 2026.
The BBC published their big announcement. While very diplomatic in its wording, it made clear that Davies was no longer showrunner and Bad Wolf was gone as production company. With Disney and Gatwa having, of course, left long before, these departures completed the demolition of RTD2.
Also, the 2026 Christmas special was cancelled. Instead, Doctor Who would be put out to “competitive tender” to production companies to make full seasons. This means that, if the BBC had indeed spent the last twelve months seeking a new co-financing deal with US streamers, nothing had come of it. So now Doctor Who will be confined once more to a British budget.
On the cancellation of the special, a BBC insider was quoted:
The Christmas special was ordered in good faith but sometimes things change and new decisions need to be made
However, Davies claimed it had never been commissioned at all, and was only ever a ploy:
we only cooked that up to guarantee a future [for the show] when no one knew what would happen, but now we do know, there’s no need for it… there was no script, I never wrote it
I think this is a pack of lies. First, it contradicts many previous statements from him, one from Murray Gold, and several official ones from the BBC as well as the quoted BBC insider. Second, I don’t believe the BBC would be so unprofessional as to make a commitment they knew in advance they were going to renege upon; that would only reflect badly on them as a company. Third, the claim doesn’t even make sense; promising a Christmas special doesn’t “guarantee” a future for the show beyond that special, and in fact, now that the special has been cancelled, the situation is unchanged: the BBC are looking for a deal to produce the show long-term. It doesn’t make sense that the special was only ever a red herring to guarantee that outcome. Indeed, if it were, then it would make more sense for the BBC to go ahead with a special for 2026, and for subsequent years too if necessary, until a deal is struck for the show’s long-term future. So Davies’ explanation simply doesn’t hold water.
I think he was scrambling to save face. Most likely, he was writing a script but couldn’t reach agreement on it with the BBC. By now, given his disastrous performance, they would be closely monitoring things. Rumour has it BBC executive Lindsay Salt was frustrated with his drafts.
Alternatively, fans have theorised the special was cancelled because its production would delay the show being put out to tender. This has quickly become received wisdom among fans, but I don’t think it follows at all; there is no reason why a one-off special would stymy negotiations about what follows it.
Possible reasons for cancelling the special:
Davies couldn’t find a way to resolve the absurd cliffhanger he had set up without devolving into “lore” that a general audience would find baffling and boring - not ideal for a light-hearted Christmas special
having become accustomed to a Disney budget, he refused to scale things down for a BBC budget
he pressed ahead with the fanatical wokery and the BBC couldn’t persuade him to tone it down
it was just bad writing, like all of RTD2
his continued presence meant he was able to interfere with long-term negotiations, so the BBC wanted him out of the way
Whatever the reason, the BBC eventually decided to cancel his final contribution and wash their hands of him.
In his statement, Davies also claimed that no actors had been approached to take on the role of the Doctor. This might be true, but either way it didn’t need to be said. I think he said it to, again, save face. He wanted to refute the claims that actors were staying away from the show after his vandalism of it.
It would be difficult to summarise that vandalism…
unprecedented, nauseating wokery
poor scripting
incoherent plots
tedious and out-of-place gayness
shattering the show’s sixty year-old boundaries by introducing bigeneration, repeating the Tennant Doctor and switching genre from science-fiction to fantasy
breaking the fourth wall
wrecking classic villains
wrecking the character of the Doctor himself
But for me the worst thing about RTD2 is not any of the above, but the extreme shallowness. It obnoxiously insists on having no depth or sincerity whatsoever, with all emotions seeming fake, all relationships unconvincing, every character empty, every moment pointless.
The axing of RTD2, with no other active plan for Doctor Who itself, meant that the 63 year-old show was, in all but name, cancelled, just like in 1989.
On Instagram and in a Gaydio interview, Davies did not apologise for anything. Refusing even to admit that the show was cancelled, he insisted that everyone else was wrong and just didn’t understand what “competitive tender” means. He refused to acknowledge that this was only happening because of what he had done to the show, which damage he also refused to acknowledge. Self-reflection, it seems, is for other people.
Asked on Gaydio what, with hindsight, he would do differently with RTD2, he replied:
Oh! Nothing! I love what I did.
He was given a fortune and he used it to destroy.
Russel T Davies is the Jason Arday of television.
Haven't watched these new series so I didn't know about the jokey 'fun tone.' But in Davies' first episode in 2005, the enemy aliens could control plastic. In one scene, a plastic bin 'ate' somebody, which made sense within the plot. Then, the bin belched, a puerile joke inserted by Davies - an early example of his 'fun tone.'
As for the rumour of no actor wanting to take on the role in 2025, by then Doctor Who had become perhaps the most hated show on TV, thanks to the wokery.
Any actor taking the role now should ask for the right to veto any script that is too obnoxious. But as no actor would be given this right, it's not worth the risk. Even a good actor like Peter Capaldi could not save his series due to the bad scripts. It's surprising he put up with it for three years.