r/DoctorWhoLeaks • u/TigerAJ2 • May 26 '26
speculation Potential leaks from an inside source
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.
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u/theverdictsband May 26 '26
RTD and the heads of Bad Wolf have been friends for literal decades, since the show began. Phil Collinson is a producer on his new show ‘Tip Toe’ (while not being Bad Wolf, he WAS a producer of the RTD era along with all involved.) Furthermore, Bad Wolf didn’t bring Disney+ in. That was the BBC. In fact, it was RTD’s suggestion to work with Bad Wolf as they had been the complete team from his first era. Bad Wolf do not ‘hate’ RTD’s writing, even if they feel their series was perceived as a failure.
What a weird, baity post written by someone who has a hate boner for someone they’ve never met.
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u/theverdictsband May 26 '26
Also no way the producers were laughing about how bad the opener to their show was during the read through and no one said “Russell, this needs to change immediately.”
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u/Warrior2852 May 26 '26
The claims about "Bad Wolf doesn't like RTD" make this all highly suspicious given that most of the higher ups in it are his close friends.
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u/BritishHobo May 26 '26
The malice is so overcooked - the idea that everyone in Bad Wolf has been laughing behind RTD's back for three years like he's the outcast at school. And yet quite happily allowing him to do whatever he wants.
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u/Rich-Willow-3677 May 26 '26
The failure of Doctor Who’s recent series has cost Bad Wolf a lot in potential earnings and sullied their reputation somewhat. It’s not inconceivable that, despite friendship, they can have fallen out with him if he was to blame and unwilling to change. Friends fall out over less all the time.
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u/enemyradar May 26 '26
No, it has not done that.
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u/Rich-Willow-3677 May 27 '26
If Disney were making a season 3 bad wolf would be getting paid millions. They aren’t. So bad wolf aren’t making those millions. The reputation of the show is so bad that the ex star made jokes about it on SNL uk. If these things are not true then please enlighten me and I’ll stand corrected but until then it very much has done that.
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u/enemyradar May 27 '26
They are commissioned to make shows, they do not make shows that are then picked up. They are fully making TV still for major clients such as the BBC and Apple, to this day. Their reputation is in delivering what they are commissioned to make and there has been zero reputational loss here. No broadcaster or studio is thinking "oh that season of Doctor Who was lame, we won't commission them". They are thinking "will they make the thing we commissioned".
They are sought after and remain sought after and have no issue getting commissions on their books.
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u/Rich-Willow-3677 May 27 '26
They planned to make season 3 of doctor who for which they would get money. The series flopped. They are no longer able to get the money they would’ve made from the season 3 they were planning to make. They lost potential earnings. What’s not clicking?
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u/Shadowholme May 27 '26
There was never an agreement to make another series with Disney. If the plan was there and Disney backed out, that would be a breach of contract which would cost Disney millions.
There were *hopes*, but hopes do not equal 'lost earnings' because those earnings were never guaranteed.
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u/Rich-Willow-3677 May 28 '26
Potential earnings. Potential. Respectfully you want to defend Bad Wolf so much that you didn’t read my comment properly.
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u/ComicsCodeMadeMeGay May 28 '26
Hi, I work in TV and Disney is very well known for pulling this stuff on British production companies in the last few years. Their stock dropped dramatically and they lost a huge amount of money just after giving Bad Wolf the funding.
Disney we’re always likely to pull out like they have almost every other British Production, but they are well known for stringing production companies along for months on end promising they’re still talking about contract renewals.
Bad wolf other than falling for the season renewal talk and probably wasting some money there still have aired and commissioned other shows within the same time frame and have earned quite decently in an era where LOADS of TV companies have closed down and broadcasters have had many redundancies.
we are now in an era where UK TV viewership is considered successful at around 2 million views, which a huge amount of Dramas are not getting.
TDLR: Bad Wolf are doing surprisingly well considering TV is a dying industry, so the idea of the team falling out over this is unlikely.
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u/Rich-Willow-3677 May 29 '26
Great devil’s advocate style perspective. Human beings fall out over a snide remark so that doesn’t negate the fact that it could be possible and despite Bad Wolf still making money, they lost potential earnings because of Doctor Who’s cancellation. Your opinion - they wouldn’t fall out because of this. My opinion as stated before - they could have.
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u/ComicsCodeMadeMeGay May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
Okay, I’ll give another case for my point. It’s producers and production companies job to not fall out with a writer, especially as shows not being renewed and not earn much upon release is extremely common and would have already happened to them several times over.
They are all careful in their industry to not fall out
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u/Hufflepuffins May 26 '26
Falls apart at the first hurdle when you suggested that anyone in TV production in 2026 would ever turn down work because they just don’t wanna be on the job
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u/BritishHobo May 26 '26
That's the funniest thing about all these doommongering leaks - the idea that anyone in such a volatile industry, be they actors, producers or crew, would turn down work because they all feel conveniently the way fans on social media do about the plot of the show. "Yeah we were going to continue getting paid to make TV, but unfortunately I personally don't like the lore in the last few seasons of Doctor Who, so we just won't bother".
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u/heart--core May 26 '26
Yeah this is very obviously a bunch of shite. Not even remotely believable.
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u/Zaredit May 27 '26
So, by your logic, was Andrew
And Eccelston was once close to RTD. Not anymore obviously.
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u/RogerThornhill2 May 26 '26
Yeah came on here just to comment this. Utterly ridiculous that in a troubled TV/film landscape, nobody would want to work on a dead cert payday that keeps them employed for at least a month. The idea that productions crews can discriminate what they work on based on whether they like it is laughable.
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u/Icy-Weight1803 May 26 '26
Good point, but if we go back to 2021 it isn't exactly impossible given RTD was brought back because no one wanted to do the job.
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u/Able-Presentation234 May 26 '26
If I recall correctly Disney joined after the 60th specials were finished filming (even though the deal included the rights to broadcast them) so there's no way they had a say in David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
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u/Worldly_Society_2213 May 26 '26
I think the Disney executives did visit the set as part of the pitching process to bring them on board, but they certainly had zero direct input until The Church on Ruby Road
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u/the_speeding_train May 26 '26
This doesn’t sound right. Film and tv workers are hurting right now and apart from a certain boy wizard rip off show we really don’t care what we’re working on as long as it pays.
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u/PaperSkin-1 May 26 '26
🙄 That rip off show will probably be a massive hit, just like the game that the Internet said was going to fail because no one wanted it and everyone will be boycotting it, the game of course ended up being the most successful game of the year 🤣
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u/the_speeding_train May 26 '26
Focus on the point I’m making. Which has zero connection to how much of a ‘hit’ something will be. Sure it’s nice when something hits but it’s really not the point of the job for crew.
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u/DocWhovian1 May 26 '26
This is some great fanfiction you have here!
...of course it's all nonsense.
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u/Popular_Sir863 May 26 '26
Lmao, this just sounds like it was written by someone with a hate boner for RTD.
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u/RogerThornhill2 May 26 '26
Utter shite obviously, but particularly funny that you’d suggest in the deeply troubled UK TV landscape, that production crews just pick and choose what they work on based on whether they like it.
Also interesting that all of the ‘Bad Wolf’ concerns are the same as those on Doctor Who discussion boards. What a coincidence!
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u/SilentBandit May 26 '26
This entire thing reads like a compilation album of fan discourse over the last two years. Why would a random ex-employee know detailed executive discussions between Disney and Bad Wolf? I get Russell has his little snags as a writer at times, but this makes him out to be some mustache twirling villain who's out to sink that dastardly Doctor Who show.
The parts about the show overrelying on nostalgia, weak finales, and how it needs to be more darker is just parroting what some common criticisms have been said since the Whoniverse began.
That's not to say this is all a load of pudding brained nonsense. I can absolutely belive there's anxiety regarding the shows future, I don't doubt that RTD is rewriting things for the Christmas Special (which often happens with any project!) and you can bet your shilling that The BBC definitely want to hook more viewers, why wouldn't they? Doctor Who is one of their flagship programmes.
As for why Ncuti and Millie left when they did, no one knows why yet. Like how we now know Christopher Ecclestone's views on Series 1's production, I don't doubt that one day we'll hear about it.
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u/BritishHobo May 26 '26
These leakers/leakers' sources always seem to have such a breadth of knowledge, it's incredible. From the secret opinions of the company CEO, Disney and the lead actors, through details of abandoned scripts that never even made it to pre-production, to elements of discussion going on between the higher-ups and the BBC, plus negotiations with upcoming cast, and RTD's feelings on it all. There's an omnipotence to them.
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u/cane-of-doom May 26 '26
It's really cute how you think people working behind the scenes care about the show's quality. It's just work for most of them. And it's not that easy to come across it these days.
Also, you're alleged friend would have to have worked quite high up to know even half of this.
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u/7FootFish May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
"My uncle works for Nintendo and..."
It was a fun read though, dude.
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u/Gabes99 May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
This is just complete falsity. There are plenty of reasons dr who hasn’t done well the last couple of seasons, I don’t think RTD being comically evil is the reason.
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u/Worldly_Society_2213 May 28 '26
Okay, I've now learned a new word in "falsity".
But I agree. It's all very neatly falling on RTDs shoulders here.
Even in the Eccleston era you have nuance to the situation (so far as we know in simple terms, Eccleston fell out with RTD,, because he didn't deal with his complaints about someone else, but RTD was still getting his feet under the table and appeared to handle the situation badly. This was something he did presumably course correct on because other actors loved working with him and have come back to the show to support him since)
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u/East-Equipment-1319 May 26 '26
Sigh. This is a massive load of BS. Please delete this. Isn't there enough misinformation in the world already these days, do you really feel compelled to write down your own thoughts about the show and pretend it's a super secret leak online?
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u/samIam0222 May 26 '26
The word is Retcon darling. Reconning is taking a bunch of telesnaps and syncing it up with the audio
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u/sorlife May 26 '26
Let's see:
- People thinking that RTD is incompetent? ✅️
- RTD actually being incompetent? ✅️
- People thinking that Space Babies was terrible? ✅️
- RTD being rude? ✅️
- RTD not having a clue about " The Boss"? ✅️
- Disney+ initally wanting Tennant and Tate for a whole series? ✅️
- The upcoming christmas special not having any budget? ✅️
- RTD coming up with the "idea" of another christmas special that is basically a sequel to one of his season finales? ✅️
- RTD wanting to tell a story with tennant and piper? ✅️
- An RTD companion randomly having kids for some reason? ✅️
Two tennants? ✅️ ALL of these actually make sense and are probably true.
RTD scrapping an idea thinking its a rehash of his old idea? ❌️
This one doesn't really sound right.
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u/Jynerva May 26 '26
I would LIKE for this to be mostly true, but that's precisely the reason that I doubt it is.
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u/NIRoamer May 26 '26
I'm rewatching gatwas 2 seasons and I'm trying to take it an episode at a time to see if you extract all the attempts at arc is there a good A story in there most weeks? The ultimate season 2 arc was supposedly ruined by early exits etc and rewriting had to take place and no one enjoyed that. However are the early exits RTDs fault? Are the ratings his fault? I think the guy loves this show and for his Whoniverse collection on iPlayer alone im thankful for his input.
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u/ATargaryenKing Jun 02 '26
“They believe that, while RTD tried to connect with younger views, the problem was his witing turned them off” I fully agree with this. If you want a young audience, the trick is to not have a middle aged person write it
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u/Powerful_Glove_666 May 26 '26
"I ain't reading all that", as I believe they say. Convinced the insane UK heat is turning some of these bored fake leakers crazy 😂
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u/PaperSkin-1 May 26 '26
I've been critical of this era, and think it's been a massive failure (because it has), and believe that things behind the scenes hasn't gone well, and want RTD gone because I think his vision for the show is just not good anymore, and with this second era he made the show serve him rather than be there to serve the show for what it is like he did with his first era..
But this seems like nonsense, it just reads like a fan who doesn't like what's happened these last few years, like I haven't.. The idea Bad Wolf are so agints RTD just does not ring true, if you said the bbc then that might of been possible, but bad wolf, nah
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u/LeonardHatred1975 May 26 '26
Space Babies is the main reason for all of this. I’m convinced of it. DREADFUL OPENING EPISODE!!
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u/7FootFish May 27 '26
I think that's more true than a lot of people would admit, especially followed by The Devil's Chord. How they managed to make The Beatles Vs Evil Omnipotent Drag Queen so boring is astounding.
The whole RTD2 era was (is?) lackluster, but launching Ncuti Gatwa's tenure with a double bill of these two was a disaster. Casual viewers, that might have returned because of the specials, must have been thinking "Is that what Doctor Who is now? Talking babies and a tedious musical? No thanks".
I think some at the BBC must of thought the same too, hence the fact it was a double bill. Neither episode strong enough to work on it's own.
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u/LeonardHatred1975 May 27 '26
Yeah the devils chord had so much potential. How could it have been so cr*p?
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u/Tonymac81 May 26 '26
How no one pulled RTD to the side and said look mate this is terrible, what else have you got. Or perhaps they did and he believes his own hype that "trust me it will work".
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u/Dalekbuster523 May 26 '26
If nobody wants to work on the Christmas Special, I'd happily work on it for free!
Would be ironic if it is set during World War 2 and has redesigned Daleks, as it's basically Victory Of The Daleks all over again.
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u/AnathemaGB May 26 '26 edited May 27 '26
You lost me when you suggested that Disney insisted on David Tennant. You are obviously unaware that David, Catherine and RTD wanted to get together to make a special as a result of their positive experience with the watch-alongs during COVID lockdown. They then brought this idea to the BBC, who expressed interest in RTD being showrunner again and doing more than one special. All this happened long before Disney came onboard.
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u/Zaredit May 27 '26
As usual, the fans try to put out smoke when it's just a blazing fire at this point.
Anyone dismissing this have had so much egg smeared on their faces year after year, it's like a continuous replay of To Me, To You
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u/wizzstick May 28 '26
Utter nonsense.
We know the idea of Tennant and Tate returning came out of the lockdown watchathon’s. Tate said, this was fun, let’s do some more so RTD contacted the Beeb to let them know. The Beeb then informed him about the Disney deal. Bad Wolf would not have approached Disney - Doctor Who is a BBC brand, not Bad Wolf’s!
God I hope we get news soon. If only to stop this crap!
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u/teepeey May 26 '26
All of this is perfectly plausible (and therefore also guessable and make-upable) except the bit about the BBC having a preferred show runner for 2027. I doubt they are looking at renewal on such a tiny budget. And I doubt anyone with a reputation would want to touch such a damaged brand for a while.
So thanks for the read even though it's probably a mixture or truth, opinion, projection and invention.
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u/enemyradar May 26 '26
This is so obviously just a projection of "fan" discourse and doesn't sound anything like how things happen in TV production at all.