Who's Future

I see that the BBC has now announced some big changes for "Doctor Who" - Russell Davies and Bad Wolf are out, they're putting the show out to tender, and they've cancelled the Christmas Special. That last isn't really a surprise. There was just no way to get it all filmed, through post-production, and onto TV for Christmas (at least, not this year...).

But where does that leave "Doctor Who"?

Well, nowhere good. Unfortunately, this means that the return of Russell Davies, the whole of the Disney deal, and indeed the tenures of both the last two (new) Doctors and the last two showrunners have been pretty much disasters. More or less the only good things to come from it is that we've now had our first female Doctor and our first person of colour as a permanent Doctor.

But what next?

If I were the BBC, I think I would immediately be approaching Paul McGann about possibly stepping into the role in the immediate term. If he's willing and available, I would proceed to adapt one or more of the "Big Finish" stories for TV - those are extremely well regarded, they have a script more or less ready to go, so it's something they should be able to get done at some speed. And the 8th Doctor has always been a joy to see and has always been the great "what if...", so let's do it!

If that doesn't work, I'd be inclined to approach Jo Martin about the same, and backfill the Fugitive Doctor story. I'm really not a fan of the Timeless Child stuff, but the fact is that it's canon now, and Jo Martin herself was really good in the role, so they might as well use it.

But if that doesn't work out, I think they have to accept a hiatus, potentially several years in length.

In which case, take your time, cast a whole new Doctor, and start fresh from a "some time later", and completely ignore the Billie Piper appearance - ideally, edit the end of the last episode to have the new Doctor appear in her place and pretend it has always been that way (in the same way that they inserted Ncuti Gatwa in "An Adventure in Time and Space" when they showed that most recently).

Ultimately, though, today's announcement is probably the bleakest news for "Doctor Who" since Colin Baker's firing in 1986.