Doctor Who: Russell T Davies on the open cliffhanger and Disney deal
Russell T Davies says he isn’t worried about Doctor Who’s open cliffhanger, as the BBC looks for a new production partner.
According to the report, the Disney co-production deal has ended after two seasons, and the BBC is now looking for a new production partner for the series. Davies says the uncertainty around the deal was already hanging over him while he was working on season 2.
The source also says the BBC and Bad Wolf were no longer working on a closing Christmas special to neatly wrap up this phase of Doctor Who. In addition, production reportedly carried out reshoots to account for the departure of lead actor Ncuti Gatwa.
What happened
Russell T Davies, described in the article as the former showrunner of Doctor Who, responds in a published excerpt to the series’ uncertain future. He says he doesn’t mind leaving a cliffhanger for the next team to pick up the show. The report links that reaction to the current situation around the series, where no new production partner has yet been confirmed.
The trigger is an advance excerpt from his upcoming memoir, The Queerest of Folk: A Life in Television. In that passage, Davies reportedly says the future of the Disney partnership was already uncertain while he was writing season 2. That places the open ending of the current era in a broader context of business uncertainty behind the scenes.
The source also says the BBC and Bad Wolf were no longer working on a closing Christmas special to neatly round off this phase of Doctor Who. That detail matters because it suggests there was no separate finale episode in development to soften the transition. In addition, production reportedly carried out reshoots to account for the departure of lead actor Ncuti Gatwa. The text doesn’t say which scenes were changed, but it does say the reshoots were directly tied to his exit.
Davies also says the uncertainty over the deal was mainly between Disney and the BBC, not Bad Wolf. In the same vein, the report says he was already working on other projects for other broadcasters, though those projects are not named. Taken together, those comments paint a picture of Davies already looking ahead to other work while Doctor Who’s future was still unsettled.
Timeline
During season 2 writing — Davies says the future of the Disney partnership was already uncertain while he was working on the episodes.
During the same production period — Reshoots were reportedly needed to account for Ncuti Gatwa’s departure.
After two seasons — The Disney co-production deal for Doctor Who reportedly ends.
Advance excerpt in The Guardian — A fragment from The Queerest of Folk: A Life in Television is published, with Davies addressing the open cliffhanger.
In the current reporting — The BBC is said to be looking for a new production partner for the series.
Summer 2026 — Davies’ run as Doctor Who head writer is said to end.
Background
The current phase of Doctor Who is reportedly not yet finished, because the BBC is searching for a new production partner after the Disney deal expires. That leaves the series in a holding pattern, with no confirmation yet on who will make the next episodes. It also makes the open cliffhanger more notable, since the source says no closing Christmas special was being prepared to wrap things up.
Davies says in the excerpt that the talks about the future of the deal were mainly between Disney and the BBC, not Bad Wolf. That frames Bad Wolf in the report as a party that did not have the final say on whether the partnership would continue. The source also says Davies was already working on other projects for other broadcasters, though it doesn’t name them. That detail underlines that he was, according to the excerpt, already looking beyond Doctor Who.
The report also places the situation in the context of an ongoing production period that required reshoots because of Ncuti Gatwa’s departure. That means the series had to adapt not only commercially, but creatively as well. The combination of an expiring deal, an open cliffhanger, and adjusted filming makes it clear why the article describes the show’s future as uncertain.
Sources
- IGN: article on Russell T Davies and the open cliffhanger of Doctor Who
- The Guardian: advance excerpt from The Queerest of Folk: A Life in Television