The Time Lord’s spaceship, the TARDIS, is changing stations; from now on, all-new episodes of Doctor Who may be found streaming on Disney+. The switch will take place before the 2023 premiere of the new season of Who on the service, and will thus solely affect the location from which Who fans outside of the United Kingdom and Ireland stream the show. This morning on Live with Kelly and Ryan, Ncuti Gatwa, the next Doctor Who actor, made the big news. For British and Irish audiences, the BBC’s streaming of Doctor Who won’t be changing. However, Disney Plus is the only place where Doctor Who may be seen in its entirety in the 100 countries where it is available.
There were rumours of negotiations between the BBC and Disney as early as July, and now we know the result: a new partnership. It is not known if the streamer will also provide earlier episodes of the show, either from its post-2005 resurrection or from its initial 1963-1989 run, or from any of its many offshoot shows. Along with the announcement of the partnership, the BBC also introduced a new logo for the programme that takes inspiration from the diamond-shaped insignia used during the 1970s when Tom Baker portrayed the Doctor. This news arrives while the programme is undergoing significant change. The Power of the Doctor, the last episode to star Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker, aired a few days ago. It was also Chris Chibnall’s last episode as showrunner, who has been at the helm of the show since 2018.
David Tennant, who portrayed the Doctor from 2005 to 2010, will return to the role in three specials next year, while Russell T. Davies, who resurrected the dormant series in 2005, will take their place. Tennant’s co-star Catherine Tate will be back, and newcomers Neil Patrick Harris and Yasmin Finney will round out the cast. Gatwa, the first actor of colour to play the time-travelling extraterrestrial, will take up the role of the Doctor following Tennant’s specials. There’s been a lot of ups and downs throughout Doctor Who’s long run on the BBC. The programme premiered in 1963 and follows the adventures of the Doctor, a humanoid extraterrestrial, and his human and alien companions as they travel across time and space in the TARDIS, a time machine that looks like a blue police box.
The Doctor’s ability to “regenerate” into a new guise on occasion is a story element that allows for the departure and replacement of main actors. Falling ratings killed the programme in 1989, and a failed rebirth in 1996 resulted in just one TV movie. However, the series was successfully relaunched in 2005, and it quickly became an international phenomenon that is still going strong today. In the later part of 2023, Doctor Who will return.