BBC Boss Offers Promising Doctor Who Update, But There’s A Catch

February 23, 2026, 9:39am

The future of Doctor Who is still very much up in the air. The BBC’s partnership with Disney+ was supposed to secure the long-term future for the world’s longest-running sci-fi TV series, but it didn’t quite perform as hoped. That deal has now ended, and BBC bosses are discussing what’s next for Doctor Who. There have been promising signs so far, but Whovians are understandably nervous given this is a series that has been canceled before in the past.

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Per Deadline, the BBC’s Director of Drama Lindsay Salt has just given another update. “It’s one of the BBC’s most treasured brands,” she confirmed. “So it’s not going anywhere.” Salt is just the latest BBC exec to openly commit to future Doctor Who seasons, but she added a further detail that’s a little more disappointing; discussions haven’t even begun on funding. “There are different ways of setting up a show. We just need to make sure we do it in the right way and make sure we take the right time to do it.”

Decisions on Doctor Who Need To Be Made Sooner Rather Than Later

The BBC has a lot to consider, and Salt is careful not to rule out another partnership – perhaps with HBO Max this time, although talks there haven’t begun. “I managed to walk into this job when the co-pro market imploded,” she noted, “and I’ve learned a lot about the tenacity of producers and writers to make things at all budget levels. Things are getting funded in so many different ways now.” In the short-term, Salt’s comment seems to imply that the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special will be funded only by the BBC.

That said, this Christmas Special does mean some key decisions need to be made sooner rather than later. According to composed Murray Gold, Russell T. Davies has come up with multiple versions of the Christmas Special’s script, and it’s reasonable to assume this will give wriggle-room for BBC bosses as they make their decisions. We don’t yet know whether Billie Piper is indeed another Doctor (as teased in Season 15’s final scene), whether she’d choose to remain on board, or if another Doctor will be cast after the special. The latter seems most likely.

Salt alludes to the changing financial situation, and it’s important to note the co-production market’s “implosion” is tied to an even bigger change. 2025 was the year when peak streaming died, with showrunners for both Andor and Stranger Things speaking about how they never expected shows so expensive to happen again. Andor creator Tony Gilroy even recounted how one Disney boss had told him that “streaming is dead.” Given this context, it’s possible the BBC do not need to acquire as much funding for Doctor Who to be competitive going forward, which changes the picture somewhat.

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