Whatever your opinion of the style, what's interesting is that the article comes from Deadline who are widely recognised alongside Variety and The Hollywood Reporter as the most reliable and accurate entertainment news sources, and they are rarely very wrong. The viewing figures may be ok at best but they're not near what Disney had hoped for, and a second series that's unlikely to be a major departure from the style of the first, would do very well to turn that around.

 

If Disney are downplaying it they may be looking to cut their losses on it sooner rather than later. Additionally, I've heard that a lot of people who have previously worked on the show are reluctant to commit to it at the moment. None are suggesting a cancellation is on the cards though so there is that.

Not guaranteed to be true but there was a recent leak from Disney where Doctor Who was seen as a "low budget series" for them - I suppose, as it's a co-production deal, it wouldn't be a major investment when the BBC and Bad Wolf are also funding it. It wouldn't surprise me if they're waiting for international streaming rights for 2005-2022 Doctor Who (at least) to expire so they can have those episodes on Disney+ too. It's hard to measure Doctor Who's success on Disney's charts because many series have multiple seasons that people frequently go back to and rewatch, so Doctor Who's a little disadvantaged in that.

 

I've seen people worrying about no official confirmation of RTD2 season 3, but with season 2 still quite a way off airing, I don't think we have anything to worry about yet. It's clearly done well enough for the BBC to be happy at least so even if Disney pulled out, they'd either look for someone else or just fund it themselves again.

The BBC aren't just going to hand over the rights to past shows to Disney, archive Doctor Who is one of the most successful shows and biggest draws of their current Iplayer outfit.

The BBC aren't just going to hand over the rights to past shows to Disney, archive Doctor Who is one of the most successful shows and biggest draws of their current Iplayer outfit.

I mean internationally. It already streams on other platforms globally so it wouldn't surprise me if, when the rights expire on those platforms, it comes to Disney+ instead. Still iPlayer in the UK.

I really don't think we'll hear anything official about whether or not Disney continue the partnership until late 2025/early 2026. The spin-off (The War Between the Land and the Sea) is part of their 26-episode deal and won't be airing until autumn 2025 at the earliest, so I doubt they'd say anything before that.

Honestly, I'm not really worried about a cancellation or Disney potentially dropping it whatever happens as I feel Doctor Who's one of those shows that is so embedded into the cultural consciousness in the UK that it won't ever really go away. It may be rested or even cancelled at some point, but it has such a large devoted fanbase and is that unique show that can reinvent itself completely that it'll be back fresher and reach new audiences every time. It's why I think a lot of 'Doctor Who's in trouble' articles don't really phase me as they've been declining for years.

 

I think a lot of people these days look at the show nostalgically and I don't think there's been a lot of appeal of that kind in this current series, if they are worried about ratings, I wouldn't be surprised if they started to lean into that more and bring back more older villains next time.

@1815703942782693638

 

*loads* of positive Doctor Who mentions in the report, more details can be found here https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/doctorwho-bbcannualreport-2024

Varada's companion confirmed to be called Belinda Chandra, by RTD at San Diego ComicCon.

If the surname isn't a link to Rani then RTD really needs to retire and admit he just gets off on trolling that shows his lack of creativity more than anything.

If the surname isn't a link to Rani then RTD really needs to retire and admit he just gets off on trolling that shows his lack of creativity more than anything.

 

100% this tbh!! But he's more likely to give us teh Rani tjan Moffat. Moffat is much more creative thsn he is and creates his own characters and enemies. Rtd prefers to recycle.

I'd be shocked if RTD brings the Rani back at this point. Mrs Flood seems to be pointing towards being someone else, and the Pantheon of Gods don't seem to be going anywhere either. + he'll obviously build up to bringing the Daleks back at some point too.

Jonah Hauer-King officially announced for season 2, to the surprise of nobody :kink:

Return confirmed for

Susan Twist

Start date for season 2 now officially confirmed as 12th April following an accidental premature teaser.

Alan Cumming also returning, appearing in episode 2 as cartoon character Mr Ring-a-Ding.

Trailer for Season 2 just came out

The visuals for this season just makes me so hype for it....can April come fast please x

Looking forward to Ncuti's second season! The trailer looked good too.

That trailer (and the extended German one) have made me SO excited! Looks like a major step up visually from season 1, and can't wait for more Ncuti

Surprised we're now officially less than a month away and we've still not got episode titles (besides episode 6). The promo for this series definitely seems a bit more stripped back than last time sadly, despite it looking a million times better.

44 minutes ago, Calum said:

Surprised we're now officially less than a month away and we've still not got episode titles (besides episode 6). The promo for this series definitely seems a bit more stripped back than last time sadly, despite it looking a million times better.

I was hoping we would get titles announcement like they did last year with the themes of the episode intertwined

3 minutes ago, HarryGarfield said:

I was hoping we would get titles announcement like they did last year with the themes of the episode intertwined

Yeah I'm still holding out hope they'll do something like that again, that was exciting to follow. Can't imagine they'll just dump all the titles in a single graphic or something, or make us wait until broadcast to find out.