WHAT'S UP, DOC?

Ever since its deal with Disney+, Doctor Who’ has become a different, more family-friendly show. Ed Power has some ideas on how to return the Time Lord to former glories

- Ed Power

Who would want to be in the shoes of Russell T Davies, the custodian of a once-great science fiction franchise now in danger of becoming lost in time and space? The franchise is, of course, Doctor Who, which returns for its latest series tomorrow amid an atmosphere of uncertainty not witnessed since the BBC cancelled it for the first time in 1989 (Davies was central to its resurrection in 2005).

As Whovians across the galaxy prepare to resume acquaintances with 15th Doctor Ncuti Gatwa, there is all sorts of speculation regarding both the actor’s future and that of the show itself. And this drama is unfolding less than three years after the BBC struck a high-profile deal with Disney+, trumpeted at the time as an opportunity to turn the Tardis-hopping Time Lord into a global brand.

One rumour is that Gatwa is ready to move on after just two seasons and that, having already filmed his big regeneration scene, is bound for LA, where he has a number of projects lined up (he had a taste of the silver screen when appearing in Barbie in 2023). The other is that, with ratings plunging to a record low of 2.1 million in Gatwa’s inaugural series, the BBC is considering repeating history and pulling the plug on the Tardis in its entirety.

But why is Doctor Who currently misfiring so badly? On paper, the return of Davies should have been nothing but good news. After all, it was he who brought back Doctor Who in 2005, having lobbied the BBC for years to take the Tardis out of deep freeze. Moreover, his first five-year first stint in charge celebrated the many different sides to the Doctor – from the romping “Smith and Jones” (2007) in which a London hospital is transported to the moon to high-stakes tension of 2008’s “Midnight”, in which the Doctor’s holiday on a planet baking in radiation goes amiss.