The world’s longest-running science fiction television series finds itself at a critical crossroads. After Russell T. Davies returned as showrunner with unprecedented backing from a Disney-BBC partnership, Doctor Who seemed poised for a renaissance. Instead, two seasons and one spinoff later, the Disney partnership has ended, ratings have declined, and the show’s future has never looked more uncertain.
The Disney Dream That Didn’t Last
When Davies returned to Doctor Who with Disney+ providing international distribution and financial support, expectations soared. The legendary showrunner who successfully revived the series in 2005 was back, this time with a budget larger than anything the show had enjoyed before. The possibilities seemed limitless.
Yet the reality proved disappointing. Ncuti Gatwa’s tenure as the Doctor lasted just two seasons—an unusually short run for a modern Doctor. Stories that should have captivated audiences instead failed to connect with viewers. Most tellingly, ratings continued their decade-long decline even with Disney’s marketing muscle behind the show.
Now the Disney partnership is over, and Doctor Who returns to operating on what will surely be a much more modest BBC budget. The streaming bubble that seemed to promise unlimited resources for prestige content has burst, and Doctor Who is left scrambling for its footing.
What Comes Next?
The BBC has confirmed that Davies will return for another Christmas special, presumably one that addresses the Doctor’s apparent regeneration into Billie Piper—itself a controversial story development that exemplifies some of the show’s current problems. Beyond that, another season is in development, but expectations must be tempered given the financial realities.
After a full decade of declining viewership, Doctor Who can no longer afford to play it safe or rely on past glories. The show needs to take bold, perhaps controversial steps if it’s to secure a future. In short, it’s not just the Doctor who needs to regenerate—it’s the entire show.
The Lesson Davies Forgot
Ironically, Doctor Who needs to relearn a crucial lesson from Davies’ first stint as showrunner. When the BBC canceled the show in 1989, it seemed like the end. Davies brought it back in 2005 through a masterful reinvention that prioritized accessibility over fan service.
Rather than indulging longtime fans with continuity-heavy stories, Davies used the Time War to wipe the slate clean. New viewers and established fans alike started on equal footing, exploring a fresh arc together. Davies’ first era was remarkably restrained in how it engaged with the show’s decades of history, focusing instead on building something new.
This fundamental principle is precisely what Davies abandoned during the Disney+ era. He seems to have believed that modern audiences crave deep franchises with complex lore and love Easter eggs that reward longtime investment. This philosophy drove the creation of a “Whoniverse” of supplementary content on iPlayer in the UK, and explains why his recent seasons featured returning characters like the Celestial Toymaker, Sutekh, and the Rani—villains meaningful primarily to fans with decades of Who knowledge.
Misreading the Cultural Moment
Davies’ approach might have worked six years ago, when films like Avengers: Endgame dominated the box office through intricate continuity and fan service. At that peak moment of franchise cinema, audiences seemed insatiable for lore, callbacks, and interconnected storytelling.
But the cultural landscape has shifted dramatically. Marvel and Star Wars are both declining, with nostalgia plays showing diminishing returns. Audiences increasingly seek something new, fresh, and original rather than endless callbacks to what came before. Davies made a critical miscalculation, misreading the current mood, and Doctor Who has suffered as a result.
The show doubled down on continuity and heritage at precisely the moment when audiences were growing exhausted with those very elements. It’s a tragic irony given Davies’ proven ability to read cultural trends during his first tenure.
The Prison of Continuity
Continuity and lore have dominated Doctor Who for far too long, shrinking the viewership down to hardcore fans most engaged with the show’s history. This creates a vicious cycle: the remaining audience wants continuity, so the show provides it, which further alienates potential new viewers, which makes the remaining audience even more concentrated among continuity enthusiasts.
If Doctor Who is to have a future, it must break this cycle by consciously prioritizing a whole new generation of viewers—people who aren’t interested in heritage and history but who can be drawn in through smart storytelling. It’s what Davies accomplished in 2005, and something equally radical is needed now. Perhaps even more so, given how much deeper the hole has become.
This means continuity needs to take a back seat. It means introducing new monsters rather than recycling old favorites for the hundredth time. It means stories that work perfectly well without any knowledge of what happened in 1975 or 1995 or even 2015.
Reaching Generation Z
Modern Doctor Who needs to stop targeting people who loved the show 20, 40, or 60 years ago. Instead, it must consciously aim for Generation Z—and that requires a fundamentally different approach.
This generation has grown up in a radically different media landscape. They expect:
Authentic emotional journeys: Not melodrama, but genuine character development that feels real and earned. Generation Z has finely tuned detectors for inauthentic emotion and corporate sentiment.
Transmedia storytelling: Content that naturally extends across platforms, not as marketing but as genuine narrative expansion. This generation expects stories to meet them where they already are.
Social media integration: Not clumsy attempts to be “relevant,” but organic understanding of how young people actually communicate and share experiences online.
Diverse representation: Not as box-checking but as natural reflection of the world as it actually is. Generation Z is the most diverse generation in history and expects media to reflect that reality.
Fresh perspectives: They’ve been raised on endless reboots and sequels. What captures their attention is something that feels genuinely new.
Targeting this demographic means a more dramatic regeneration than Doctor Who has ever attempted—one that changes everything in terms of tone, style, and approach. It means taking creative risks that will inevitably alienate some longtime fans.
The Controversy That Must Come
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: achieving this necessary transformation will be controversial. The established Doctor Who fanbase is notoriously resistant to change. Davies experienced this firsthand in 2005, when longtime fans routinely complained on internet forums about his changes to the format. Those habits haven’t evolved over the decades—if anything, social media has amplified them.
Whoever takes over as showrunner after Davies must be willing to earn the ire of yesterday’s Whovians to win over today’s. They must be brave enough to make changes that will generate online backlash, critical think pieces from longtime fans, and passionate arguments about “ruining” the show.
This is the price of survival. A show cannot simultaneously cater to an aging, shrinking fanbase while also attracting new viewers with fundamentally different expectations and media consumption habits. Choices must be made, and those choices will anger people who have invested decades in loving Doctor Who exactly as it’s been.
What Bold Change Looks Like
What would a truly radical regeneration of Doctor Who actually entail? Some possibilities:
Complete tonal shift: Move away from the whimsical, quirky tone that has defined modern Who toward something that resonates with current sensibilities—perhaps darker and more psychologically complex, or alternatively more genuinely fun and less self-serious.
New format: The 45-minute episode structure is a relic. Consider experimenting with episode lengths, serialized storytelling, or even dropping entire seasons at once to match how young people actually consume television.
Ground zero for continuity: Make it clear from episode one that no prior knowledge is needed or expected. Treat the show’s history as texture, not text.
Contemporary relevance: Address issues Generation Z actually cares about without being preachy or obvious. Climate anxiety, mental health, economic precarity, and identity should be woven into stories organically.
Visual reinvention: The show’s visual language needs to evolve to match what captures young viewers’ attention on platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
The Stakes Have Never Been Higher
Doctor Who is the longest-running science fiction series in television history. That’s a remarkable legacy worth preserving. But legacy alone cannot sustain a show—especially one facing declining ratings, reduced budgets, and an increasingly difficult media landscape.
The next showrunner inherits a tremendous challenge: save Doctor Who by being willing to change everything about it. They must find the courage to alienate longtime fans in service of attracting new ones. They must resist the temptation to play it safe with nostalgia and instead dare to create something genuinely new.
Russell T. Davies proved in 2005 that this kind of bold reinvention can work. The show needs someone willing to be equally bold now, even if that means temporarily becoming the most controversial person in fandom.
Doctor Who has survived cancellation, cast changes, budget cuts, and countless creative shifts over its six-decade history. It can survive this crisis too—but only if it’s willing to regenerate more completely than ever before.
The question is whether the people making decisions about the show’s future have the courage to green-light the radical changes necessary for survival, even knowing the backlash that will follow. The answer to that question will determine whether Doctor Who continues for another 60 years or fades into history as a beloved relic of television past.
The longest-running science fiction show in the world stands at a crossroads. Which path it takes will define its legacy for generations to come.
