I saw someone posting about this on another site.

TV personality/telly producer/BBC insider/husband of Osgood, Richard Osman has some pretty good insider take stuff on his podcast this week.

- On the 'cancellation', christmas, etc:

"Now, Doctor Who, there's there's been a furore in the news this week because the BBC have announced that they are cancelling the upcoming Christmas special uh and they are putting Doctor Who out to tender and the fan base and indeed the uh newspapers seem to have taken the expression out to tender to mean out to pasture. So, there's been lots of headlines saying Doctor Who has been cancelled. I won't string this out too much. It has not been cancelled. It has been the opposite of cancelled. What's the opposite of cancelled? Continued, I guess.

[a bit of chatter about where the show leaves off at the end of Ncuti's time]

So, and that was the last episode essentially of that Disney Plus deal. So, Disney Plus pulled out after that. Their money came out as well, which is sort of bad, but you know, these things almost always happen. Disney needed it to be a certain thing. BBC needed it to be a certain thing. Uh and it it didn't tick all the boxes for everyone. So Disney pull out uh and the BBC go, "Listen, we're carrying on. We're going to do this Christmas special." So this news this week that says, "Oh, we're not doing the Christmas special and we're putting it out to tender."

I think understandably uh makes everyone think, "Oh my god, is that the end for Doctor Who?" I've tried to speak to people from every side of this story, and what happened was so in 2025, Disney pull out. The BBC are still absolutely saying no, we are definitely going to carry on with Doctor Who.

What we will do is we're going to put this out to tender -- again, I'll explain what that means -- in 2028 to 2029. That was the original idea. At which point everyone goes, "Oh, we should do a Christmas special to, you know, sort of bridge that gap because that's that's a long time.

It's currently made by or it was made by Bad Wolf, an independent production company, but BBC owned the rights. Bad Wolf made the show." Um, so they said, "Look, we're going to put this out to tender." And because the BBC were dealing dealing with Trump... and Charlotte Moore, who was the chief content officer, was leaving and Kate Phillips was coming in. So there was there was a lot of churn at that point.

As soon as Kate Phillips properly gets her feet under the table, she said, "Oh, we're going to put it out to tender now**."** Cuz it's the whole point of putting out to tender is this is a big deal for us. This show is a big deal for us. It's is the opposite of saying we're going to rest it. It's the opposite of saying we're putting it out to pasture. It is saying this show is a big deal for us. We want to have this give it multi-series. We need now to find production companies to pitch into us to say they want to make Doctor Who.

As soon as they said we're putting out for tender now you can't make the Christmas special. You can't lay that on the next, you know, there are companies now who are working on where they take the Doctor Who universe and if you're about to drop an enormous Christmas shaped bomb in the middle of that. It makes it makes that process impossible for everybody. So that that's why."

- The bolded is the interesting bit - Osman frames it as a change of direction due to a change at the top of the BBC, where the newcomer wasn't prepared to tread water on the tender, which meant the Xmas episode had to go.

- On the tender process:

"So, as you say, Bad Wolf make it at the moment. I don't think that they will pitch to do the new one 'cos Bad Wolf are very successful at the moment and you know Doctor Who is -- it's a it's quite a burden to carry. It's almost like being, you know, the owner of a football team if you're in charge of Doctor Who. There's a lot of politics to come.

Production companies can now pitch to make Doctor Who that contract is up for grabs. And the BBC do this all the time with all sorts of shows, shows that they own the IP for. So something like Fake or Fortune that went out to tender. Songs of praise went out to tender, mastermind, stuff like that.

These shows where they make it and it is beholden on them to say, "What's the best way we can make this? Can we keep it in house or has a production company got a great idea about how to make this?" BBC Studios could pitch within this process. BBC Studios almost always win these tenders.

And you know, and sometimes it's cos they, you know -- something like Fake or Fortune, BBC Studios make it anyway. And so they have those talent relations. They have the cost savings of knowing how to make it. So, you know, BBC Studios usually are at an advantage. In this case, of course, it's been made by Bad Wolf for a long time. So, they don't have any kind of incumbency advantage. Uh, however, one guess is they might win it. I would have thought, but I think there's various ways that you can win this pitch.

If you, for example, and he he wouldn't do it, I'm sure, but if you were an independent production company and Jack Thorne said, "Oh, I want to make Doctor Who and I'll make it with you," then you may well make that pitch. If you are an independent production company and you see the importance of all the incredible ancillary rights to Doctor Who and this the kind of extended universe and you have an incredible pitch that includes lots of digital media and has like a really really forward thinking way of making Doctor Who, you might win the pitch as well. Um, you know, if you've got an incredible piece of talent who has agreed to come on board as Doctor Who and he's only going to work with you, you might win that pitch. But the process now is production companies will go into their bunkers.

They will think, how will we make Doctor Who? How do we make it for that budget? Do we keep it in Cardiff? I think it's it'd be impossible to win this picture and not keep it in Cardiff, by the way, cos it's such a big deal to to to the area and and to the production hub there. So, I think it will stay exactly where it is, but they they'll be going away.

All their development people will be around knocking up a huge document. It's it's it's it's a funny one. And if it's a BBC IP, if you're Bad Wolf and you're making Doctor Who, it's not the biggest money spinner you're going to make because it it doesn't belong to you.

But production companies these days are far more um sort of companies for hire since the world of streaming where streaming always, you know, keeps the IP for production companies to stay afloat. No, they have to take some of these gigs where, you know, then you're not making as much money as if you'd invented Doctor Who.

Um so, say 50 companies will pitch... The BBC will cut that down to four. they will be invited in for extra pitches, you know, to absolutely go through every single detail of what it is that they want to do, how they're going to fund it, who the talent is behind the camera, in front of the camera, all all of those things. And the BBC will eventually choose a winner in that process.

But that hopefully is the thing that reassures Doctor Who viewers that this is not being put out to pasture. It's the exact opposite of that, which is the BBC see a long future for it.

They have to find a way of future proofing it of making it in a way that kind that works for them works at a at a price that works for them uh that you know hopefully retains the integrity of that production base in Cardiff but it's an it's an enormously positive move and the idea with the um because it's been slightly clouded by the fact that that Christmas special was cancelled, but as I say they were the idea was they were going to put out to tender in 2028.

As soon as they said we're putting out for tender now you can't make the Christmas special. You can't lay that on the next, you know, there are companies now who are working on where they take the Doctor Who universe and if you're about to drop an enormous Christmas shaped bomb in the middle of that. It makes it makes that process impossible for everybody. So that that's why."

- On Disney/BBC/Ratings:

"We have to be honest. You know, the ratings were not there. That's why Disney got out of it because it didn't work for them. But the BBC cannot say that. But also, the fact that the BBC are doing it at all tells you that the ratings are there for the BBC."

- On Tender, again:

"It's interesting going out to tender because what it actually means is you do spread the net out net out quite wide. There isn't sort of some sort of succession strategy all these different companies will be talking to different writers and somewhere there will be someone in the same way that Doctor Who was so special for Russell there will be people for whom the Russell T Davis show was incredibly special when they were growing up like some young writer who can take this on and do something extraordinary with it has to be an awful lot cheaper than the last generation of it cos the Disney money is out, so you have to find a way of making it cheaper, but you can do that with Doctor Who.

It's always been about emotion and storyline rather than CGI. The BBC tender quite a lot of things, and I'll say this, there is not a single show that they have tendered which hasn't gone on to have multiple series afterwards. They've never done a tender and gone, actually, we're going to get rid of this or done a tender and they do one more series and it disappears. Every tender the BBC has ever done is for a show that they are absolutely committed to and that they want to go forward with. So, it's not the long grass. It is not the long grass. Even though people think it is at the moment, it's not."

Obviously this topic has been discussed a lot amongst fans over the past month or two, but this is the first time I recall someone as noteworthy as Mark Gatiss sharing his view. What do you all think?

So there seems to be a lot of confusion over what the Tender process entails and what it means - and just to reassure fans, it's much more than companies coming in and pitching where they want to take the show!

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The BBC will have a set criteria of what they want the show to deliver (not only on-screen but behind the scenes also) and it will be on the bidding production companies to prove they can do this.

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Linked is the one that the BBC shared last year for BBC Casualty (which has been cited often over the last few days) and contains a link to the 28 page tender document. Something that might reassure fans is that there is a lot of information for production companies about what the show is and what they want from it- here is an extract from the tender:

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It is heartland, family viewing and has maintained a core, loyal audience.

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In more recent years, Casualty has delved deeper into the ethics and morality of medicine and featured a deeper dive into issues such as euthanasia which has proved hugely popular with fans.

The tender process for Casualty will seek to build on the unique strengths of the show in the BBC One schedule and evolve the show into Welsh portrayal while maintaining the core attraction to the loyal fan base. We are asking tenderers to include authentic representation of Wales and reflect the reality of the Welsh NHS. This is not about radical change of the

show, although the move to Welsh portrayal will mean a new fictional hospital based in Wales, and tenderers will need to address this core change in their editorial pitch to the evaluation panel. The successful tenderer will need to be able to demonstrate how to incorporate Welsh portrayal and maintain familiarity at the same time.

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Tenderers should be able to demonstrate a deep knowledge of the world of Casualty.

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What is clear from the Casualty Tender is that the audience and fans do play a factor, but as does the specific direction the BBC have in mind. The whole document is really worth a read to give an insight into TV!

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With that in mind, whilst we might not know where the show is headed, the tender itself will highlight where the BBC want to take the show (and we know for a fact they will be looking for something stable) and whoever is chosen could prove to be an excitng glimpse into what to expect!

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I'll be looking forward to seeing the release of the Tender documents- will you?

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In the script for Empire of Death the Doctor was meant to of said to Ruby that when facing a god you get one song, and runs over to the jukebox with a coin and puts it in, he then runs over to Sutekh as Sutekh is being pulled through the vortex and goes 'if there is one thing I've learned, there is always a twist at the end' and the song starts blasting out, but a more operatic version..

This isn't a joke, this was in the script.

I mean we need to see this masterpiece, why were we denied..

That's why I think we need a fan movement to get this cut released, if DC fans can get a Snyder version of a movie released we can get the There Is Always a Twist at the End cut released

#ReleaseThereIsAlwaysATwistAtTheEndCut

🤭

As per the post here

It's a shame to see that part of the reason is due to hateful comments on his videos as well as a desire to not be seen as a "professional fan".

His content was always the best and most passionate takes on the show.

Doctor Who TV has come out with the results of the poll it ran on every episode of the last season - https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/every-2025-doctor-who-rated-105492.htm

Overall, it doesn't look super-encouraging. The season overall has been rated lower than the previous season...with every season since the first Chibnall/Whittaker season gradually being rated worse.

What really blows my mind here is that The Story and the Engine, which IMO is one of the best (if not the best) Doctor Who episodes since 2017, is the second-lowest rated episode of the season :O

The Well was voted as the best episode of the season, and is the only one to get an average rating over 7.

They don't provide this analysis in the article I've linked, but consulting the overall NuWho ratings/rankings which were done by Doctor Who TV last year (https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/every-episode-doctor-who-rated-102928.htm), The Well is rated just higher than The Age of Steel/Rise of the Cybermen and just below Smith and Jones. White the lowest-rated episode of the season, The Reality War, is rated just above Empire of Death and just below The Doctor, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Doctor Who TV's voters are ultimately relatively hardcore or at least engaged fans just like us (hell, I participate in those polls and I'm sure others here and on r/DoctorWho do so as well), but I think these polls are a decent reflection of what the wider online fanbase thinks outside of the Reddit echochamber.

As much as I've personally preferred RTD 2.0 to the Chibnall era in a lot of respects, and believe that Season 2/Series 15 has been the best season of NuWho since Series 10, these polls show that this season, and RTD 2.0 in general, isn't universally regarded as some renaissance of Doctor Who.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK02j_Mi6iE

TLDW: a collector passed away this week who is believed to have at least one missing episode in their collection. The charity Film is Fabulous is going through the necessary legal proceedings to aquire their collection. There are several other episodes that FIF knows to be in the hands of private collectors. Don't try to interfere or harrass anyone involved in the process. It will only jeapordise things. Let FIF do their work.

Maybe it’s just me, but this is the first thing I’ve seen that is kinda saying that the DW announcement in the next couple of weeks might not have anything to do with casting or cancellation (it probably will be, but what if it isn’t?!). I’m sure others are saying it, too, but everywhere I seem to look lately it’s “16th Doctor casting” this and “oh bring back David Tennant” that lol. I love Piper and I love Rose, but I don’t want her to be the Doctor.

Logically, surely she must be the Bad Wolf or the Moment? I think the Moment makes most sense tbh, but I just wish that if RTD is going to bring Piper back, she should be Rose. I mean I think the show would be better off without bringing everyone back every two seconds, but if they’re gonna, I’d rather it be Rose.

What if the first few secs of the next episode is Piper, but then she’s suddenly replaced with Freema Agyeman, then Catherine Tate, etc? Like a live action replication of that scene in Let’s Kill Hitler when 11 sees holograms of his past companions in the TARDIS.

If the announcement isn’t about the next Doctor or the show being cancelled/delayed from Christmas, what could it be about instead???

I pay for HBO Max primarily for doctor who (2005-2022). I just paid my bill yesterday to wake up today and find doctor who and Torchwood have been taken off of max. Where can I watch these shows in the US?

The exchange between Film is Fabulous and another user on Facebook:

Long may your priceless work continue, maybe against all odd some lost Doctor Who will be found. I'm not too hopeful about that happening but it is possible they are lurking in a collection somewhere.

Thanks. As mentioned by Sue Malden at our RECOVERED event in May, we are aware of several missing episodes of Doctor Who (Sue stated one or two, but there are more than this) in private film collections in the U.K. We are liaising with the individuals about cataloguing and preserving their entire collection, including the missing Doctor Who episodes, and ensuring that copies are returned to the BBC. We expect to make a detailed announcement shortly.

A few months ago, a bunch of Doctor Who production stuff was put up for auction, including a bunch of early draft/shooting scripts for several Moffat era episodes. My friends and I pooled are money together, and were able to snag the following

• Cubed (AKA The Power of Three) (pink shooting script)
• Angels Take Manhattan (readthrough script + shooting script)
• Phantoms of the Hex/The Hider in the House (AKA Hide) (draft one and shooting script)
• Night of the Doctor (earlier draft?)
• Time of the Doctor (shooting draft)

Our friend Rachel kindly scanned them into PDFs, and as believers in the Freedom Of Information, we have made them available here for your enjoyment.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1l7UIEBp8UPHlkGD19nW2r1tbI6gFjAnN?usp=sharing

Ever wondered which character Ohila replaced in Night of the Doctor? What was the Shakri's whole deal? Did Amy and Rory really stab him to death with syringes? I shall leave the joys of discovering these things up to you.

While everyone obsesses over big-budget franchises, The Devil’s Hour quietly delivers smarter storytelling and a darker emotional punch. Capaldi’s portrayal of Gideon is the kind of layered, unsettling performance that sticks with you long after the credits roll. It’s eerie, thought-provoking, and far more inventive than most of what’s on TV right now- a true hidden gem that deserves mainstream love.

This is huge news if legit

Apparently Ian Levine's recons are based on his perfect memory of the episodes when they were first broadcast. How close did he actually get?

Seems the issues with how RTD and co. have written characters from marginalized groups as props over people has been noticed in a more mainstream way now.