'Obviously It's Hugely Disappointing': Doctor Who Ex-Showrunner Says That Solving The Show's 'Knotty Problems' Will Take 'Time'
· IGN
Solving the "problems" currently plaguing Doctor Who will take time, the series' former showrunner Chris Chibnall has cautioned, explaining that the show's most pressing issue now is "primarily about money."
Doctor Who aired its final episode to date in May 2025, when lead actor Ncuti Gatwa departed the BBC's flagship sci-fi show after a largely disappointing couple of seasons. Co-funding partner Disney was formally confirmed as having ditched the series not long after, while the era's showrunner Russell T Davies announced he was done with the show back in June, when it was revealed that this year's previously-confirmed Christmas Special was actually not being made.
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The BBC has said it will now offer the rights to make Doctor Who to other production companies but, some two months on, this has yet to happen. Indeed, it's unclear exactly what progress has been made on securing Doctor Who's future in general since the series went off-air over a year ago.
Now, speaking to the Who Corner to Corner podcast, the series' former head writer and showrunner Chris Chibnall has cautioned that "time" will be needed to fix the franchise — though suggested that money was "primarily" the reason it needed fixing in the first place.
"I think the biggest thing you can say about all of that is it's very easy to miss the point — that this is primarily about money," Chibnall said (thanks, Cultbox). "It's not really about all of the things that everybody is banging on about and moaning about or what or getting emotional about."
As a BBC-funded show, Doctor Who relies on money from the broadcasting company's public-backed budget — which has been cut in real terms over the past decade, while the costs and expectations of making big budget TV have only grown. This is the reason that the BBC partnered with Disney in the first place for the Ncuti Gatwa era, and why the company is now seeking a fresh co-production partner as a replacement.
"It's very hard for the BBC to fund their programs right now because of what's been done to them in terms of funding agreements over the past 15 years and the slow whittling away of that, and the increase in big Hollywood monoliths and conglomerates really taking over the market," Chibnall continued. "And really what you've got is [a situation where] the BBC can't afford to fully fund any drama now and it certainly can't afford to fund Doctor Who."
While funding has clearly been an issue for some time, many fans would likely point to the exit of previous funding partner Disney and suggest that the show is only in its current situation due to the creative decisions over the course of its most recent run that saw audience figures dwindle. (For our thoughts on the Ncuti Gatwa era, you can read our extensive set of episode reviews that offered the series a very mixed response.)
"There's all kinds of other things and obviously it's hugely disappointing and hasn’t been handled brilliantly," Chibnall said, seemingly eluding to the series' other issues. "But really, the big story is, look, this is a BBC that cannot afford to make shows that it wants to make. The BBC wants to make Doctor Who. Don't be in any doubt about that."
A recent report that cited other TV insiders claimed that Doctor Who is now unlikely to return on-screen for up to five years while the series' production is rebuilt from the ground up. The simplest route forward for the show would likely be if BBC Studios, the BBC's separate commercial arm, won the rights to produce the series. But even this requires the co-production company search to begin — and so far, there's been no sign of this.
"There are lots of things they will have to have to sort out," Chibnall concluded. "And I guess the byproduct of the Disney deal ending is you had a funder and then that funder is now gone and it’s hard," Chibnall concluded. "It will take some on any show it would take some work to then convince other co-production partners to come in at that point when somebody else has dropped out.
"So like I say, it all reverts back to money and those are knotty problems that do take time. And in an ideal world, it wouldn’t come off air while you're sorting that stuff."
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social