If you’re a fan of the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who, you may have been surprised to hear the news that the planned Christmas special for 2026 will no longer be made.

When the announcement was made on Wednesday, it also came with news that the team behind the show is leaving too.

This led to a huge reaction on socials, with some people believing that the show - which first aired way back in 1963 - is finishing for good, claiming that the BBC has cancelled it. But is this really true? BBC Bitesize Other Side of the Story has taken a look at the info to see if the Doctor has been exterminated forever, or has a chance of a whole new regeneration in the future.

What has been said about the future of Doctor Who?

A statement - also known as a press release - was shared on the official Doctor Who website saying that the 2026 Christmas special - which was announced last year - would not be made. It also said that the BBC wanted to carry on making the show and that different programme makers would be invited to bid for permission to be the new team behind Doctor Who and its next series at some point in the future.

Russell T Davies, the show’s chief writer, posted on Instagram that he was leaving Doctor Who too, while also saying that he had never written the script for the Christmas special and that he was “as excited as anyone to see what comes next”. Bad Wolf, the company which made the past two series of Doctor Who, also posted an image of the Tardis door closing to show that their time with the show had also come to an end.

Has Doctor Who been cancelled?

No, it hasn’t. When news like this happens, it’s important to look for primary sources of information. In this case, it is the official BBC statement about the future of Doctor Who. It says that the Christmas special is cancelled, but not the programme itself. It also makes clear that the BBC considers Doctor Who an important show and wants to continue making it, which is why other companies will be asked to come forward with plans for future series.

If any sites or posts are claiming Doctor Who has finished forever, it is speculation, not fact. Some posters could be exaggerating the news as a form of clickbait, to get more hits on their website or followers on socials. These posts could also be from people who dislike the show, its makers, or the BBC itself and want to spread disinformation - or fake news - about the programme in line with their own opinions.

Why do people think the show has been cancelled?

Doctor Who fans - like fans of other shows, bands or sports teams - can be very passionate about the thing they love. They could follow other fans on socials who think the same about it as they do. That creates an echo chamber - where you only see opinions that reflect your own, as served up by your social platform’s algorithms.

It could also be that some Doctor Who fans remember the show being ‘cancelled’ before. In 1989, Doctor Who stopped being made after a 26-year run and did not become a regular series again until Russell T Davies and the BBC brought it back in 2005. That 16-year gap is called ‘the wilderness years’ by some fans, when the Doctor’s adventures carried on in comic strips, novels and audio plays instead of on TV. There were some references on socials after the Christmas special announcement that another ‘wilderness years’ has begun, although there is nothing in the BBC statement that suggests Doctor Who is about to vanish from our screens for more than a decade.

Until the BBC officially announces that the Doctor is dematerialising in the Tardis forever, then the programme is not cancelled. The Daleks and the Cybermen are not safe from our favourite Time Lord just yet.

The Doctor tells Grace that in ten years Gareth will head the seismology unit at UCLA, and devise a system for accurately predicting earthquakes, which will "save the human race several times". The movie takes place in 1999, so Gareth will devise this system circa 2009. "The Enemy of the World", a Second Doctor TV story, in which Ramón Salamander comes close to global dictatorship through the use of an earthquake machine, takes place in 2018. Now, in all likelihood, the events of TEOTW are no longer canon, since I feel like that would have come up during the Thirteenth Doctor's tenure if Salamander was that significant a public figure. But I could be wrong.

So the question becomes: was the Eighth Doctor preventing those events or causing them? TBH it's kind of weird that he knew about Gareth's poetry exam at all.

Yes. It’s actually real.

Edit: it may have been an April Fool’s joke.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/45752375

Episodes 1 & 3 of The Daleks’ Master Plan will be released on iPlayer 4th April.

Been thinking quite a bit on the Topic of what Doctor Who Episode would be the best one to show to People who have never watched the Series.

Previously my personal Pick has always been the 2006 X-Mas Special "The Runaway Bride" for both Showing some good Action, Humour, Doctor Whoisms and even the Darker theme of the 10th Era, all in a Massively Entertaining Package!

But I'm really curious, what would you Pick to show your Friends?

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/bmoviebonanza/p/1795272/dr-who-and-the-daleks-1965-mastodon-watch-party-this-sunday-evening

Starring Peter Cushing, "the guy who blew up Princess Leia's planet!" Yes, Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) is the movie for this Sunday's "monsterdon" watch party over on Mastodon, our fediverse sibling!

• Just start watching that movie this Sunday, Feb 22 at 9pm ET / 8pm CT / 6pm PT which is 2am Monday UTC
• and follow #monsterdon over on mastodon for live text commentary. For example, you can follow that hashtag here: https://mastodon.social/tags/monsterdon
• I usually open two web browser windows side-by-side on a computer. But you could follow the mastodon commentary on a phone app while watching the movie on TV or something.

How to watch the movie:

• tubi (availability varies by country): https://tubitv.com/movies/547338/dr-who-and-the-daleks

• uBlock Origin adblocker on Firefox should work for that tubi link

• archive (3 minutes shorter?): https://archive.org/details/dr-who-and-the-daleks_202505

• it's usually streamed on https://miru.miyaku.media/ at that time

• if you want to pay and/or watch ads, look here: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/dr-who-and-the-daleks or here: https://nobraincellsleft.github.io/JustWatch-Search/title/tm83604

• apparently it's free on Pluto TV but idk wtf that is. I guess you could give it a try here https://pluto.tv/us/on-demand/movies/685972fd2339944cec974634 but idk if adblockers work or they make you sign in or some bs like that

The story is based on the Doctor Who television serial The Daleks, produced by the BBC. Filmed in Technicolor, it is the first Doctor Who story to be made in colour and in a widescreen format. The film was not intended to form part of the ongoing story-lines of the television series. Elements from the programme are used, however, such as various characters, the Daleks and a police box time machine, albeit in re-imagined forms.

...

Halliwell's Film Guide described the film as "limply put together, and only for indulgent children".[12] John Clute, in the book Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia, gives the film one star out of three, stating: "Many people would like to see the [Doctor Who] television series back; few mourn the long-gone films".[13] Radio Times was more favourable, awarding the film three stars out of five, commenting: "this spin-off lacks the bite and inventiveness that set the landmark series apart, unwisely injecting humour into the sparse scenario, and the cheap art direction is strictly '101 Uses for Pink Plastic Sheeting'. However, despite the many faults, it's still a fun ride for both the uninitiated and die-hard fans alike".[14]

In The Guardian in 2013, Stuart Heritage stated: "Cushing does his best, but he's not exactly given a lot to work with." He described the Daleks as "so pointlessly toothless here" and also criticised the "incredibly tedious" amount of Dalek dialogue to explain their motives, the portrayal of the Thals, and Roy Castle's performance, saying "to call him hammy would be to provide the greatest disservice to pigs."[15] Andrew Nette of the British Film Institute stated the film was "widely derided by many fans and critics", adding it is "certainly an uneven affair. Some scenes [...] still have the capacity to thrill. Others, like the final victory over the Daleks, feel rushed and flat. The Doctor's granddaughters are largely one-dimensional... The aspect of the movie that most antagonises purists is Cushing's Doctor." Nette described the film as having a "wonderfully pulpy sci-fi atmosphere", saying: "The highlight of the movie is its look... Many of the sets [...] are impressive" and "the movie Daleks are more impressive than their small screen counterparts".[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Who_and_the_Daleks

In 1996, Paul McGann debuted as the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who, a feature length co-production between the BBC and the American Fox network, more commonly known as The TV Movie.

This 90-minute feature was shot on film, and now, for the first time, all 219 reels of original film (totalling almost 200,000 feet!) have been pulled from deep storage in the US and meticulously scanned over 21 days, then restored by Paul Vanezis to provide a definitive 4K experience.

This new release is available on 4K in a limited edition steelbook with exclusive artwork, as well as standard Blu-ray, and includes a host of special features including:

• The ‘uncensored’ UK version
• The USA broadcast version
• Soundtrack in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo
• In Conversation with director Geoffrey Sax
• Sylvester McCoy and Janet Fielding featurette
• 3 New Featurettes with Daphne Ashbrook, Eric Roberts and Yee Jee Tso
• Two audio commentaries
• Isolated music score
• Production info text
• The Seven Year Hitch making-of documentary
• Paul McGann’s audition tape
• Alternate takes
• Electronic press kit and behind the scenes footage
• TARDIS tour
• BBC Trails

I've been looking into getting myself a Complete Physical Collection of Doctor Who and while everything 11th and Onwords I'll Likely go with Bluray for the Better Quality, I'm not sure about 9-10?

I did Originally Watch Those on TV Back in the Day, Noting that the Quality most Certainly wasn't even near HD. So I can't help but wonder if those Series where even made in HD in the First Place? If they weren't HD I may as well go with the Cheaper DVDs...

What do you Folks think?

Zai Bennet is the CEO and Chief Creative Officer for BBC Studios

No decision more neatly demonstrates the nasty headwinds facing scripted than Disney pulling out of the Doctor Who deal with the BBC, BBC Studios and Bad Wolf after just two seasons. For the show to continue long beyond its 2026 Christmas special, which is being penned by showrunner Russell T. Davies, the BBC now needs to replace some of that lost budget, which totals millions of pounds per hour.

Bennett avoids directly answering the question of whether BBC Studios will stump up some of the lost cash to give the show a long-term future – noting that he “won’t speak for the BBC” – but says “we’re all in it together” when it comes to keeping the Time Lord on the small screen for years to come.

“We’re a big important part of Doctor Who and are all motivated to make sure Doctor Who has a long and flourishing life,” he says. “We’ve got the Christmas special coming. After that, it’s time for us all to work on it.”

One of the best compendia of Who lore online. Been reading the site almost as long as it's been up and the Time Lord history pages are mind-boggling.

Everything is sourced and the red, orange and yellow text is pretty much the "official" canon (as much as it can be, given how many decades and writers have been involved with the program..) and it's LONG.

Brew up a cuppa, get comfy and settle in and enjoy!