Jun 18, 2026 · 24 min · 10 segments
No Christmas special. No showrunner. No production partner. The BBC has put Doctor Who out to competitive tender, and Dom Bettinelli and Jimmy Akin weigh what the shake-up means for Billie Piper, the…
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But first, Jimmy, there was some news recently that we wanted to talk about important to all Doctor Who fans.
Well, so as you'll recall from the end of the Shudy Gatwa era, which for us was a few months ago, you know, the 15th Dr. Shudy Gatwa regenerated at the end.
And as he was regenerating, all of a sudden, Billy Piper shows up and appears to be the new doctor, although they were ambiguous about that.
And it was speculated she could be another incarnation of the doctor, maybe a temporary one for just a special as kind of an attempt to get what this obviously was, was an attempt to get ratings to save the show from failure.
a long hiatus, maybe an attempt to get ratings that would convince Disney to renew for a third season, although that didn't happen.
And so it was felt that, well, come the Christmas special, which they also announced, we'd get closure on who Billy Piper is.
Rose Tyler, is she more plausibly a manifestation of the TARDIS, you know, or the moment from the Day of the Doctor 50th anniversary special? She could be a number of entities.
But it was figured, well, she'll be she'll she'll they'll figure that out and she'll probably be around for one special.
And it was anticipated there would be probably David Tennant, the 10th Doctor, showing up again in Christmas season.
as the 14th doctor in all likelihood, because if you bring back Billy Piper, you need someone to react.
But then months started going by and it didn't seem like production was was starting on the Christmas special.
People saying things like Murray Gold, the composer, said he'd seen scripts for the Christmas special.
But first, Jimmy, there was some news recently that we wanted to talk about important to all Doctor Who fans.
Well, so as you'll recall from the end of the Shudy Gatwa era, which for us was a few months ago, you know, the 15th Dr. Shudy Gatwa regenerated at the end.
And as he was regenerating, all of a sudden, Billy Piper shows up and appears to be the new doctor, although they were ambiguous about that.
And it was speculated she could be another incarnation of the doctor, maybe a temporary one for just a special as kind of an attempt to get what this obviously was, was an attempt to get ratings to save the show from failure.
a long hiatus, maybe an attempt to get ratings that would convince Disney to renew for a third season, although that didn't happen.
And so it was felt that, well, come the Christmas special, which they also announced, we'd get closure on who Billy Piper is.
Rose Tyler, is she more plausibly a manifestation of the TARDIS, you know, or the moment from the Day of the Doctor 50th anniversary special? She could be a number of entities.
But it was figured, well, she'll be she'll she'll they'll figure that out and she'll probably be around for one special.
And it was anticipated there would be probably David Tennant, the 10th Doctor, showing up again in Christmas season.
as the 14th doctor in all likelihood, because if you bring back Billy Piper, you need someone to react.
But then months started going by and it didn't seem like production was was starting on the Christmas special.
People saying things like Murray Gold, the composer, said he'd seen scripts for the Christmas special.
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