NOTE: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MOST RECENT EPISODE AND SEASON OF DOCTOR WHO
Gatwa joined the show in 2023, marking the first time Doctor was regularly played by a black actor, although Jo Martin has made several appearances as the mysterious "Fugitive Doctor," an incarnation of debateable provenance, since 2020 (including in this current season). Gatwa's time in the TARDIS has been steered by returning showrunner Russell T. Davies, who brought the show back from a long hiatus in 2005 and took it to immense success before leaving in 2010. He returned in 2023 to help see the show through its 60th anniversary celebrations, initially with a returning David Tennant playing the Fourteenth Doctor for three specials before regenerating into Gatwa's Fifteenth. This era has also been co-produced with Disney+, resulting in impressive production values and international distribution.
However, this move has had questionable success, with mixed reactions to episodes. Episodes like Space Babies and Empire of Death have been castigated, whilst Dot & Bubble, 73 Yards and The Well have enjoyed critical acclaim. More worrying has been a ratings drop the show has been dealing with for the better part of a decade becoming more of a ratings deluge, with only 2.7 million viewers tuning in for the first-run airings of some episodes, the lowest in its history. Adjusted ratings for catchup and BBC iPlayer are coming more regularly in the 4 million range, not counting Disney+, and the show has been maintaining an average position as the 9th or 10th most-watched programme of the week, which is what it actually enjoyed back in the Tennant and Smith glory years, so the BBC has been less panicky about this than might be imagined, but certainly the hope that Davies could make the show appointment TV and bring it back to the forefront of the cultural conversation has been dashed.
Disney would also only commit to finding the show's performance for them on streaming to be "okay," for the relatively limited outlay (one rumour is that Disney is contributing about $3.5 million per episode, half or less of the total compared to the BBC, which is almost a tenth of what some of Disney's own headline shows are costing).
Neither the BBC nor Disney have committed to a further season of Doctor Who. The current series was the fifteenth since its return in 2005, but only the fifth since 2017, with lengthy gaps between seasons caused by COVID, production and scheduling problems. Davies had promised to end this with a return to the one season a year schedule popularised in 2005, but that plan failed at some point, with neither the BBC nor Disney willing to commit to a third series under their contract, possibly after Series 14 launched to only moderate success. Plans to start shooting Series 16 in March 2025 had been made, with Gatwa confirming his involvement on a talk show and Davies confirming four or more scripts had been written, but clearly plans changed.
More notable is that set leaks confirmed that Series 15 was due to end with the Doctor, Ruby and Belinda celebrating at a nightclub, then a face from the Doctor's past showing up, leading to a cliffhanger with Gatwa firmly still in the role for the following series. German Disney+ leaked an image from this version of the ending, confirming at least some aspects of it. However, the cast and crew apparently reconvened in February 2025 to reshoot the ending to the episode, with Gatwa now regenerating. Rumours speak of other filming opportunities opening up that would tie Gatwa to other projects for an uncomfortably long time (so don't be surprised to see an announcement in the near future of him joining another TV show or movie in a major role) and, with the BBC and Disney unable to commit to filming dates for the next series, he had to move on. What is true and what is speculation will only become clear with time.
Enhancing the surprise (for those not tuned into the spoiler sites) was the return of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, who made a surprise visit to help the Doctor through his regeneration. But the biggest shock was left for the very end: the Fifteenth Doctor apparently regenerated into a new form identical to that of his former companion Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper. Rose appeared as a regular companion in 2005 and 2006 before making a return appearance in 2008. Piper reappeared during the 50th Anniversary Special in 2013 to play "The Moment," a sentient Time Lord weapon that takes on familiar forms. Whilst the Doctor has been played by actors with Doctor Who form before - Sixth Doctor Colin Baker had previously played a Time Lord military commander, whilst Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi had previously played a Roman and a Whitehall bureaucrat - they've never been played by an actor who had previously played one of their companions before.
More curiously the credits only said "introducing Billie Piper," without the usual tagline of "as the Doctor," or "as Doctor Who," which almost every previous Doctor has enjoyed. The BBC's accompanying press release and comments by Davies and Piper also only avoided directly saying she is playing the Sixteenth Doctor, despite the clear implication on-screen. The press release also said that Piper was planning to return to Doctor Who for "one last time," hinting that this might only be for one special or series rather than a long-term commitment. Of course, with no new season commissioned, there is the possibility (however slim) that she might not even get that.
The move is certainly interesting, with fandom predictably divided on the response, some pondering if this kind of stunt-casting is the only thing that can get eyeballs back on the show, or if it feels increasingly desperate. As usual, time will tell.
The Reality War, and all of Doctor Who's 14th and 15th series, are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer in the UK, and on Disney+ worldwide.
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