BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell has confirmed that his production team will be making a strong bid for Doctor Who when it goes out to tender later this year.
Chatting to Deadline, Fussell said:
“We’ve been the producer for 60 years and we want to be the producer for another 60 years, so we will be going for that tender with gusto. We are in it to win it.”
To be clear, BBC Studios hasn’t been the producer for Doctor Who for 60 years. BBC Studios was only launched as a production division in 2015. That might sound weird because, hey, it’s the BBC, right? But BBC Studios is actually a subsidiary formed in a merger between the corporation’s commercial production team and its international distribution companion, BBC Worldwide.
Nonetheless, it’s clear from Fussell’s comments that he sees BBC Studios very much as a key part of the BBC and is enthusiastic about taking on the programme.
He added:
“We’ve got the full breadth of our studio to look at that and we will do the best for an absolute adored brand. As the distributor and commercial licensor, we understand those fan relationships and can build on that. Doctor Who is something that people in this organisation care passionately about.”
Doctor Who will go out to tender later this year after the cancellation of this year’s Christmas special and the departure of showrunner, Russell T Davies (alongside production team, Bad Wolf).
Still, competing companies will have to go the extra mile when coming up against BBC Studios, who is, let’s face it, the most likely partner for this franchise.
