Doctor Who to Continue with Christmas Special on BBC in 2026
After plenty of speculation, the BBC confirms the future of Doctor Who.
The long-running science fiction series will return for a new Christmas special on the BBC in 2026. Showrunner Russell T Davies will write the episode.
Disney+ has exited its partnership with BBC, which included two seasons of Doctor Who and the upcoming five-part spinoff series, The War Between The Land and the Sea. The latter will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One later this year. It stars Russell Tovey as Barclay and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Salt.
Deadline reports that the show, costing around £10M ($13.3M) per episode, “hasn’t necessarily rated as well as the BBC might have hoped, and it didn’t appear to be making such a big splash on the other side of the pond for Disney+.”
“We’d like to thank Disney+ for being terrific global partners and collaborators over the past two seasons, and for the upcoming The War Between the Land and the Sea,” Lindsay Salt, Director of Drama, BBC, said in a statement.
“The BBC remains fully committed to Doctor Who, which continues to be one of our most loved dramas, and we are delighted that Russell T Davies has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas special for 2026,” Salt continued.
“We can assure fans, the Doctor is not going anywhere, and we will be announcing plans for the next series in due course, which will ensure the TARDIS remains at the heart of the BBC,” Salt concluded.
The first season of BBC and Disney+’s Doctor Who partnership premiered in May 2024. It, as well as the second season, featured Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor. That season also starred Varada Sethu as Belinda Chandra and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday.
Doctor Who‘s second season ended with Gatwa’s Doctor regenerating into a familiar face — Billie Piper. The actress originally starred as Rose Tyler, opposite Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor and David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor, on the show.
However, there is no information on who will be appearing in the Christmas special, let alone any future seasons of the show, yet. More details about upcoming seasons and such are expected in due time.
Fans can also expect updates about the brand-new pre-school animation series for CBeebies, which is still in development.
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Doctor Who will air on the BBC.
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Shelby Elpers
Shelby is a TV enthusiast and pop culture writer. She's an avid podcast listener, green tea drinker, and soccer fan. Her brand can be summarized in rom-coms, superheroes, teen dramas, and workplace comedies.