Doctor Who is a show beloved by millions that has been through three showrunners and, in effect, been created and destroyed by Russell T Davies. But that is not the whole story.
We could spend a while over Steven Moffat taking the series to new heights before Christopher Chibnall glommed onto it and then Russell came back and, like all evil parents, said: “I brought you into this world, I will take you out of it.”
But that is also not the whole story.
Doctor Who should never have inked a deal with Disney. There is no Marvel-style multiverse cinematic event. Peter Kay is in a fat suit trapping women in paving slabs. Anthony Head is a gargoyle vampire thing. The presenter from CBBC has a yellow plastic button hanging around his neck that makes him teleport and this is all wonderful. Adding six to eight million dollars to the budget is not necessary, and never was.
It fucked it up. Constraints are not always bad things, limitations can be helpful. With a higher budget we had looser writing, magical coincidences and other bullshit like Davros no longer being in a wheelchair because it runs the risk of people unable to use their brains thinking that wheelchairs turn people evil and are going to go outside and set fire to someone with late stage muscular dystrophy because they think they're Hitler 2 or something.
(Incidently, lots of people who saw Elton and Ursula's relationship and found it almost like a affectionate look at navigating a relationship where one partner might suddenly find themselves disabled or paralysed. It's almost as if you can tell stories without having to take a hammer to the theme until it's broken. It's almost like a metaphor. It's almost like good writing, Russell. You should try doing that again sometime.)
Lots of people are blaming RTD for the death of Doctor Who but ultimately, the real killer of it was the limitations set on the show by a kitchen full of unqualified cooks who were trying to coparent. Why do I think this? When in Russell's goodbye speech does he say anything about cast or crew or thank anyone? Why is he penning a book now he's basically released from the show? (Where I'm sure he'll talk about the rewrites down to the last second, including having to change elements such as the Doctor appearing earlier so as not to confuse American viewers who might forget what they're watching and become scared and confused.)
I don't doubt that Russell was pissed off that Disney pulled out of the deal after realising that Doctor Who was not exactly as easy to take mainstream as they first planned. And now we're between a rock and a hard place. There's now a glass ceiling on the budget. The Mickey Mouse Money is gone, and the BBC notoriouly have very little money which is weird given how I pay my TV license.
Side note: Who was the last person in the TARDIS? If you guessed the 27 year old boy toy of 62 year old RTD for a promotional little shoot for his birthday, you probably need to get out more.
Lamer underscore than dave raises a good point. Why IS the BBC allowing Mr Cole to just walk on set? If I worked at a coffee shop and asked my girlfriend to chill in the area in the back, the owner would probably give me a stern talking to. But Olly can go wherever he likes? I can understand Lamer underscore than dave’s jealousy. To an extent, obviously.
People often raise the point that RTD is not to be villainised or hated and that he's just a person. Just another human being with thoughts, dreams, hopes, and a home address somewhere where I can find him.
For legal reasons, that is a joke.
I will go on to say that Russell T Davies should not have taken the reins back. He's no longer capable and competent as a Doctor Who writer. It's not his fault. The 41 year old writer in 2005 is not as well suited as the 62 year old writer in 2025. I'm not saying bad. I'm saying ill-suited. I won't take this back and I don't need to argue with you. You watched the last season. It's terrible.
The show should have gone to a science fiction writer who was much younger, able to make sharper dialogue and create compelling plots. It should have gone to me, frankly. I should be writing Doctor Who and now it's gone out to tender I will be placing a bid on it. I think I can throw my hat into the ring as showrunner at ten pounds. For a series, I couldn't do £10 per episode. I'm not made of money.
But let's talk nitty-gritty finances. The episode budget from the BBC is now likely closer to £3 million when, with Disney, the budget was closer to £6-£8 million. This may seem like a lot but each episode is it's own mini-movie. Ignoring catering, SA's, rental costs, set dressing, MUA's, props, star power, there's also copyright.
One weird quirk about Doctor Who is that thr BBC own the intellectual property for Doctor Who but they don't own Daleks (Terry Nation's estate) or Cybermen (Pedler and Davis estates) or The Brigadier (Haisman and Lincoln estates) or K9 (Baker and Martin estates) or The Autons/Nestene Consciousness/Sontarans/Morbius (Robert Holmes estate) or The Great Intelligence/The Yeti (The Haisman & Lincoln estates). For every classic Whovian monster, the TARDIS is running up the gas meter and budget. Forget that a Dalek costs 8k to 10k to produce, to even use the word Dalek you need to pay an undisclosed fee that nobody knows because of NDAs. (10k? 50k? It's unclear.) You also cannot do certain things with Daleks. The estate will yell at you if you paint a Dalek pink or cover it in flowers.
As some people on Twitter have been saying, it really isn't as simple as get on the phone to Hugh Laurie and then hire a vivacious 25 year old to try to recapture the gravitas of the role and stick a sign on the outside of the TARDIS saying “No theatre kids allowed” because:
It's not 2005 anymore.
People have this idea that Doctor Who is somehow a British staple and a breadwinner for BBC studios. In fact, if it solely broadcast in the UK, there'd be a 100% financial loss of £20 million per year. It's not even a loss leader, it is a bonafide money pit.
Doctor Who is an export product, which is why it now has to go with ABC in Australia and AMC in America. That’s where the money is. Then you have merchandise like Funko Pops and Magic the Gathering cards and action figures, audio books, deluxe blu-ray sets and advertisements.
Advertisements? But BBC iPlayer has no ads and there's no product placement?
Well, BBC Studios is leaning more into TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube. Those platforms are operated outside the UK and thus, can be fully monetised with ad revenue. Growth is up 23% this year.
There are ways out. BBC Studios should aggressively buyout the estates, claiming that they need Daleks and Cybermen and give one-time lump sum payments. It worked when Doctor Who was made with cardboard tubes and sweet wrappers. Now it's sixty years later, your family is okay, the writer has slipped this mortal coil and I don't want to give your bored teenage sons and daughters money for no reason. They should reverse writer-for-hire with minor royalties for new beasties, with secret bonuses for high critical acclaim scores. American-style writers rooms. All the out of work writers get in here, we're making Doctor Who. Basically, buyout the Boomers and help the Millenials and Gen Zs. Then we stay out of London, we don't go there under any circumstances. Grab all the good Cardiff staff. Get Steffan Powell back for more BTS, he's a national treasure and must be protected. We find the cheapest disused warehouses for the most cost-efficient VFX artists on the market. More stories in space. Find underutilised places with underrated crew like the West Midlands. Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester. Cardiff. Create hubs in each city, costed as if they were being costed as if by a man in a soviet bunker rationing tins of spam. Make it more woke but woke with a scalpel not woke with a sledgehammer. Pill in the ham, not ham in the pill. Boil the frog. Don't just drop a toad in molten lava. You don't win over anyone by lecturing them and making them feel like shit, they'll just turn off the TV. Make everyone proud of Doctor Who, keep it going until it's big enough to organically support a UNIT spinoff or a Torchwood spinoff.
Give Chibnall a contract that says so long and thanks for all the fish, your services are no longer required. You tried your best and nobody could ask for more than that. Give Russell another that says thank you and actually means it for bringing Doctor Who back. But ultimately keep both writers away from the show. Utilise more British names. Utilise the absolute plethora of British actors who are the crown jewels of this country as far as I'm concerned. Get actors talking to writers talking to set talking to costume talking to DoP's talking to crew talking to cast. I want everyone on a Doctor Who set to know everybody and be buddies. For evil reasons, obviously. People are happy to fail when it's just them, but not when it's people they care about.
Doctor Who is a show I have always loved, even when I’ve hated it. It’s that best friend you talk to a little bit harsher because you know what they’re capable of when they put the best foot forward.
It’s a wonderful show, and it simply must be saved.
Cheers.