Doctor Who: Series 15 (Season 41)

The Doctor has parted with his previous companion, Ruby, and is again travelling time and space alone. He meets a potential new companion, Belinda, a human abducted from Earth by alien robots, but she only wants to go home. To the Doctor's alarm, every attempt to return her home fails: the TARDIS is simply unable to return to Belinda's time. The Doctor and Belinda have to go "the long way round" in order to return to Earth in May 2025...a date of huge significance for the human race.

The fourteenth series of the relaunched Doctor Who was an attempt to clear the decks and get the show back into the big leagues, after a decade of gradual commercial decline under previous showrunners Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall. Russell T. Davies, the superstar writer who'd relaunched the show to huge success in 2005, returned with plans for a connected number of different shows in the same universe, with the main show to be led by a charismatic new actor (the charismatic Ncuti Gatwa), all backed by big money courtesy of a new international distribution deal with Disney+.

Things didn't exactly pan out, with the show's commercial decline not only continuing but accelerating (despite a brief bump of interest in the specials led by David Tennant). Crucially, the show delivered several hugely-praised episodes (such as 73 Yards and Dot & Bubble) but also possibly the worst single episode since 2005 (Space Babies). More to the point, there was general discontent with the show's tone, which seem pitched towards very young viewers who simply weren't interested, and with the season's "mystery box" approach to storytelling, setting up companion Ruby Sunday as a puzzle to be solved, "subverting expectations" by giving her the most ordinary backstory possible and then discarding her immediately. The season had a very mixed reception as a result.

This second series under Davies' stewardship continues to be a mixed bag. The Christmas special Joy to the World, penned by Steven Moffat, has a huge amount of potential which isn't well-realised. Much-heralded guest star Nicola Coughlan hasn't got a lot to do or work with, and it's Steph de Whalley's scene-stealing turn as hotel manager Anita (who has to work with the Doctor for a year whilst he waits for his timestream to sort itself out) which becomes the most successful idea from the episode. Otherwise it's a little underwhelming.

The season itself kicks off with The Robot Revolution, introducing new companion Belinda Chandra (a great performance by Varada Sethu, of Andor fame and who had a guest spot in the previous season's Boom). Potentially clever ideas are let down by a clunky denouncement and the episode lurching between tones without much elegance or subtlety.

Lux puts the Doctor and Belinda in a Miami cinema in the 1950s, where they are menaced by a cartoon character who tears itself out of the screen. An impressive technical feat which combines real menace and tension, and a brief nod at 1950s social issues without smashing the viewer over the head with them with the subtlety of a mallet. A rare example of Davies knowing when less is more.

The Well is easily the season's - and the entire era's - highlight and sees the Doctor having to deal with a creature that can only be perceived in certain circumstances. The atmosphere is creepy, the tension builds superbly and the episode is enhanced by a terrific guest performance by Rose Ayling-Ellis.

Lucky Day is an almost wholly Doctor-and-Belinda-lite episode, with the story focusing on Ruby and UNIT on Earth as they deal with an unusual threat. There's something deliciously contrarian in the Doctor Who universe that the most successful conspiracy theorists are the ones who don't believe in aliens, telepaths or computers controlling everything, and Jonah Hauer-King gives a great performance as the supremely punchable Conrad. It's Millie Gibson, once again, who emerges as the star of the episode with her enthusiastic performance. However, once the story reaches its well-executed midpoint twist, Davies seems at a loss how to proceed, and the episode bogs down in lots of righteous shouting before an unsatisfying ending.

The Story & The Ending is an episode about the power of story and myth, as retold through a group of customers attending a barbershop in Lagos, Nigeria. It's a richly atmospheric piece, thanks to Inua Ellams' excellent script, and there's some tremendous visuals. The episode is let down a little bit by not having any real location shooting in Nigeria, an odd limitation when the press for the show is constantly hollering about the increased budget (recalling that the supposedly much cheaper Chibnall era had multiple episodes shot on location in Africa). But the inventiveness and atmosphere here is compelling.

The Interstellar Song Contest is a surprisingly enjoyable, fun bit of total nonsense, with the Doctor and Belinda attending "Eurovision but in space," complete with minor C-list celebrities and some bonkers novelty acts like the meme-generating "Dugga Doo." There's some good comic beats but the episode is let down a little by pulling its punches and teasing the return of the Doctor's long, long-missing granddaughter Susan (last seen in an episode that aired in 1983), only to not really do anything with the idea.

The show's two-part finale is a mixed bag. The first episode sees Earth transformed into an unquestioning state loyal to the Rani (a superb performance by Achie Panjabi) with even the Doctor and Belinda unable to remember their true identities. Obviously, eventually they realise something is up and lead the fight back. Wish World is a little clunky but builds up a nice feeling of dread and tension. 

Unfortunately, this promise is immediately squandered in The Reality War. As is now well-known, the original plan for the episode (which would have addressed Susan and other story threads) was completely derailed by Ncuti Gatwa's decision to leave, resulting in hasty reshoots and a complete change to the second half of the story. These decisions result in a hasty removal of the Rani, the complete pointlessness of teasing the return of Omega and then doing nothing interesting with him, and then having the Doctor stumble around for half the episode before finally regenerating. It's great to see some old faces returning, but the episode feels like it's the walking wounded, whatever original promise it had lost as it struggles to tell a different story to the one it was set up for.

As the confusing episode ends, fans will likely be left wondering what the heck happened with Susan, if the Doctor has imposed a child who shouldn't exist on his companion Belinda for no apparent reason, and why the Doctor now looks like one of his former companions. A whiff of desperation can be detected, as if Davies is more interested in stoking the fires of Reddit and celebrity columns rather than just telling a good story with a good enough reason for existing.

The fifteenth series of the relaunched Doctor Who (***½) is solid. It has a potential future classic and several very good episodes. No Space Babies here. But the season-long arc is resolved painfully blandly, the final episode is a total mess (for the second year in a row), and the season somehow ends up feeling less than the sum of its parts. The cliffhanger is daft, and there's a general lack of confidence to proceedings, which frustrates after the good work done by The Well, Lux and The Story & The Engine.

• 15X1: Joy to the World (***½)
• 15.1: The Robot Revolution (***)
• 15.2: Lux (****)
• 15.3: The Well (*****)
• 15.4: Lucky Day (***½)
• 15.5: The Story & The Engine (****)
• 15.6: The Interstellar Song Contest (***½)
• 15.7: Wish World (***½)
• 15.8: The Reality War (**½)

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Doctor Who: Series 14 (Season 40)

The Thirteenth Doctor has regenerated into the Fourteenth, but the new Doctor is shocked to find himself wearing the same face as a prior incarnation. Returning to Earth, he is immediately reunited with former companion Donna Noble, and plunged into a sequence of events hinting at the arrival of a terrible old enemy. That threat resolved, the Fifteenth Doctor arrives to take over the mantle, and solve the mystery of Ruby Sunday.

It's fair to sat that the Chris Chibnall years of Doctor Who, spanning Series 11 - 13 of the "new" era, were divisive at best. His first season was weak, with variable writing and some dreadful episodes. Things improved, until his final run of episodes (the Flux mini-series and the splendid specials Eve of the Daleks and Power of the Doctor) was respectably solid, dragged down only by the awful Legend of the Sea Devils. But plunging ratings and dwindling audience appreciation saw the BBC decide to regroup and go in a new direction.

And that new direction was, er, an old one. Showrunner Russell T. Davies, who had brought the show back from the abyss in 2005, returned. He brought back David Tennant, the most popular of the new Doctors, with him, and also reintroduced Catherine Tate as Donna. The Doctor-Donna pairing helped make Series 4 arguably the strongest of Davies' original run.

This back-to-basics approach was hugely popular with the BBC but also appealed to Disney, coming on board as international distributor for the first time. It also helped celebrate the show's 60th anniversary in 2023 without having to resort to a "multi-Doctor special," something Davies was not keen on, despite the success it had last time out. Disney also seems to have been keen to try to get the show back to a clean slate to appeal to new viewers.

These three specials are...okay? They're certainly not the resounding back-to-form smash hit successes I think anyone was hoping for, but they're a long way from disastrous. The Star Beast - somewhat randomly - adapts a 1980 comic book story where the Doctor has to help the cute-and-helpless Meep, who turns out to be more than he seems. The result is a fun knockabout adventure, though it has to be said the forced comedic beats are torturous at best (and makes one recall that the first Davies era could have some of the cringiest humour you'd ever seen in your life, but you can overlook it for spectacular episodes like Human Nature or Blink).

Wild Blue Yonder is the trilogy's most "standard" adventure, with the Doctor and Donna arriving on an abandoned spacecraft and encountering some really odd creatures. This is an episode that, at its best, is eerie and discomforting in the way the best Doctor Who can be, and early on feels like a classic in the making. Unfortunately. the episode is let down by the idea not really being strong enough to fill 54 minutes, and some of the effects are downright woeful considering that the Disney influx of cast reportedly doubled the show's budget (the show looking cheaper visually than during the Chibnall era, despite having more resources, becomes a recurring problem). As a result the episode feels like a lot of unfulfilled potential.

The Giggle sees the return of old-school villain the Celestial Toymaker, now played with charismatic relish by Neil Patrick Harris, as he takes on the Doctor with the fate of reality at stake. The Doctor has to join forces with UNIT to take down this most cunning of opponents. This is easily the strongest of the three specials, thanks to Harris's superb performance and Davies giving him some terrific dialogue, with a deadly battle of wits between the Toymaker and the Doctor. Unfortunately, a promising and disturbing episode peters out at the end, with Davies feeling a little too clever in himself in coming up with the idea of "bigeneration," allowing the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors (the latter played Ncuti Gatwa) to coexist and team up to take down the Toymaker. The end of the episode is well-intentioned with some nice lines on mental health and a brand new start for Fifteen, but it's also a bit vague and confusing. It feels like the need to introduce the Fifteenth Doctor through an unnecessary gimmick dilutes the episode of its power. Still, Gatwa makes an immediate, positive impression as the Fifteenth Doctor.

The Church on Ruby Road is the 2023 Christmas special, and the first Doctor Who Christmas special since 2017. The special introduces new companion Ruby Sunday, played with winning charisma by Millie Gibson. The storyline resolves around time-travelling musical goblins, which feels a bit random (though turns out to be part of a wider storyline about fantasy invading the scientifically plausible universe), but Gatwa and Gibson sell the hell out of it, resulting in a mostly watchable slice of nonsense. Davies also opens a mystery box about Ruby's origins, which (at this stage) intriguing and a bit eerie. However, there is a feeling here that we've done the whole "companion as a puzzle for the Doctor to solve" thing before with Clara, and that was done better. Still, an okay start to this Doctor - companion pairing.

That doesn't last long though. Space Babies is the first episode of Series 14 proper and is terrible. The Doctor and Ruby arrive on a spaceship and are chased around a bit by a terrifying monster. This is promising. They then find the spaceship is crewed by talking babies, which is...not so much. Cue lots of of horrible lip-synching and some over-enthusiastic voice acting, but it can't really overcome the weak script, poor dialogue and the laughable explanation for the monster. This is not a promising opening to proceedings.

The Devil's Chord fortunately sees an immediate improvement, with the Doctor having to face down the mysterious Maestro, an entity which can weaponise music. This intersects with a visit to 1963 where the Doctor and Ruby want to meet the Beatles and run afoul of Maestro. The ending of the episode is a little weak (despite the excuse for a fun musical number), but the deliciously evil performance of Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro strengthens the episode.

Boom sees the return of former showrunner Steven Moffat with what he does best, a conceptual episode. The concept is that the Doctor steps on a landmine and can't get off without killing himself, resulting in Ruby having to try to save the day solo. It's not Moffat's strongest work, but it's a solid enough piece about the commercialisation of warfare, with weightier themes than Davies' last few scripts.

By this point the new era of Doctor Who feels like it's off to an underwhelming start and needs a shot in the arm, and fortunately it immediately gets it in the form of 73 Yards. One of Davies' strongest-ever scripts, the episode see the Doctor vanish after stepping into a fairy circle, leaving Ruby alone, haunted by a woman who appears exactly 73 yards away from her. Whenever anyone speaks to the woman, they immediately flee in terror and disown Ruby, including her mother and members of UNIT. Unable to enter the TARDIS, Ruby goes on to live the entire rest of her life. As a high-concept piece, this is a rival to Midnight and Turn Left, falling short only because we never get a convincing reason why people scream and run away from the mystery woman, which feels like a rather large plot hole. Still, an eerie and strange episode with a great guest performance by Aneurin Barnard, and a totally dominant performance by Millie Gibson who was dropped in the deep end here (this was her first-filmed episode) and smashed it.

Dot & Bubble is another concept episode, this time the concept being that we're pretty much locked into the POV of guest character Lindy Pepper-Bean (a tremendous performance by Callie Cooke), a member of a species who spend their whole life locked in a literal social media bubble (a VR bubble that surrounds their heads with people messaging them, only rarely turning the bubble off). The metaphor is not the subtlest (though delivered a bit more cleverly than normal) but the setup makes for great tension as the Doctor and Ruby can only communicate with Lindy through IM and have to convince her of a looming alien threat and how to get to safety. The episode's concept is great, and it has an absolutely vicious sting in the tail that really caps the whole thing off, with Gatwa giving his best performance to date. The only reason the episode drops a note is that this is the second episode in a row which barely features the Doctor (an unfortunate side-effect of Gatwa's Sex Education Season 4 filming schedule overrunning), which feels a bit rough given we're still getting to know him.

Rogue is a Doctor Who-by-the-numbers story, a period piece set in 1813 with the Doctor and Ruby attending a period ball that's upset by shapeshifting aliens. There's a nice spin as a time-travelling bounty hunter (played with charismatic gusto by Jonathan Goff) shows up and thinks the Doctor is one of the aliens, leading to some tension as they try to prove their good intentions to one another whilst Ruby investigates the real aliens. The episode relies a little too heavily on the novelty of the Doctor and Rogue's flirtatious relationship (which is not as much of a novelty as Davies seems to think it is since, y'know, Captain Jack exists) rather than focusing on the primary conflict, but the pacing is good. The rest of the guest cast is outstanding as well, with Indira Varma giving a typically great performance and Camilla Aiko providing a winning turn.

The Legend of Ruby Sunday sets up the season finale with some genuinely chilling moments, as the Doctor tries to uncover the identity of Ruby's mother with cutting-edge UNIT technology. The tension and mystery builds with relish until we get to an epic cliffhanger ending, the effectiveness of which is only let down by the majority of viewers having zero idea whom the surprise bad guy actually is.

Empire of Death takes the promise of Legend and pretty much flushes it away. Legend built up a sense of genuine dread through good pacing and some eerie setpieces. Empire is just bland, rushed, confusing, illogical and defeats the returning villain with extreme rapidity. Everyone does their best with a confused script, but the episode just feels like a huge letdown.

Series 14 and its attendant specials (***½) are okay, two outstanding near-classics let down by a generally more juvenile tone than the era immediately before, and the sheer awfulness of Space Babies and Empire of Death. This isn't Russell T. Davies strutting back onto the stage to save the day with the greatest hits, its more like to play his new, late-career album which is okay, bordering on solid, but sound a bit like a 60-year-old guy trying to get down with the kids a bit too hard. The best episodes in this batch are when everyone forgets they're trying to save Doctor Who, chills out and just writes good episodes. When anyone (especially Davies) overthinks it, things start falling apart. Still, a long way from being the worst season of Doctor Who in its history, or since its reboot, and the optimism is there that maybe we can get back to the franchise at its best.

• 14X1: The Star Beast (***½)
• 14X2: Wild Blue Yonder (***½)
• 14X3: The Giggle (****)
• 14X4: The Church on Ruby Road (***½)
• 14.1: Space Babies (*½)
• 14.2: The Devil's Chord (***½)
• 14.3: Boom (****)
• 14.4: 73 Yards (****½)
• 14.5: Dot & Bubble (****½)
• 14.6: Rogue (***½)
• 14.7: The Legend of Ruby Sunday (****)
• 14.8: Empire of Death (**)

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DOCTOR WHO springs shocking season cliffhanger

NOTE: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MOST RECENT EPISODE AND SEASON OF DOCTOR WHO

Doctor Who - more or less - sprung a surprise regeneration on viewers at the conclusion of tonight's episode, The Reality War. Ncuti Gatwa bowed out as the Fifteenth Doctor after just two seasons and eighteen episodes (and the end of a nineteenth) in the role, one-and-a-half years after his first appearance, marking the shortest tenure for a Doctor since Christopher Eccleston departed in 2005 after just one season, thirteen episodes and three months. This is also the first time that a regeneration was not heavily-trailed in the media beforehand, though several spoiler sites did leak the news a few weeks before broadcast.

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.

DOCTOR WHO celebrates the 20th anniversary of its revival

Doctor Who is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its revival. The episode Rose, written by Russell T. Davies, aired on the BBC on 26 March 2005, introducing the Ninth Doctor (played by Christopher Eccleston) and his companion Rose (Billie Piper) to a whole new generation of fans, sixteen years after the original run of the show had come to an end.

Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, in a publicity still for the launch of the new Doctor Who in 2005.

Russell T. Davies had been a Doctor Who fan since childhood and had been trying to resurrect the show since he began his writing career. One of his first projects, Dark Season (1991), was almost a stealth teen revival of the show, featuring an eccentric, brainy protagonist (Marcie, played by Victoria Lambert) and her two "companions," one of whom was played by Kate Winslet, fighting an evil corporation trying to conquer the world with a killer AI. As Davies' star rose, he tried several times to relaunch the show, with the BBC strongly considering a proposal from him called Doctor Who 2000 in 1999 but demurring due to ongoing attempts to launch a feature film based on the franchise. It was only after the enormous success of Davies' Queer as Folk on Channel 4 that the BBC courted him seriously and agreed to revive Doctor Who, announcing the news in late 2003.

To revive the show, Davies decided to make sweeping changes to the format, many of which troubled long-time fans who'd been waiting a decade and a half for regular new episodes. He chose to model the show after contemporary American genre dramas like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He decided 45-minute episodes could pack more story and worldbuilding in than the old 25-minute format, but he also decided to make most of the episodes standalones, compared to the old format of serials consisting of 4-6 episodes (with outliers of stories lasting up to 14 episodes). This meant mostly doing away with cliffhangers - a staple of the classic show - and wrapping up stories very quickly (after some consideration he did allow for a few two-parters, restoring the cliffhanger experience, albeit occasionally). A common complaint of Davies' initial run was that episodes were too fast-paced, hectic and difficult to follow. But he also integrated serialised storytelling, with each season having a mystery or story that unfolds in the background of the individual episode storylines, only coming to the fore at the end of each season.

David Tennant is the most popular actor to play the Doctor since the show's return. He played the Tenth Doctor from 2005 to 2010, subsequently returning for the 50th anniversary special in 2013. He then returned again for three special episodes celebrating the 60th anniversary in 2023, playing the Fourteenth Doctor. 

He also decided to revamp the show's mythology. Between the original show and the new run, a vast "Time War" had taken place, in which the Doctor's homeworld of Gallifrey had been destroyed and his species, the Time Lords, rendered extinct. The Doctor is dealing with the stress of this event, leaving him somewhat more aloof than he was before, until he meets young London shop-worker Rose Tyler, whom reminds him of his sense of adventure and morality. As the first series unfolds, we learn that the Doctor's most enduring foes, the Daleks, were also destroyed in the Time War, but it's not too long before the Doctor starts encountering survivors of the conflict. Events culminate in the epic series finale, where he has to hold off an entire battle fleet of Daleks from destroying Earth.

One of Davies' masterstrokes was casting Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. Eccleston was known mostly for very serious, intense roles in TV shows like Our Friends in the North and Cracker, and movies like Shallow Grave. Davies had worked with Eccleston on The Second Coming, a mini-series where Eccleston plays someone who may (or may not) be the Second Coming of Jesus, except this time around the Son of God has decided to incarnate in Manchester (where else?). For himself, Eccleston had wanted to try his hands at more comedic roles and being a role-model for children. His casting brought gravitas to the project. Davies was also impressed with the audition of Billie Piper, a former teen pop star who was looking to reinvent herself as an actress. Piper brought tabloid interest to the new show and cynicism about stunt casting, but her performance ultimately won over doubters.

Matt Smith played the Eleventh Doctor from 2010 to 2014. He remains the youngest and least-known actor to have played the role, but was a huge success, with the show achieving arguably its highest level of international success during his run. The role made Smith a star, paving the way for his later roles in The Crown and his ongoing role in House of the Dragon.

Many people, including those at the BBC, were worried about reviving the show. They feared the premise was too hokey and kids playing video games or watching reality shows or cooler US series wouldn't be interested. They needn't have worried. Doctor Who's return was an immense ratings success and, after some initial doubting, a critical one as well. The BBC, impressed with the show's performance, quickly commissioned another season, and almost immediately ran into a major problem.

Christopher Eccleston had not enjoyed filming, especially in the early going of the season, and had clashed badly with one of the directors. Eccleston felt he did not have sufficient backup from the producers and decided to quit (he almost changed his mind after the later blocks of filming went far more smoothly, but decided to stick to his guns). The story was threatening to leak to the media, so the BBC rushed out a press release which included quotes from Eccleston that he'd never said, leading to friction.

Peter Capaldi played the Twelfth Doctor from 2013 to 2017, with Jenna Coleman playing his companion Clara from 2012 to 2015. Although several of the show's most critically-acclaimed episodes aired during this tenure, the Capaldi era was criticised for being too adult and dark, and saw the show start to lose viewers, despite dealing with more interesting storylines.

Davies steadied the ship by convincing David Tennant - whom he'd worked with on a Casanova mini-series - to step in to replace Eccleston and quickly moved into production on the second series. However, it appears that attempts to mend fences with Eccleston, if any were made, were not successful. Though Eccleston later returned for some audio dramas and renewed his friendship with Billie Piper, he refused to consider returning to the show under Davies' stewardship (he did consider a request to return for the 50th anniversary celebrations under Steven Moffat, but ultimately demurred).

Despite that bump in the road, Doctor Who's return was extraordinarily successful. Since 2005, the revamped Doctor Who has aired 188 episodes across 14 seasons of television. It has managed to air at least one episode in every year since its return (though 2016 and 2019 only saw one episode apiece air for the whole year). Six actors have played the Doctor since the show's resurrection: Christopher Eccleston (2005), David Tennant (2005-10, 2022-23), Matt Smith (2010-14), Peter Capaldi (2013-17), Jodie Whittaker (2017-22) and Ncuti Gatwa (2023-present), although several alternate/"guest" incarnations of the Doctor have been played by actors including John Hurt and Jo Martin. In addition, all of the surviving earlier actors to have played the Doctor have made returning guest appearances, with the deceased ones returning via stock footage or being recast. At least sixteen regular "companion" characters have also starred in the show (depending on how you count them, there could be quite a few more). Three showrunners have helmed the show since its return: Russell T. Davies (2005-10, 2023-present), Steven Moffat (2010-17) and Chris Chibnall (2018-22).

The revamped show also resulted in three spin-off shows airing: Torchwood (2006-11), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007-11) and Class (2016).

Jodie Whittaker played the Thirteenth Doctor from 2017 to 2022, the first woman to play the role long-term. Although her performance was praised, her era was contentious for inconsistent writing, dubious lore retcons, too many characters and, after a strong start, declining ratings.

Doctor Who has faced some stiff challenges since its return. The BBC considered cancelling the show when both Tennant and Davies decided to leave after a run of special episodes ending in 2010, but decided to give new actor Matt Smith and new showrunner Steven Moffat a chance, with both delivering the show to new heights of success. The show arguably achieved its cultural zenith during its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2013, with a special episode shown in cinemas around the world and the show making a breakthrough in the United States, albeit a relatively short-lived one. However, the show suffered from the BBC's declining fortunes through the 2010s, with the corporation's funding under severe strain. The show went from airing a season a year to sometimes splitting a season and its attendant specials across two or even three years. The episode count was gradually cut from 13 at the start of the decade to 10 by its end. The show was also buffeted by the arrival of streaming platforms, with first-run ratings gradually declining over the latter 2010s. Production problems caused by COVID badly impacted the end of Jodie Whittaker's era.

Critically, the revived era of the show was always somewhat divisive, but with the showing enjoying huge ratings, merchandising sales and popular success, this was not a major problem until ratings started falling during the Peter Capaldi era. Some critics and fan reviewers argued the show had become too dark and depressing during this period, and younger viewers did not relate as well to Capaldi playing an older version of the Doctor. However, there was widespread praise for occasional classic episodes (like Listen and Heaven Sent). Reviewers became more negative with the arrival of the Chris Chibnall era, with widespread criticism of the writing and characterisation, particularly the issues caused by a more crowded TARDIS crew (with four regular characters instead of just two, to try to lighten the workload on the actor playing the Doctor). There was also anger about the decision to retcon the Doctor's origin story, which was poorly-explained, even more poorly-explored and never really resolved. After an initial bump, this era saw ratings continue to decline.

Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday and Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, the incumbent TARDIS crew. Their era has seen Disney take over as co-financiers and international distributors for the franchise, but has had a mixed critical and commercial reception so far.

To reverse ailing fortunes, the BBC re-hired Russell T. Davies and entered into a co-production and international distribution deal with Disney+. First-run ratings on the BBC continued to decline, but Disney acknowledged the show had performed solidly for them (though not spectacularly). Critics continued to be divided, but there was at least universal agreement that the 8-episode seasons under the Disney deal were far too short to deliver satisfying story arcs, and a scheduling issue with new actor Ncuti Gatwa (that saw almost half his first season be made up of "Doctor-light" episodes) adversely impacted the show.

All sorts of rumours are now floating around regarding the show's future. A new eight-episode season, the fifteenth since its return (and forty-first in total), is in the can and will start airing on 12 April. A five-episode spin-off mini-series, The War Between the Land and the Sea, is also in the can and is expected to air in late 2025, completing the deal between the BBC and Disney+. Whether the deal will be renewed or not remains to be seen.

If the revamped Doctor Who does end here, it will have been a hell of a run, mostly very successful but with some missed opportunities. Given Doctor Who's universal and timeless themes, I'm pretty sure it will eventually return in some form or another, hopefully not taking another sixteen years to do so.

New DOCTOR WHO spinoff mini-series announced

The BBC and Disney+ have confirmed they have commissioned a new mini-series spin-off from Doctor Who. The War Between the Land and the Sea enters production next month and will air in 2025.

The five-part series is co-written by Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies and previous Who writer Peter McTighe, whilst Who director Dylan Holmes-Williams will direct. Jemma Redgrave will reprise her long-running role as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the head of UNIT, with Alexander Devrient reprising his role as UNIT Colonel Ibrahim. Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Loki) and Russell Tovey (Becoming Human) will lead the new series. Both had previously appeared in Doctor Who, but it appears likely they will be playing new characters.

The new series sees a threat to the human race emerging from the ocean, which UNIT leads the fight against in the Doctor's absence. Unconfirmed rumours say this threat will be the Sea Devils, a popular recurring Doctor Who enemy who recently appeared in the 2022 TV special Legend of the Sea Devils.

In the meantime, Doctor Who fans can look forwards to additional Christmas Specials in 2024 and 2025, and an eight-episode new season, which is already in the can and expected to air in the spring.

Deadline reports on DOCTOR WHO's fortunes for the BBC and Disney+

Deadline has posted an article musing on the performance of the newest season of Doctor Who for both the BBC and its new international partner, Disney+.

Doctor Who returned in November 2023 in a blaze of publicity with fan-favourite actors David Tennant and Catherine Tate returning as the Doctor and Donna Noble for three specials, timed to celebrate the franchise's 60th anniversary. The three specials did well, with around 7 million viewers tuning in overnight in the UK for the reunion celebrations. This was followed by the 2023 Christmas special, which was viewed by 7.5 million people tuning in to see Ncuti Gatwa's first outing as the Fifteenth Doctor.

Series 14 proper then started airing in May and saw a mixed critical reception, with episodes like Space Babies being castigated whilst Boom and 73 Yards were much more warmly received. The overnight UK ratings saw a significant decline to under 3 million for almost the entire season. Consolidated ratings later showed a climb to just under 6 million, which was healthier but still seen as disappointing compared to the specials. Some commentators pointed out that Series 14 debuted on the BBC iPlayer streaming service almost a day before the initial transmission, but the streaming ratings took longer to count, which skewed initial results. Whilst this was true, the long-term consolidated ratings continune to show a drop, if not as bad as first feared.

Disney+ revealed limited data on the show, confirming it was the most popular UK show on the platform (not a vast field, it has to be said) and reaching as high as the seventh-most popular show on the platform at times. A Disney insider reported the performance as "okay but not stellar."

Deadline's reporting may be flawed, however; they report the budget for the new era at around $13 million per episode, but returning showrunner Russell T. Davies has already said the budget is "well under" $10 million. Other insider reports suggesting a budget of around $7 million per episode, an approximate doubling from the $3-3.5 million budget of the Chris Chibnall era, which seems much more in line with what we see on screen. This budget is unfathomably generous compared to any other era of Doctor Who, although still well down on the biggest streaming shows (Disney's Star Wars and Marvel shows are believed to all be well over $20 million per episode).

Another issue with the Deadline article is a quote suggesting that Doctor Who's 2005 return may have been modestly successful to start with; this is in fact erroneous, with the near-11 million viewers tuning in for Rose being acknowledged as a massive success even by 2005 standards.

This low-ish budget, shared between Disney and the BBC, may give Doctor Who a chance at continuing further if it can build on these relatively humble beginnings. Series 15 is already in the can and expected to air in mid-2025, with a decision on further seasons expected around then.

DOCTOR WHO celebrates its 60th anniversary

Doctor Who has turned sixty years old. The BBC's longest-running drama series aired for the first time on 23 November 1963. Sixty years, forty seasons, exactly 300 stories, 871 episodes, fourteen Doctors and 57 (ish) companions later, the show is still going strong, with a trio of anniversary specials due to start airing on Saturday, seeing David Tennant return to the role of the Doctor.

Doctor Who was created by a team at the BBC, consisting of Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson, Alice Frick, Donald Bull, Anthony Coburn, C.E. Webber, David Whittaker, Mervyn Pinfield and Verity Lambert, who became the show's first executive producer and effective showrunner. The show was designed to fill a Saturday evening gap that had opened between the sports and a music show, with the BBC reasoning they needed a show that could hold the attention of sports fans and ease younger viewers into the pop show.

After incoming Head of Drama Sydney Newman expressed a wish to develop a science fiction idea, the BBC realised it could draw upon a pre-existing stockpile of sets, props and costumes developed for various historical shows over the years, to be used in a time travel series. The production team realised they could also alternate historical and educational stories with science fiction "fun" episodes. Although the development team came up with various aspects of the show, Newman is usually credited as the show's creator for coming up with the name, the premise and the idea of a time-travelling machine larger inside than out.

Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire developed the show's distinct music, whilst Bernard Lodge and Norman Taylor created the show's distinctive title sequence, echoes of which can be found in more modern versions.

The original cast. From left to right: Ian Chesterton (William Russell), the First Doctor (William Hartnell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and Susan (Carole Ann Ford).

For the cast, veteran British film actor William Hartnell was cast as the role of the Doctor, a mysterious alien from another world in possession of a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), a machine capable of travelling anywhere and anywhen. He was accompanied on his travels his granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford). In the very first episode, An Unearthly Child, Susan's schoolteachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), become mystified by Susan's incredible brilliance in certain areas but shocking ignorance at others, and decide to travel to her address to talk to her grandfather. However, the address is for a junkyard. They find the TARDIS disguised as a police telephone box, but soon stumble inside and are stunned at its far larger interior dimensions. The Doctor, panicking at the unexpected discovery, launches the TARDIS but loses control of its navigation systems, which are apparently malfunctioning. Over the course of many adventures, the Doctor attempts to return Ian and Barbara to their home time safely. On their travels, they journey to ancient Rome and the court of Marco Polo, are shrunk to the size of insects and encounter their most persistent foe, the Daleks of Skaro.

The show's gruelling production schedule (producing over 40 episodes a year back in those days) took a toll on both cast and crew. Within just three years, the last person left standing from the show's launch was Hartnell, and he was suffering from increasing ill health. When he decided to quit the show early in its fourth season, it was assumed that would be it: you can't have a show called Doctor Who without the Doctor, can you?

Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor (1966-69).

However, the production team hit on the idea that, since the Doctor was an alien, he could perhaps "die" but then be reborn in a new, younger body. Hartnell was consulted on the idea and he gave it his approval, even suggesting his own replacement: Patrick Troughton. Troughton was duly cast and the Doctor changed his appearance for the first time at the end of the classic serial The Tenth Planet, which was also notable for introducing the Cybermen.

The reign of the Second Doctor was more consistent - he was joined by Highlander Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) for almost its entire length as his companion - but saw some changes in the format. The historical stories, which had never been hugely popular, were quietly dropped. The Doctor would still continue to visit historical periods but now would encounter science fiction threats there. There was a renewed focus on monsters, and the Second Doctor's reign saw the introduction of the Ice Warriors, Macra and the Great Intelligence, all of whom would return in the modern era of the show. Towards the end of the Second Doctor's run, he visited Earth in the near future and encountered a military organisation known as UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce), ironically inspired by the various times the Doctor had defeated alien incursions with the help of local military or government forces.

Troughton decided that three years was the optimal time to remain on Doctor Who without being typecast; the so-called "Troughton Rule" of each Doctor staying for three years or three seasons would be followed by seven succeeding Doctors, with three staying for an even shorter period and only two for a longer period. With his departure at the end of the sixth season, airing in 1969, the BBC decided to revamp the show by making it in full colour, which came at the cost of reducing the episode count to a more modest 26 episodes a year.

Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor (1970-74).

Inspired by faster-moving US SF productions like Star Trek, not to mention the gadgets and action of the James Bond movies, there was a shift to more action. To save on costs, the TARDIS was grounded, with the Third Doctor, now played by Jon Pertwee, exiled to Earth by his own race, the Time Lords, for breaking their rules on non-interference. The Doctor joined UNIT as its scientific advisor and gained not just new companions but also a whole set of new allies, led by the formidable Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney). The Doctor also gained a nemesis, in the form of the evil Time Lord known as the Master (Roger Delgado). Their Holmes-and-Moriarty-like banter and bickering became a hallmark of the Third Doctor's reign. This era also saw the first multi-Doctor celebration in The Three Doctors (1973), where Pertwee, Troughton and Hartnell's Doctors are united by time travel to face the threat of the insane Time Lord known as Omega. Pertwee stayed in the role for five years (1970-74), electing to leave after Roger Delgado's death in a tragic car crash.

Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor (1974-81).

For the Fourth Doctor (1974-81), the BBC decided to cast the relatively unknown Tom Baker in the role. Baker's eccentric mannerisms, deep booming voice and idiosyncratic humour soon won him legions of fans, and his run on the show would generate many of the best-regarded Doctor Who stories of all time: The Ark in Space, Genesis of the Daleks, Pyramids of Mars, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Deadly Assassin, The Robots of Death, City of Death and more. Under Baker's reign, the show hits its highest-ever audience figures of over 16 million, and achieved its first breakthrough in the United States, with Baker stories airing on PBS creating a small but devoted following (including future Simpsons creator Matt Groening).

Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor (1981-84).

Baker stayed in the role for seven years, still a record, and may have stayed for longer, but incoming new producer John Nathan-Turner was keen for a revamp, feeling the show needed to be revitalised for the 1980s. For Baker's last season a new, more electronic theme tune and title sequence was developed, younger companions were introduced and Baker's tendency to adlib dialogue and improvise on set was heavily reigned in. Baker quit at the end of the eighteenth season and was replaced by the younger Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor (1981-84). During Davison's tenure it became clearer that the show's low budget was becoming extremely problematic in keeping the show relevant, and viewers interested, especially in the face of increasingly stiff competition from big-budget, glossy American shows. However, generally strong scripts ensured that Davison's reign was remembered fondly.

Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor (1984-86).

Davison was succeeded by Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor (1984-86), with the plan being that Baker's Doctor would be unpredictable and unstable, even dangerous, before evolving into a more civilised version of the Doctor. Unfortunately, this simply made him unlikeable out of the gate. Incoming, new BBC executives disliked the show and tried to kill it, but viewing figures remained reasonable. After an eighteen-month hiatus after Baker's first season, the show was brought back with a drastically cut episode count (to just 14 half-hour episodes) and a shift to a midweek timeslot opposite Britain's most popular show, Coronation Street, carefully designed to make the show unviable.

Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor (1987-89, 96).

Baker was also fired and replaced by Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor (1987-89), a comedian best known for an act involving putting ferrets in his trousers. Against the odds, McCoy played his Doctor as a master-manipulator and cunning instigator of plots, developing a formidable bond with his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred), a teenager from a rough London estate who thrives when taken on adventures in time and space. McCoy's era generated several classic stories and was on a creative and critical high when the BBC decided to "rest" show after its 26th season in 1989.

Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor (1996).

Doctor Who spent sixteen years in the wilderness, with only a single TV special in 1996 starring Paul McGann as the short-lived Eighth Doctor. The show continued to generate considerable income for the BBC through VHS and, later, DVD sales, toys, models, video games, comic books and a vast range of novels and short story collections (including stories by Russell T. Davies, Steven Moffat, Paul Cornell and Mark Gatiss, amongst many others). The BBC kept trying to relaunch the show as a big-budget movie, but could not attract significant Hollywood interest.

Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor (2005).

Finally, the BBC resurrected Doctor Who in 2005. Russell T. Davies, one of the hottest British TV writers in the business and a lifelong Doctor Who fan, picked up the reigns after the success of his dramas Queer as Folk, The Second Coming and Casanova. He returned the show to Saturday night primetime and recruited Christopher Eccleston to the play role of the Ninth Doctor, with former pop star Billie Piper playing his companion Rose. The new show shared continuity with the old, but was softly rebooted, with a new premise which saw the Doctor as the last survivor of his race after they were annihilated in the Great Time War against the Daleks.

David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor (2005-10).

The show saw impressive viewing figures on its return, with young children particularly swept up in its charm. The show started shifting vast amounts of merchandise, and picked up steam on BBC America in the US. There was an early hiccup when Eccleston quit after just one season due to creative differences with one of the directors, but he was quickly replaced by David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor (2005-10). Tennant's performance came to be regarded as iconic, on a par with that of Tom Baker for the classic show, and his popularity was impressive. He did three full seasons as the Doctor and a series of specials. During Davies' run he also extended the franchise's reach to other shows, with the adult-focused Torchwood (2006-11) and the kid-friendly Sarah-Jane Adventures (2007-11) both launching on his watch.

Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor (2010-13).

Tennant's departure coincided with that of Davies, and the immensely popular writer Steven Moffat picked to succeed Davies. He brought in Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor (2010-13), who brought a younger energy to proceedings. Under Smith's sure hand, the show experienced arguably the zenith of its appeal and fame, achieving a major, breakthrough success in profile in the United States. The 50th anniversary special, Day of the Doctor, aired in cinemas worldwide and saw huge viewing figures achieved.

Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor (2013-17).

The reign of the Twelfth Doctor (2013-17), played by Peter Capaldi, was critically acclaimed, particular for the episode Heaven Sent, but saw complaints about convoluted plotting. The show also experienced budget problems during this time, airing increasingly intermittently and dropping its episode count. There was also speculation that Moffat had stayed too long (eight years, only one less than John Nathan-Turner in the 1980s); he departed alongside Capaldi.

Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor (2017-22).

Capaldi was succeeded by Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor (2017-22), the first actress to play the role. Chris Chibnall, who had been writing for the show since the Russell T. Davies era, became showrunner off the back of his hot detective show Broadchurch (2013-17). The show became more filmic during this period, with most sophisticated effects and expansive location filming in South Africa. However, the budget continued to be squeezed, with the show dropping to just ten episodes per season and extremely long gaps between seasons (not helped by the COVID pandemic). The show also moved from Saturday to Sunday nights, and the Christmas Special was dropped in favour of a New Year's Special that attracted far less attention. The show's critical acclaim dropped to its lowest level since its return in 2005, with criticism of the overlarge cast (which sometimes left the Doctor with little screen time), leaden pacing and a curious decision to retcon the Doctor's origins. Viewing figures also fell significantly during this period.

David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor (2022-23).

Despite early discussions about a five-season run and story arc, Whittaker and Chibnall decided to leave after three seasons and a series of special episodes; ironically, their very last episode as also their best, and best-regarded. In a shock move, the BBC was able to recruit Russell T. Davies to return to the show. Davies had gained international stature after leaving Who in 2010 through a series of prestige dramas, including Years and Years and It's a Sin. Davies used his return to leverage impressive results: Doctor Who would return to Saturday nights, the Christmas Special would return, the entire Doctor Who archive would be made available via the BBC iPlayer, the show would move to an independent production company (Bad Wolf, founded by Davies' former friends and coworkers from during his original tenure on the show) and Disney+ would co-fund the series and distribute it internationally on its streaming platform. For the show's 60th Anniversary, Davies would also bring back Tennant, albeit playing the distinctive Fourteenth Doctor rather than the return of the Tenth.

Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor (2023-??).

It would be confirmed that Tennant's return would be limited, with Scottish-Rwandan actor Ncuti Gatwa cast as the Fifteenth Doctor, to debut in the 2023 Christmas Special. Gatwa is already filming his second season as the Doctor months before his first is due to air.

The appeal of Doctor Who is fairly obvious: the show can go anywhere in space or time. Despite a gradual accumulation of lore, backstory and story arcs over six decades, the show is mostly focused on standalone stories than anyone can enjoy. The show has always been aimed at family audiences, as Davies once said, to appeal to everyone from eight to eighty. The show features action, but the Doctor is reluctant to kill or use violence, preferring thinking and negotiation. The concept of regeneration, as well as the revolving door of companions, constantly allows the show to refresh itself every few years, with constant media interest in the next actor to take on the role.

That Doctor Who is still being made after sixty years is incredible. Hopefully it will go on at least sixty years more.

Entire (existing) run of DOCTOR WHO to be available on BBC iPlayer

The BBC have confirmed that the entire run of iconic science fiction series Doctor Who will be available on the BBC iPlayer streaming service from the start of November.

Returning showrunner Russell T. Davies has confirmed that he leveraged the deal as part of the conditions for his return to the franchise. Previously the BBC had only made the "new" run of the show - the one starting in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and subsequently carrying on through the David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker eras - available on the iPlayer whilst keeping the "old" run (from 1963 to 1989) available on legacy media or on the BritBox paid-for streaming service.

The move will see almost 800 episodes of Doctor Who available in one location for one time. Unfortunately, it will not be the complete run of the show: 97 episodes from the first six seasons (1963-69) remain missing following the BBC's junking policy of old episodes in the 1970s. Some of these missing episodes have been reconstructed for DVD and Blu-Ray with still photographs and audio recordings (the audio for all the episodes has survived), or the use of animation and the original audio tracks. It's unclear if these reconstructions will be made available as well.

It's also unclear if the episodes will include those that have been upscaled for release on Blu-Ray in the last few years, or just the standard versions. The BBC has confirmed that it will be adding subtitles, audio description and sign language to every single episode for the first time.

As well as both eras of Doctor Who, spin-off shows Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Class will also be available, along the 1996 TV movie (starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor), the various mini-episodes produced over the years, and every episode of behind-the-scenes show Doctor Who Confidential. The new service will also include some sixty new special features produced for the show's 60th Anniversary (due on 23 November), and thousands of documents and photographs, many rescanned at 8K for the first time.

So far the BBC has not confirmed if the two Doctor Who 1960s theatrical feature films - Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD - will be included.

Davies and the BBC have so far declined to confirm when three new episodes produced for the show's 60th Anniversary will air, except they will be in the month of November. David Tennant plays the Fourteenth Doctor, who has to find out why his new incarnation is identical to his Tenth. Ncuti Gatwa will take over as the Fifteenth Doctor for a Christmas Special airing in December, and then at least the next two full seasons of the show, the first to air in early 2024.

Davies has also confirmed that his plan is to produce at least nine new episodes of Doctor Who a year, with no more multi-year breaks between seasons, and there are plans for spin-off shows exploring other aspects of the setting (a new show revolving around Earth defence force UNIT is rumoured, but unconfirmed).

New DOCTOR WHO 60th anniversary specials trailer unveiled

The BBC has unveiled a new trailer for their upcoming trilogy of special episodes which will celebrate Doctor Who's 60th anniversary.

The trailer sees the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) - who for unclear reasons has the exact same face and personality as his tenth incarnation - arriving on contemporary Earth to find the planet in danger (as per usual). A key to the puzzle lies with his former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), but the last time they met, the Doctor had to wipe her memory of him to save her life. Should she remember who he is, the results could be fatal.

The trailer confirms the return of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), the head of UNIT, and also the arrival on Earth of the mysterious Beep the Meep (voiced by Miriam Margoyles) and their alien pursuers. Also appearing in this trilogy is a mysterious toyshop owner (Neil Patrick Harris), who appears to be an old acquaintance of the Doctor.

The Fourteenth Doctor has to save the planet, stop his companion's head exploding and pave the way for the arrival of his fifteenth incarnation (to be played by Ncuti Gatwa), all in just three episodes.

Doctor Who returns to the BBC and, internationally, Disney+, around the time of the anniversary on 23 November, although precise airdates have yet to be confirmed. As well as the three new episodes, there will be a Christmas special around 25 December before an eight-episode full season airs in the spring.