Back in June, the BBC made some big announcements about the uncertain future of Doctor Who. The Christmas special slated to run during the 2026 holiday season was cancelled. Showrunner Russell T Davies, who steered the TARDIS from 2005 to 2010 and again from 2023 to 2025, was leaving the series. And finally, the network would be putting Doctor Who out to competitive tender, aiming to bring in a new partner to guide the show into its next chapter.
Now, after tons of speculation about what Doctor Who should do next, that process has finally begun. As Deadline reports, the BBC is now inviting producers to “pitch in a bake-off-style process to refresh the iconic sci-fi series” that will bring the show back to screens in 2028 or 2029.
The trade quotes a document that outlines what the BBC is looking for. The new Doctor Who will need to be “relevant, surprising, brave, and inspiring for both long-standing fans and new audiences,” but there’s some flexibility in its structure, including how many episodes each season would require and whether a “serialized or story-of-the-week” approach would be used.
“We are not necessarily looking to work to a strict showrunner model and would expect once in production that the series will also use episodic writers,” the BBC wrote. That’s notable because starting in 2005 with Davies, the new era of Doctor Who has been very showrunner-oriented.
The BBC also said that it encourages “innovative approaches to production, world-building, visual effects, and storytelling that maximize the scale and emotional impact of the Doctor Who universe.” But some things will stay the same: a companion character (“at least one”) is essential, and the stories must visit “extraordinary times and places, ranging from historical settings to distant futures, alien worlds, and contemporary Earth.”
And the tone will be familiar too: “Successful pitches will deliver ‘back of the sofa’ scares, jeopardy, and tension, whilst remaining suitable for a broad family audience. Doctor Who embraces themes that celebrate curiosity, courage, intelligence, and compassion, themes that interrogate the human condition, and most of all, it should and will always be distinctively British storytelling.”
Deadline notes that producers were also invited to pitch “third-party investment.” That’s crucial considering how expensive Doctor Who is to make, a factor that helped doom the BBC’s partnership with Disney after Ncuti Gatwa’s second season as the Fifteenth Doctor.
Whatever happens next, we at least have a timetable on when to expect some more big updates. Initial proposals are due October 2; interviews will take place in January; and the winning bidder will be chosen in March.
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