Warning: this article contains spoilers for the season fifteen finale of Doctor Who, “The Reality War.”
Even Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies (Queer As Folk, Torchwood) seems unsure of whether the series will be renewed beyond its recently completed Season 15, as written in production diary released as a part of the accompanying Doctor Who magazine and reported on via Deadline. His comments act as the latest in a recent string of warning signs that might portend an incoming cancellation for the beloved sci-fi drama series.
“We don’t know what’s happening yet, and while everyone works that out, I’ll take a pause on this page… Hopefully, we’ll have news soon,” Davies writes. An anonymous source further contextualized his statement to Deadline, stating, “This letter is a production notes diary for when the show is in production, or on air, and as Russell has stated within the piece, it is a pause.”
Davies first announced that he would take a hiatus from the series in April, feeding flames of speculation that the long-running revival of the 1963 series had been cancelled by the BBC. The fervor first began when UK publication The Sun reported the series was “facing the axe” due to low ratings that they contended were caused by “shoehorning wokery into storylines.” A spokesperson for Who disputed the cancellation claim, stating that any decisions on future seasons would be stalled until after season fifteen finished, while actress Varada Sethu (Andor, Jurassic World: Dominion), who plays the Doctor’s companion Belindra Chandra in the new season, pushed back against claims of ‘wokeness’. “There’s been a couple of Doctor Woke [references] or whatever, but I think we’re doing the right thing if we’re getting comments like that. Woke means inclusive, progressive, and that you care about people. And, as far as I know, the core of Doctor Who is kindness, love, and doing the right thing.”
Whatever the reason, everything points towards a gradual but unmistakable decline in Doctor Who’s seven-day viewership over the last three seasons, according to statistics from Deadline. Season fifteen boasted an average of 3.2 million viewers across eight episodes, down half a million from the previous season, and down 1.5 million from the season before that.
The season fifteen finale, “The Reality War,” which premiered last month, ended with Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education, Barbie) regenerating into a new form, cementing his tenure as the second-shortest of any Doctor. Viewers were shocked to see the new Doctor portrayed by none other than Billie Piper (Wednesday, Penny Dreadful) who had previously played the Ninth and Tenth Doctors’ companion/love interest Rose Tyler in early seasons of the show. Should the shelving rumors ultimately prove true, fans may be subjected to years of waiting until they can see Piper’s adventures in action. Where’s the Tardis when you need it?