- 25/05/2025
Ncuti Gatwa, Disney+, and more: the stars are aligning for the next era of Doctor Who to be the greatest yet.
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00:00There's always huge optimism whenever a new era of Doctor Who begins, but to quote the fifth Doctor,
00:05it feels different this time. Arguably, Doctor Who has never been better equipped to succeed.
00:10From the companies involved in the show to the people making it, there are several factors that
00:14indicate it's about to be bigger than ever before. I'm Ellie with WhoCulture, here with 10 reasons
00:20we're entering a Doctor Who golden age.
00:23Number 10, the return of Christmas specials. From 2005 to 2017, every series of Doctor Who
00:30was accompanied by a Christmas special. From then on, these extra episodes were rebranded
00:35as festive specials and were broadcast on New Year's Day rather than Christmas Day.
00:40Former showrunner Chris Chibnall has since confirmed that the decision to move away from the Christmas
00:44lot was part of the BBC's strategy to keep the show feeling fresh rather than any anti-Christmas
00:49agenda, if you say so. But now the specials are back, with Shooty Gatwick and Millie Gibson's
00:54first episode together set to air in December 2023. And though, in truth, the Christmas specials
01:00had probably grown a bit stale by 2017, after six years without them, we're well and truly
01:05ready for their return. In today's TV landscape, the idea that Christmas Day is a better slot
01:10than New Year's Day is largely subjective. After all, lots of big dramas premiere on New Year's
01:15Day, like Sherlock and Happy Valley. But Christmas Day feels like more of a stay inside and watch
01:20telly kind of day, especially for family shows, which will allow Doctor Who to capture lots
01:24more casual viewers. There's also something just inherently right about having Doctor Who
01:29on at Christmas. The specials were a big part of what made RTD Era 1 so successful, and
01:35we're sure they'll do the same for RTD Era 2.
01:39Number 9, Stellar Guest Stars.
01:41Doctor Who has a long history of snapping up guest actors right before they become ultra
01:46famous, looking at you, Andrew Garfield, Felicity Jones and Olivia Colman. But equally, it's
01:51important to cast people who are already known to the general public. This has never been
01:55a problem for Doctor Who, as plenty of well-known actors are as keen to appear in the show as
01:59we are as keen to see them there. Recent casting coups have included Alan Cumming and Stephen
02:04Fry, and if you go back further, there's Keely Hawes, John Hurt, Michael Gambon, God rest
02:08of the soul, Timothy Dalton, and Kylie Minogue. The RTD 2 era is going to be no exception.
02:13From Drag Race winner Jinx Monsoon, to Frozen actor Jonathan Groff, to How I Met Your Mother's
02:18Neil Patrick Harris, there are some huge names lined up to appear already. Even Bonnie Langford
02:23returning as Mel is a massive star in the Doctor Who sphere. No doubt there are many more guest
02:28actors yet to be announced as well. I mean, Ryan Gosling was recently rumoured, so just imagine
02:33the possibilities. But the ones we do know about are all major grabs for the show, and
02:38with all different kinds of representation in the cast, Doctor Who is going to appeal
02:42to a wider audience than ever. The stars really are aligning. See what I did there?
02:47Number 8. A balance of old and new. That just immediately made me think of the scene where
02:53Amy brings the Doctor back with her something old, something new, something borrowed, something
02:56blue speech. So, completely irrelevant. Just thought you might like to hear my inner thoughts.
03:01A mix of old and new elements is important to any series of Doctor Who, and RTD2 seems
03:06to have the balance just right. Nowhere is this better encapsulated than in the first
03:11story of the new era. The Star Beast was originally a 1980 Doctor Who magazine comic strip, and
03:17it's now being adapted for television. The Doctor himself is a brand new incarnation, but played
03:22by a previous Doctor actor, and the story's monsters, Beep the Meep and the Wrath Warriors will
03:27please long-term Doctor Who fans while working just as well for new viewers, like the Autons
03:31did in the first episode of the 2005 revival. Unit and Kate Stewart are also returning for
03:37the 60th anniversary, as is the Celestial Toymaker, albeit in a new guise. Looking ahead to series
03:4214, the limited information that we have so far suggests a lot of new monsters and characters,
03:48with familiar faces like Mel sprinkled in to keep hardcore fans happy. And that's without
03:52even mentioning the wealth of exciting Doctor Who newcomers behind the camera, such as BAFTA-nominated
03:57director Julianne Robinson. It's a tried-and-tested formula, which should satisfy fans and non-fans
04:03alike when these new episodes hit our screens.
04:067. A Stripped-Back TARDIS Team
04:09How big is the perfect TARDIS team? The original Doctor-slash-companion line-up was four people
04:14strong, but this has proved to be the exception rather than the rule, with most subsequent seasons
04:19featuring just one or two companions. The 13th Doctor's fam was the first four-strong TARDIS
04:25team in 35 years, though it didn't work as well here due to the shorter story length compared to
04:30the classic series, which gave neither Ryan, Graham, or Yaz much space to develop. As such,
04:35it will be refreshing to return to the one-companion format for series 14, almost a decade on from the
04:40last Doctor-companion duo, the 12th Doctor and Clara. At heart, the companions are the audiences
04:45way into the show. TARDIS teams of all shapes and sizes can work, but in practice, the duo has
04:51always been the winning formula, offering more opportunities for the companion to develop both
04:56as a character in their own right and alongside the Doctor. It's the template RTD used when he
05:00brought the show back in 2005. It worked wonders then, it's worked wonders since then, 10 and Donna,
05:0611 and Amy, and we've no doubt it'll work just as well in 2024. In other words, get ready to fall in
05:12love with the 15th Doctor and Ruby Sunday. Number 6, Return of the Kings
05:16Russell T. Davis' return as Doctor Who showrunner is highly unprecedented. The only remotely similar
05:23move in the show's history is when third Doctor producer Barry Letts briefly came back to help
05:28oversee Tom Baker's final season, but in this case, RTD's return is merely the tip of the iceberg.
05:33Most obviously, we have David Tennant and Catherine take back as the Doctor and Donna, one of the best
05:37regarded TARDIS teams of all time. It's a canny move which will both tempt back viewers of their
05:42original episodes while introducing these characters to a whole new generation. Additionally, the
05:47anniversary specials will feature the last screen performance of the late, great Bernard Cribbins,
05:52another beloved character who harks back to the RTD1 golden years. Behind the camera, executive
05:58producers Phil Collinson, Julie Gardner and Jane Trancer all perform similar roles in the original RTD
06:03era too. We've got Rachel Talalay and Mark Tonderai, who directed Capaldi and Whittaker episodes
06:08respectively, also both returning to helm new stories. And perhaps most excitingly of all,
06:14Murray Blooming Gold is back as composer! These are all people with a proven track record of
06:19delivering fantastic Doctor Who, and they're all at the top of their game, and these are just the
06:23ones we know about. It really is a dream team, and if anyone's going to catapult the show into a new
06:29golden era, it's this lot. Number 5. Bigger and better marketing. Doctor Who is a funny show to
06:35market. You've got two groups of people to account for. The people who have always watched the show
06:40and always will, and the people with a passing interest or none at all who may be tempted to
06:44give it a try. Striking a balance between the two can be tricky, but generally speaking, more promotion
06:49is never a bad thing. The more secretive approach of the Chibnall regime sought to preserve mystery,
06:55but was criticised by many for being lacklustre. Whether it's a direct response to those criticisms
07:00or simply their preferred way of doing things, the current marketing team has dialed things up
07:05significantly. We've had some truly exceptional marketing so far, from the inspired emoji teasers,
07:11to trailers in prime time slots like Christmas Day and the premiere of Strictly Come Dancing,
07:17to the long-awaited return of Who's Spy and even a Subwave Network Instagram broadcast channel.
07:22This constant drip feed has kept fans engaged, while constantly giving casual viewers something
07:27to notice when they're channel hopping or doomscrolling. And this is only the beginning.
07:31Think how big Doctor Who is going to be when the actual episodes are out. I can't wait!
07:37Number 4. The Who-niverse begins.
07:39Back in 2021, Russell T. Davis, Doctor Who's former showrunner at the time, argued that Doctor Who
07:45should be operating on the same level as Star Wars and Marvel, with spin-offs such as The Return of
07:50Donna Noble and a 10-part series featuring the 10th and 11th Doctors. He said,
07:54I think that will happen one day, if we can just shift Doctor Who up a gear.
07:58Well, eight months later, RTD was announced as Doctor Who's new showrunner, and fans began to
08:03read those comments in a very different light. Earlier this year, he said that it was, and I quote,
08:08time for the next stage for Doctor Who, and that the spin-offs are ready. In other words,
08:13we're getting spin-offs. It's not been said what these spin-offs are, or when they'll materialise,
08:17though a show based around Unit has been strongly rumoured, an anthology series based around the
08:22show's monsters has also been suggested. Whatever the case, more spin-offs can only be a good thing.
08:27It's been said many times that Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures were so successful because
08:31they catered to audiences that might not have otherwise watched Doctor Who, and could be watched
08:35in isolation, while at the same time feeding back into the main show, and thus rewarding the loyal
08:40viewer. Above all, more spin-offs means more hours of Doctor Who content, which no one is going to say
08:45no to, let's be honest. Number 3, A Bigger Audience. Thanks to the Disney Plus deal, the new era of
08:52Doctor Who will have unprecedented global reach. For existing American and Australian viewers,
08:57this is something of a mixed bag. In those countries, the show has previously been available
09:01to watch on free-to-air TV networks like BBC America and ABC. Going forward, it will be hidden
09:06behind the paywall of a Disney Plus subscription. However, on the whole, the deal will make Doctor Who
09:12much more accessible to a worldwide audience, giving the show more potential fans than it's
09:16ever had in its history. Plus, with parties like Bad Wolf and Disney involved, the show's budget is
09:22bigger than ever. Although reports of £10 million per episode have been debunked, RTD has revealed
09:27that the current budget is more than I've ever had to work with. Doctor Who has always been the
09:32little show that could. But it's time for it to level up, and featuring on one of the biggest streaming
09:37services in the world, is a surefire way to do just that. Number 2, No More Gap Years.
09:43The Doctor often struggles to navigate the TARDIS with any regularity, and over the past few years,
09:49Doctor Who's broadcast schedule hasn't been much different. In fact, it's been nearly a decade since
09:53we've had two series broadcast at the same time of year in consecutive years, Series 8 in 2014 and
09:59Series 9 in 2015. This has largely been down to the show's punishing production schedule. Chris
10:04Jibnall recently revealed that they just missed an Autumn 2019 slot for Series 12, and the decision
10:10to postpone Series 10 to 2017 was likely a similar story. A 2011 interview with Stephen Moffat regarding
10:17the split series approach for Series 6 and 7 is particularly telling. He said,
10:22Why are we killing ourselves and risking compromising the show in order to go out in the middle of
10:26summer? The beauty of the current era is that the show is enjoying longer lead times than ever.
10:31The 60th anniversary specials wrapped well over a year ago, Series 14 is in the can,
10:36and Series 15 is already in pre-production. Indeed, RTD has confirmed that his plan is for
10:41annual Doctor Who with no gap years. A regular series pattern is crucial to maintaining and growing
10:48interest in a brand, so this is fantastic news. If Bad Wolf can keep this up, Doctor Who is going
10:53to have a bigger presence than ever before.
10:56Number 1. Shuti Gatwa is the perfect casting
11:00Incoming Doctor Shuti Gatwa is already a massive star. He's instantly recognisable to a whole
11:06generation thanks to his role as Eric Effiong in Netflix's Sex Education, and was a small but
11:12unforgettable part of this year's biggest blockbuster hit, Barbie. He's done Shakespeare, he's done
11:16photo shoots for Rolling Stone and Vogue, he has a truly incredible dress sense, and now he's Doctor Who.
11:22Little is known about what the 15th Doctor will actually be like, but everything we know about
11:27the man himself, from his star power, to his values, to his heritage, makes him an inspired choice for
11:32the part. As a black queer man and a survivor of genocide in Rwanda, he's a Doctor for our times.
11:38As he told Rolling Stone,
11:40This person fits in everywhere and nowhere. I am the Doctor. The Doctor is me. He's also a fantastic actor too, having shown incredible range in sex education and possessing the sort of infectious energy that will no doubt make him a fan favourite Doctor right out the gate. Gatwa is perfectly placed to attract a brand new audience to the show, and the pieces are in place for something truly, truly special.
12:02special. And now you should have all the information you need to understand why Doctor Who is entering a new golden age. The only thing people may be concerned about was the Disney Plus deal, but you can check out our videos where we go into a deep dive into that deal, which might put your minds at ease. In the meantime, I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of River Song herself, goodbye, sweeties.
12:22.
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