Doctor Who showrunner, Russell T Davies thought it was a natural progression. That for a franchise to thrive in this day and age, it had to swing for the fences. It had to have a huge streaming presence, a universe all its own, and it had to be HUGE to compete with all the other big franchises in fantasy and sci-fi on their level.

And in some cases, with certain franchises, he’d be right, but Doctor Who? Maybe not. 

Yes, it’s truly the greatest show on Earth, but it’s not the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s not Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, or Star Wars. 

It’s its own thing. And now it’s bombed rather spectacularly on Disney+. And it may have been dead in the water before it got there. The BBC/Bad Wolf/Disney partnership was formed in late 2022, during the final days of the Bob Chapek regime at Disney, where they were in a state of massive expansion. Many, many new projects were greenlit across the company, new deals and partnerships were made, and gobs and gobs of money were being spent. But profits were going downhill. Chapek massively over-extended the company’s resources, and he was ousted in favour of returning chief Bob Iger, who started uniformly chopping costs and killing projects. The deal had already been made with the BBC regarding Who, so they let it play out, but, had Iger been in charge at the time, it’s unlikely the deal would have been made in the first place. Iger was not in favour of spending the money on a franchise they did not own. So no, Disney was not a very connected or enthusiastic partner. Disney’s promotion for the show dried up quickly. Doctor Who was kind of dead in the water from the start.

Disney honoured the deal though, and the hope would be that the show would be a success, thus stating that it was in fact a good deal for everyone. It was not. Subscribers did not stick around, and with all the nonsense and mad excuses thrown around over several subsequent months, it crashed and burned, via the machinations of Davies and the total neglect of Disney. The House of Mouse didn’t really hurt things, but they never really helped, either. And Russell just didn’t deliver the good stuff.

From the vantage point of other streaming platforms, Disney didn’t really even want the show in the first place; it didn’t do well, and the deal was killed. Leaving Who marked as a losing proposition for any other streaming platform to associate with, leaving the poor BBC on its own, to fend for itself in producing the show. Like it did for 60 years.

With anything, hindsight is 20/20. Mistakes were made. Trusts were violated. Tears were shed, but yeah, now the Beeb will have to make Who on its own again. The contract with Russell and Bad Wolf is seemingly over and done with come next year. Yes, the BBC’s crying poor, yada yada yada. 

Maybe the circumstances and events have brought us here just to point out the obvious. You don’t need to throw excessive amounts of money into Who to make it a hit. One of the most well-received stories during the Fifteenth Doctor era was 73 Yards, which was one of the cheapest eps. 

Maybe the show and the BBC in particular needed this smack in the head, and a kick to the backside to remind them how they got here — not on money but on good writing and stories that helped you escape into a different Whoniverse. 

Any of those worried about what a smaller, stressed budget can accomplish: look at the Chris Chibnall era. Remember when people used to rejoice at how beautiful everything looked during Jodie Whittaker’s time as the Doctor? Such magical cinematography, etc? They were raving that the show never looked better! A bit of nonsense, as it had basically looked that good through most of the Steven Moffat era, but never mind — yeah, we’d go back to that. The overall look was fine! We didn’t have a problem with that. Turns out, we really didn’t need the talking babies or the big alien world projection screens.

There’s definitely a way to construct an excellent, well written, intelligent, scary, suspenseful, action-packed sci-fi show on a limited budget, with ingenuity in a fiscally responsible way. 

Since the contracts with Disney/Bad Wolf/Davies are done, after cleaning up after himself, the BBC will be presented with an opportunity to get another chance. A clean slate. A new creative team, a new Doctor, a new lease on life. A new beginning.

Let’s hope everyone’s learned a few things.