Later this year, “Doctor Who” returns with three specials celebrating the franchise’s 60th anniversary and the beginning of a new ‘era’ of the long-running sci-fi series.
Along with the return of Russell T. Davies as producer, following his stint reviving the program with the Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant eras from 2005-2010, the series will move to its new home on the Disney+ service everywhere outside the United Kingdom.
The specials see the return of Tennant in the role as the Fourteenth Doctor. He’ll be in that stint for three episodes which will lay the groundwork for the arrival of Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor. Gatwa and Davies are currently in production on a full series of episodes coming in early 2024.
Davies recently spoke with GQ UK and confirms that the specials and new series will boast a bigger budget than “Doctor Who” has had in the past, and that was one of the big reasons he returned to the show as it affords him various new opportunities along with new exposure for the series which will be backed by Disney’s financial and marketing power:
“It’s one of the reason I’ve come back – you can tell stories on a bigger scale. It’s the same old problems, I still have to cut scenes because they’re too expensive, and I still have to reduce the number of monsters, and things like that. But my imagination feels more free, a lot more free, actually. It’s just a joy to write anyway. I’m really proud of it. Oh my god, there are some strong episodes coming up.”
In the UK, the new episodes will remain with the BBC and still reside exclusively on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Ireland.
