BBC Studios’ Zai Bennett has spoken about the corporation’s attitude to Doctor Who‘s future, and seems to suggest that the upcoming Christmas special will be a one-off, dealing with the consequences of The Reality War.

Bennett is the head honcho at BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, and notes that while he “won’t speak for the BBC”, we are nonetheless “all in it together” in forging the Doctor’s future. He explains:

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

From this, we might infer that the festive episode, to be written by Russell T Davies, won’t set a new precedent, but will instead tie up the surprise regeneration, from Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor into an incarnation apparently played by Billie Piper. That cliffhanger came at the end of The Reality War, and rumour has it that Gatwa’s regeneration was initially open-ended, but Davies decided, around the time of The Robot Revolution‘s broadcast, that he would get Piper in.

Either way, Bennett’s comments suggest that the next episode isn’t the start of a new series. It also implies that Davies might not be a part of its future beyond Christmas.

Long-term fans might recognise Zai Bennett’s name from when he was Controller of BBC3, during which time he heartlessly cancelled Doctor Who Confidential. Not that I’m still hugely bitter about it or anything.

Anyway! The future of Doctor Who is very much up in the air, and after this next story, we might have a while to wait for any more episodes…