The Sun is reporting that the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special will be cancelled entirely because the BBC cannot find someone to play the next incarnation of the Doctor.
These are unconfirmed rumours right now, but such speculation has gained traction.
An unnamed insider told The Sun:
“Despite reassurances that the show would be back on our screens with a new series, there’s been no confirmation from execs about when that will be. And they proudly announced that the Doctor would be making a comeback in this year’s Christmas Special. Now, with less than seven months to go, that looks like it’s hanging in the balance too.
“The problem is that they have found it difficult to find anyone who’ll take on the part of the sixteenth Time Lord, partly because it now feels like a role that comes with all the baggage of the most recent series.
“There are fears that even if they do manage to pull something together, it is going to be a poor cousin to previous Christmas specials which have always been adored by fans.”
The quote is a bit of a dog’s dinner, really; it sounds like someone with an axe to grind; for instance, “the sixteenth Time Lord”? It should be “the sixteenth incarnation of the Time Lord” as the Doctor certainly isn’t the sixteenth Time Lord we’ve met. That’s a small thing, I grant you, but actually, clarity is a sign of solid journalism. That does give question over the veracity of this news.
What’s more, there is someone apparently playing the next incarnation of the Doctor. Like it or now, Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor regenerated into someone played by Billie Piper. That surely has to be cleared up in the Christmas special, if it happens. There’s also talk that filming has been delayed due to Piper’s availability. Some have suggested that David Tennant come back again to fill the gap.
Nonetheless, this does shine a spotlight on the show’s future because it feels like everything is very much up in the air right now. The chief reason that the next series might be delayed or cancelled altogether could very well be that there’s no new showrunner in place (if Russell T Davies does leave, which seems likely).
So might Doctor Who have been axed entirely or been put into a longer hiatus than planned?
