Kevin - "Doctor Who" (the flagship show) ceased being a children's program a long time ago - certainly well before RTD rebooted it. And since then, they've even tried more kid-centric entries in the larger shared Who-iverse, but even they've skewed somewhat older the closer they got to the primary property (see "Sarah Jane Adventures" as an example).
This isn't the end for Doctor Who (the show or the franchise); it's survived (with fits and starts) for 60 years and is arguably one of the most durable properties in TV, precisely because it can be restarted at any time with any cast, with nods to history optional (but largely preferred). It might take some time, but the right showrunner will find the right Doctor (and Companion), and the show will be back, doing its wibbly-wobbly thing across space and time. The show already survived one 25 year hiatus - another break won't be the end. On Thursday, June 11, 2026 at 12:22:13 PM UTC-4 Kevin M. (RPCV) wrote: > As children’s tv shows go, Doctor Who ranks at or near the top. It is > funny, sophisticated, and doesn’t pander. But we no longer live in an era > where kids sit for an hour, focused on a single television show. That > leaves the core audience for the show the parents who enjoy the nostalgia > they feel watching the series. But they’d rather watch the episodes from > their youth. So I don’t know who the new episodes are for, and that’s > probably why ratings are down. > On Wednesday, June 10, 2026 at 4:38:50 PM UTC-7 Jon Delfin wrote: > >> *The BBC cancels the Christmas special — is this the end of Doctor Who?* >> >> The BBC has announced that it won’t go ahead with the episode, while the >> showrunner Russell T Davies has confirmed his unexpected departure from the >> show >> >> Ben Dowell, Deputy TV Editor >> Wednesday June 10 2026, 4.30pm BST, The Times >> >> Thirty-seven years ago the BBC1 controller Jonathan Powell broke the >> hearts of Doctor Who’s fan base by calling time on the show. And now >> Russell T Davies, the man who triumphantly regenerated the Time Lord in >> 2005, is finally handing back the keys to the Tardis. Quite possibly for >> the rest of time (and space). >> >> Today the BBC has announced that it won’t go ahead with the Doctor Who >> Christmas episode and that it will put the show out to competitive tender >> this year. Meanwhile, Davies has confirmed on Instagram that he will leave >> the programme. The corporation said of its plans: “This decision was not >> taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order >> to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than >> bridge the gap with a one-off special, we are choosing to push forward to >> invest in the long-term future of the show.” >> >> Davies’s second stint as showrunner of the franchise (he had returned >> again to oversee it in 2023) was not an entirely happy one. In 2005 he had >> introduced a popular Doctor in Christopher Eccleston and later an even more >> popular successor in David Tennant (considered by some to be the best of >> the “New Who” Time Lords). But his second go at the controls was a >> disappointment, despite the luxury of a cash injection from its >> co-producers Disney. Now the BBC is looking for a new leader and production >> team, as predicted by The Times last week, and the show has an uncertain >> future. >> >> What went wrong? The decision late last year by Disney not to renew the >> two-series deal rumoured to be worth $100 million was an undeniable hammer >> blow to the show’s fortunes. It had been struggling with ratings, with the >> most recent, 15th series rarely topping the three million mark, which were >> (by most metrics) the lowest in Doctor Who history. >> >> The behind-the-scenes turmoil was accompanied by complaints from many >> fans that Davies was using the show to preach about social issues such as >> trans rights (one episode made the universe nonbinary). >> >> In the final episode of series 15 a year ago, we said goodbye to the >> Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, after only 19 episodes and he regenerated into Billie >> Piper, who had previously played the Doctor’s assistant Rose. “Oh hello,” >> she said in a sequence that baffled many fans and felt a little desperate. >> A Christmas special — and a darn good explanation — was promised. But now? >> Not only has Davies called time on the show, so have his long-term >> producers, the independent company Bad Wolf. >> >> “After careful consideration, the BBC, Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf have >> collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor >> Who Christmas episode,” the BBC said in its statement, one that Davies told >> Radio 2 last week was “lumbering through the BBC, which, as you know, is >> like the Jurassic Period, and 57 people have to sign off on every single >> word”. These didn’t sound like the words of a particularly happy man >> content to remain on message. >> >> So the search is on for a new production team and a new Doctor, who may >> or may not be Piper (the good thing about sci-fi is you can make up the >> rules as you go along). >> >> Davies is putting on a brave face, posting on Instagram that while it was >> “GOODBYE” from him, it was also “HELLO to a big new future for the show”. >> He also insisted that he had not even written the mooted Christmas special >> nor cast a new Doctor. In an interview with me in May 2024, he said that he >> was already writing episodes for the 16th series. These, presumably, will >> remain on his hard drive. >> >> There are some BBC insiders who think that a hiatus could do the show >> good, however. A new production company and showrunner will bring fresh >> ideas to the format, which many believe can still work without the high >> budgets offered by a streaming partner like Disney. >> >> Some of the finest episodes, such as Steven Moffat’s Blink in 2007, which >> introduced the terrifying Weeping Angels, and Boom in 2024 (also by Moffat >> and which spent most of the time with the Doctor standing on an unexploded >> landmine), remain the best of recent vintage and they were not high budget. >> During Davies’s tenure, whizzy special effects failed to elevate episodes >> such as Space Babies, the childish caper that opened his first series with >> Disney in May 2024. >> >> “The show doesn’t necessarily need money, but it needs a rethink and >> perhaps an abandonment of the preachiness we have seen recently,” a BBC >> insider says. “Special effects are not as expensive as they were and that >> has never been the point of Doctor Who. It’s about story first and >> foremost.” >> >> The new creative forces of the show, beloved by its legacy audience for >> its terrible effects and rubbery monsters, will also have to think hard >> about who it is aimed at. Many believe Davies was chasing a young adult >> audience that wasn’t necessarily attuned to the show, which has steadily >> accumulated an older fan base. The last time the numbers were crunched — >> for the ninth series, in 2015 — the average age of a Doctor Who viewer was >> 45.5 years. >> >> Still, there are plenty of people at the BBC who remain grateful for >> Davies’s energy and ebullience, and there is sadness among many that his >> reign has come to such a disappointing end. >> >> As for the new Doctor and showrunner, well, Who knows? Names in the frame >> for the former include Michaela Coel, Aimee Lou Wood and Nick Mohammed. And >> as for the showrunner, some believe that the forgettable Chris Chibnall era >> between 2018 and 2022 means that they should look to an outsider with a >> fresh eye. Moffat, who is a devoted Whovian and one who was a success in >> the job between 2010 and 2017, has ruled himself out. >> >> “At some point Russell will leave again, and that will not be me taking >> over, I can assure you of that,” he told me in December 2024. “But then, >> quite rightly, I hope a whole flood of new people will come in. And I think >> that would be slightly weird for me to be bobbing around in my late sixties >> with a bunch of 20-year-olds making it.” >> >> In youth, it seems, we trust. The Doctor will be back. Probably. >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/604c91b6-4fff-4890-ae51-5d58b1eb449cn%40googlegroups.com.
