The BBC’s Not Saying How It’ll Fund ‘Doctor Who’ After Its Disney Breakup

The only thing Doctor Who fans can count on right now is that a Christmas special is coming at the end of this year—written by the series’ current showrunner, Russell T. Davies. Who will play the titular Time Lord in that special is anyone’s guess. And speaking of specials, it’s now mid-February, and the show’s former production partner Disney+ still hasn’t announced an airdate for the spin-off series The War Between the Land and Sea, which hit the BBC in late 2025.

As the BBC mulls Doctor Who‘s future after its split with Disney, a rocky partnership that did result in the traditionally low-budget enterprise enjoying much slicker production values, executives seem united in their desire to see the show continue. How that’s actually going to happen, however, seems less certain.

In a new interview with Deadline, BBC Studios production chief Zai Bennett spoke about Doctor Who in vague terms. The loss of those big Disney bucks, which helped propel the last two seasons, is obviously a concern.

“For the show to continue long beyond its 2026 Christmas special … the BBC now needs to replace some of that lost budget, which totals millions of pounds per hour,” Deadline writes.

The trade asked Bennett “whether BBC Studios will stump up some of the lost cash to give the show a long-term future,” but the executive wouldn’t give a direct answer. He said he “won’t speak for the BBC,” but “we’re all in it together” as far as committing to Doctor Who‘s future.

“We’re a big important part of Doctor Who and are all motivated to make sure Doctor Who has a long and flourishing life,” he told the trade. “We’ve got the Christmas special coming. After that, it’s time for us all to work on it.”

That doesn’t sound especially encouraging—but at least there’s enthusiasm for the show, even if anything concrete has yet to materialize. Surely we’ll find out more as the year progresses and more details about the Christmas special become known.

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