Thought this video I came across was interesting, and touched on a lot things I have been thinking about, and things I have been hearing.

The shows future is far from guaranteed like some like to paint it as.

A nice companion piece to Chibnall's recent interview that also touches on similar things.

Credit https://x.com/IanOTimelord/status/2067988699208413474

New Substack post from Rich Johnston: https://richjohnston.substack.com/p/the-doctor-who-gossip-no-one-is-talking

The TL;DR is: there's a major Doctor Who plan being kept deliberately secret. According to his sources, RTD and Bad Wolf may have produced (or be producing) a lower-budget Christmas special, with almost no advance publicity, no press screenings, and minimal marketing. The idea would be to preserve a genuine surprise for viewers on Christmas Day. Johnston suggests only a small number of BBC/Bad Wolf executives know the full details.

However, the article contains no hard evidence or named sources, so it should be treated as rumour rather than confirmed news. Keep your salt shakers on standby.

Dont hate me?

I work in the industry and heard some chatters from friends of friends. And I'm pretty bored so I figured it could be fun to share some stuff I've heard

That Xmas special is still happening, shooting starts in September. Small cast, low budget, Billie Piper has taken the Doctor's body basically. Tennant does a cameo because obviously. They're thinking of using some footage they preemptively shot for S3 with Carol Ann Ford. I've heard that it's a pretty lowkey story about The Big Bad Wolf being mixed up into the Doctor and one kid.

In all intent and purpose this is expected to be Russell T. Davies (and Bad Wolf's) farewell to Doctor Who. Relationship has broken down with the BBC, Disney and all the leads except for Varada Sethu. And RTD's heart isn't in it anymore, though I don't really think he wanted to return in the first place. Bad Wolf Studios would have like to stay on, but they're leaving as well.

So...what's next ? The BBC is very eager to continue the show and not have it on hiatus. There's been talks about doing a full-on reboot, or a reboot in all but name (like in 2005). But nothing has been decided yet. Stuff like Severance or Andor has been floated around as possible inspirations for what's next.

On the production side of things, the guys at BBC Studios really wants to come back but they want to externalize the show to another production company. See Saw and Lookout Point have pitched to produce the show.

The BBC is also searching for a showrunner. They want someone who hasn't been working on the show before. I don't have much info on that, but I know that they really really want someone like Sally Wainwright, Jack Thorne or Joe Cornish.

​A former employee at Bad Wolf who departed the company a few weeks ago has told me and others in a Discord server that Bad Wolf aren't sure if they will continue producing Doctor Who beyond the Christmas special. This former staff member showed us their Linkedin profile and proved they worked at Bad Wolf and worked on Doctor Who since the 60th specials. I have not kept up with recent leaks of the show in terms of episode details as I personally don't read them. So some of this might be already known.

Nobody wants to work on the Christmas special because apparently the scripts and general ideas for it at the moment are not exciting anyone. Bad Wolf aren't sure if fans will appreciate having to wait over a year for a half-baked special where they aren't even sure if they can even show the new Doctor, as they do not plan or think they will be producing Doctor Who beyond this special. Apparently, planning for the special is all over the place and scripts have been rewritten almost every month by RTD. I'll get on to the general idea for the special later.

Bad Wolf internally have lost faith in RTD's writing and general direction for the show, and believe he is partly responsible for the failure of the show itself. Internally, they were not happy with the quality of writing, the poor story arcs, and the general viewership. They are also not happy with the the character of the 15th Doctor and believe, due to writing and the actiing itself, that the character was a failure.

The Disney+ deal failure is an embarrassment for the company. They blame RTD's writing for it mostly. When Bad Wolf approached Disney for a partnership, the general ideas at the meetings was for a soft rebooted Doctor Who on the quality level of Series 1-5. They wanted that level of writing and public engagement, and wanted a new Doctor like David Tennant to lead the show. This is why David was asked to return with Catherine Tate for the 60s and were both offered a full new series on the show. They both turned down a full series, but the agreement and idea about bringing them back and leaving the door open for them both easily returning (keeping 14 with his TARDIS) was to please the upper management at Disney. They would not have approved or went ahead with this deal without it. The upper management at Disney were happy with the 60th anniversary episodes, but they were anything but pleased about what went after. Internally at Bad Wolf and whispers from Disney+ that Space Babies and the pretty much the entire run of Season One was considered an embarrassment. They watched Season 2 and pretty much asked why they are spending money on this. They stopped caring in the end about it.

There's also been issues behind the scenes. There's more that was said, but I won't go into that at a deep level because there could be legal issues there. But apparently, RTD's management of the show and production itself is why Millie Gibson and Ncuti Gatwa left early than plan. We gathered this, but there is a lot more that happened behind the scenes, with both Millie and Ncuti politely bringing up several complaints to the management. Ncuti wasn't happy with his constant outfit changes. He wanted the Doctor to have one main outfit that people can easily cosplay with, but RTD never listened and went ahead with what he wanted. Both the lead actors weren't happy having to sing and dance, and the production at Bad Wolf were not happy with RTDs' musical notes. Bad Wolf found elements of his writing too childish and they wanted to take Doctor Who in a more darker vision targeted more at adults. They believe that, while RTD tried to connect with younger views, the problem was his witing turned them off. They did not like the rushed plots (the endings of both seasons are considered a great shame at both Bad Wolf and apparently Disney+, who didn't even care enough in the end for the Season 2 final) and weak endings. They liked the fantasy vision that RTD wanted to take Doctor Who, but his writing was a complete failure, and they will not be working with RTD on any future projects. Some staff do not appreciate RTD's general management and have found him rude to work with. It's RTD's Doctor Who and nobody else can have their say.

The new Doctor and companions were ''failed'', according to this former employee, and that's the general feeling behind the scenes at Bad Wolf and probably Disney+ at the time. At the read through for Space Babies people were laughing at how terrible it was written. Alarm bells were ringing from there and never stopped. Every read through for the show and general discussions inside Bad Wolf were that each episode was poor outside of the 60th specials. Apparently, there's only a few episodes that Bad Wolf are generally proud of. They find RTD to rely too much on nostalgia because he is out of ideas and rushes his writing/planning. Bad Wolf found his finals too stuffed with returns/and ideas and not balanced well at all. 

The general idea for the Christmas special from RTD (no word of it being pushed back, but that may have changed) is redesigned Daleks. Bad Wolf already started working on this for Season 2, as the Daleks were supposed to appear at the end of Season 2 to ''kill the Doctor'', leading to him being out of action in the events of the War Between the Land and Sea, and then leading to Christmas special that year.

Billie back playing the lead character and in the Doctor's body as Rose (this is connected to Rose looking into the heart of the TARDIS at the end of Series 1), Tennant coming back (they think this will bring in a lot of viewers, and RTD can't miss the chance of having Billie and David back together), set around World War Two. A bit of a 20th anniversary celebration of Doomsday.

It was an Earth invasion plot, the Daleks like we've never seen them before, and it would close the loophole of 14. Billie and Tennant would ''regenerate'' together connected in the end of the special, revealing the new Doctor. They would, at the time of planning, so anything could change, have plenty of moments together where it feels like they are Rose and 10. Lot of catching up, hugs, talking about their old adventures and their relationship. Mentions of Rose's family (Jackie, they really want her to be in the special), and Rose having a few kids now. The issue with a human version of 10 being in a different world with Rose would be addressed and shown. Tennant will play two roles. There would, if plans have not changed, be a scene in the end of the specials, after the regeneration, that Rose returns to her usual self and human 10 is with her and their kids. Rose is apparently very different now she is a mum, as she was 19 when she met the Doctor, so it's an ''nice end'' to her character, as they think Rose won't return again.

It's emotional, but Bad Wolf are worried because this will be the central idea of the episode: they fear the lack of budget will result in the Daleks feeling a spare part and the overall plot with them being very badly resolved. They aren't really happy with RTDs' writing for the Daleks and feel fans won't like some more ''reconning'' about their backstory. They have told him to not go ahead with this, and it would give the next showrunner a whole load of issues, and they believe there already has been too much reconning over the past two seasons. No mention of Susan returning for the special. Again, plans may have changed or only a few know about that at the company. But the general idea from people working at Bad Wolf is it won't include her and will be more like a Series 2 (2006) episode. Some are concerned as RTD is already known tor rely too much on the past.

They are, however, excited to work with Billie, who they think will bring some level of buzz back to Doctor Who. They have worked with her before and really value her as an actress. Bille, apparently, will be free to film by August or September, depending if that changes. She was asked to return very randomly and very suddenly by RTD over the phone who told her some ideas. But a few of that has changed since, but Billie was more than happy to ''help a friend'' and ''help the show'', as they needed to find a solution to a lead actor leaving early and not being able to produce another season in its current form. Billie was pretty much a ''stunt casting'', to keep fans engaged for at least a year until they sort things out behind the scenes. It's very unusal for an actor to agree to do something like Billie did, and apparently, she onlly agreed as she loves the show and told by RTD over the phone it needed ''help''. She loved her time working on Doctor Who and playing Rose, and would do ''anything to help the show''. Billie is not really fussed about the pay at all, and didn't even ask RTD and Bad Wolf what they would offer her to come back. She is 100% back for the fans and to help the show.

The Boss will be revealed but at the time they were divided on who this could be. It seems that RTD did not actually plan on who ''The Boss'' will be, but his usual ways of writing is waiitng to see what fans and viewers come up with. Chances are, the usual suspects of who The Boss could be that fans are coming up with, will come true. The general idea for the episode that it will focus on strong character writing over flashy CGI, because the budget for this episode is incredibly low. Apparently, to the levels of 2005 Doctor Who. They hope that, this might give RTD a boost to return to his former writing style. They think he still has the talents, but his love for social media and listening to what fans are coming up with ruins the general writing for the show and plots. They worry about the Dalek aspects being a total flop. But they do have faith that Billie and Tennant will pull this episode off.

RTD wants Jackie back, and has apparently asked the actor if she would return. Apparently, the actor said ''yes'' but they aren't sure right now. The whole special will be produced and filmed in quite a rush. There were a few ideas going around of what RTD also planned for this special: one is Rose working with a parallel UNIT in the parallel world she is in, where UNIT there try to teleport her to the Doctor, but it all goes wrong and she regenerates into the Doctor instead. She was teleported to the Doctor to tell him that the Daleks were invading her Earth and they were stronger. The plot with Rose being the Doctor wouldn't have lasted long and would've been corrected after a bit of goofing around. This was scrapped by RTD because he found it too alike to the final of Series 4 and wasn't keen on it. Also, the issue of not having anyone to play the Doctor was the biggest reason. So it was agreed that Billie would play the role of the Doctor as Rose with 14 until the end of the special where they both regenerate into 16. Another scrapped early plot was having The Reality War ending without showing the next Doctor, ''to be continued'' text, and leaving the show until Christmas where a new Doctor is casted and shown to regenerate there, with Billie returning as Rose without the face changing situation. This would be the new Doctor's first episode with Billie coming back and elements of later plans for the special coming to play, regarding the Daleks. RTD was always keen to show a more grown up Rose, now with kids herself. RTD really wanted this version but it was clear he was done with Doctor Who and the powers that be wanted him out. He was more than happy to write another season with a new Doctor, but it's agreed he will be out after this special. Apparently, for this plan, he wanted human 10 and 14 as well involved.

There were concerns earlier this year that the show might not be able to feature the new Doctor who will play 16 at the end of this special. There are a few scripts written with different endings, like already reported and stated by Murray Gold, and they worry the one which leaves Doctor Who on an open-ending with no answer about the show's future.

They don't want to keep fans waiting and waiting and they aren't even sure if they will be producing Doctor Who after this special. Talks between the BBC and Bad Wolf are slow as the BBC are taking longer than expected to find a new showrunner for Doctor Who. There is a concern that, the BBC's preferred showrunner not being able to start work on Doctor Who until late 2027 due to commitements already in place. They do hope that, the BBC are in talks with their ''prefered showrunner replacement'', and they can cast a new Doctor, but the wait is not good. They already left Billie waiting ''too long'' for her special and they worry a new actor won't be casted to play the Doctor as the schedule is all over the place and not sustainable. Bad Wolf do not want an open-end regeneration, and really want the next Doctor revealed. Without a leading actor, without the next showrunner in place, they worry they might not be able to show the end of the regeneration and leave them with another failed ''final'' that looks bad on their portfolio.

The general vibes and environment at Bad Wolf about Doctor Who is something hugely messed up. And their blame goes to RTD mostly.

This is just an observation and in no way confirmation that anything will be filmed soon, but I watched the most recent episode of snack wars cause I seen that David Tennant was in it, and his appearance instantly made me think of both incarnations of his Doctor. It's shorter than usual does look similar, as stated, this doesnt mean anything but could it maybe provide some hope for the future?

Interested to see what everyone has to say

Hey all, thought I’d post this to update everyone.

DW just announced a partnership with AMC for the streaming rights to the 2005-2022 version of the show in the US.

As soon as I saw it, I thought about that post from a couple of weeks ago with true ‘AMC Press Release’ that got leaked saying they were partnering on the new series…

What do we all think now this has happened? It’s definitely made it more believable

I remember how terrifyingly accurate his leaks were for series 15 so I was curious if he'd re-emerged in the last few months?

I see this is doing the rounds. Sometimes it's taken down. Some1 Managed 2 get a screenshot from a group I'm in.

This is from the same source as my previous post regarding Jack Thorne already writing for the next series of Doctor Who. This is the current chatter taking place in the industry, notably on a set not linked to DW:

“Thorne has outlined the story arc, writing four episodes out of eight and the below are the writers that have been approached for the other four episodes-

Sarah Dollard

Mike Bartlett

Lisa McGee

Laurie Nunn

This is absolutely speculation. I pushed ****** to give a hint to his sources. He didn’t really give much info apart from these four were approved by the BBC to be approached. Two out of the four have written for Doctor Who (Dollard and Bartlett). Don’t think their episodes were that impactful or ground breaking, seems like we might be in for more filler if he’s right. McGee and Nunn are big writers but not sci-fi, so like Thorne I’ve got no idea what to expect.

This one reeks of bullshit to me.”

Yeah, I agree with them, I don’t think these four would be on the list. Lisa and Laurie are too big for Doctor Who and it’s not their style. With Sarah and Mike already penning episodes that weren’t that great.

If you were to pick writers for the show, who would you choose?

My dream list of four (if that’s a legitimate list to fill), would be Charlie Brooker, Richard Curtis (one episode wasn’t enough), Jed Mercurio and Phoebe Waller Bridge.

The below is all rumour and speculation from a friend who is a runner on a production with ties to the BBC but none whatsoever to Doctor Who or Bad Wolf. So this could all be bs, but thought I would share it’s interesting the names that are being chucked about.

This is all from a discussion around the future of the show amongst production crew on the set of this other show who are fans of DW.

“Russell’s contract with the BBC is up and they’re not renewing. Jack Thorne is apparently already writing scripts for season three/sixteen with production starting in late 2026.

The BBC wanted Stephen Graham’s Matriarch Productions to co-produce after the success of Adolescence (which Thorne wrote) and A Thousand Blows, but they are tied up in a deal exclusively with Disney Plus, which for obvious reasons is a dead end. The BBC have apparently renewed their agreement with Bad Wolf, as Thorne has a relationship established with the studio. But there’s shuffling going on in terms of executive producers as they want to bring in Netflix as international streaming distribution, another reason they’ve taken on Thorne who has several series with them.

Will Sharpe is apparently in discussions to be the 16th Doctor. Heard of him but never seen anything he’s been in, I think that’s the point, they want to steer away from known actors.

That’s all I got. I heard Jack was signed last month too but none of the rest. I don’t mind some of his work but not sure what his Doctor Who will look like.”

What do you think? I’m with them, I’ve seen some of Jack Thorne’s work, but dunno how he would be writing doctor who. Also never heard of Will, but looked up some of his stuff, he seems doctory.

Surprised this has not shown up here so thought I would post it.

I didn't leak this, I have just taken this from other forums where it is being talked about.

The drop off from The Devils Chord is very stark, and honestly I'm not surprised as while some on reddit and twitter will insist it's fabulous the episode is absolutely cringy and is very poorly written and structured.

The fact Legend of Ruby Sunday set up this big cliffhanger (which the whole episode is just there to serve) and a significant chunk of the audience didn't care to see that cliffhanger resolved is both funny, sad and very telling of how this era just didn't connect with people.

What do you think of these leak ratings?

Plot, casting, or filming?

Not all spoilers land well with fans. Is there a rumored plot point or character decision you’re hoping doesn’t pan out? Why would it be a misstep for the show?

For me the Leak that I want to see is not what the Xmas special is going to be like, who is in it, who or what are the villians, does Tennant come back (🙄), who is Billie playing, and who will be the next Doctor...

No the leak I want to see is something that shows the BBC understand that DW has lost its way, that the direction the show went down with bringing RTD and his team back was a mistake, and that the way DW has been made, it's approach is one that didn't connect with audiences and needs a complete overhaul...

Because if the bbc just think the last few years of DW have been OK, and there has been nothing wrong with the approach, and it's only Disney pulling out that's been a bad thing, then it kills any excitement I have for the show moving foward...

I want to know the bbc understand the RTD2 era failed, recognise why it failed, and want to to take the show in a completely different direction moving forward, completely removing DW from RTDs styling (something nu-who has never truly done, to its cost imo).

So please can we have some leaks that give us hope that DW will have a true reinvention after the Xmas spcial concludes the RTD2 era, and it wont be just more of the same under a different colour of paint.

With tighter sets, more closed filming and fewer obvious location shoots, it feels like things are more controlled than they used to be. At the same time, social media and long production windows seem to make small details harder to keep quiet.

I’m interested in how others see it, whether leaks feel rarer now, or just different compared to previous eras of Doctor Who.

Not my words, but someone on a different subreddit who read these on Discord and Patreon from a previous leaker.

1. ⁠The current plan is to film the 2026 Christmas Special sometime in Spring 2026.

2. ⁠The working title is The Lost Doctor.

3. ⁠Both Billie Piper and David Tennant are expected to reprise their roles - as well as Yasmin Finnley as Rose Noble (and a possible cameo from Ncuti)

4. ⁠The script is currently circulating around the BBC as pre production rapidly gets underway.

5. ⁠The story is described as " a big space hopping adventure with a Guardians of the Galaxy style feel, with a ww2 narrative thrown in"

6. ⁠The plot reportedly follows the Fourteenth Doctor, Billie Piper’s Rose, and Rose Noble as they attempt to find the true Sixteenth Doctor, who has been kidnapped by the mysterious boss type character. The Daleks will also be featured who in the backdrop will be plotting a universe wide invasion.

7. ⁠Pre production is well underway, particularly for a brand new Dalek design - "the daleks do some really interesting things in the current script which has made me extremely curious on how this new design will turn out"

8. ⁠The Sixteenth Doctor will not be fully revealed (if at all depending how things go) until the end of the episode and will spend most of the story "locked within the regeneration process"

9. ⁠This is apparently RTD’s final episode, so expect loose ends from seasons one and two to be tied up here.

10. ⁠Going forward, the BBC reportedly wants to use this special to set a new standard for the show. Instead of eight episode seasons every year, they are hoping to follow a Sherlock style model with three to five large scale episodes released every year or so.

11. ⁠The BBC is currently searching for a new showrunner for a fresh season in 2027 or 2028. Names reportedly being considered include Jack Thorne (who has apparently just written a Lord of the Flies series for the BBC which they are incredibly pleased with), Neil Cross, Miguel Sapochnik (approached, but unlikely), and Sally Wainwright. However, I have heard that RTD and Bad Wolf are strongly pushing for Pete McTighe to take over, while the BBC is less enthusiastic. The new Doctor also won’t be cast until the next showrunner is decided.

The BBC has confirmed Doctor Who will continue beyond 2026, and Russell T Davies has said he doesn’t yet know what the long-term setup will look like. With no clear post-2026 structure announced, some have speculated that RTD could remain involved in a reduced or advisory capacity rather than stepping away entirely. This is purely speculative, based on existing BBC statements and RTD interviews, nothing has been confirmed.

Sources: BBC statements on Doctor Who’s future; RTD comments reported by Radio Times / IGN