Appearing on Good Morning Scotland talking about Doctor Who

I was invited on to BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland today to be interviewed by Laura Maxwell about the news that Doctor Who will be returning to our screens in 2026 with a Christmas special, and a new series to follow. You can listen to it here for the next 29 days – my segment starts about the 1.55 mark – and here is a transcript …

Laura Maxwell: Now the time is five to eight, and the Time Lord is set to return … with Ncuti Gatwa apparently passing on the mantle to Billie Piper in the series finale earlier this year. Welcome, as it was, Rose’s return failed to silence speculation that the Doctor’s days were numbered. Now, though, the BBC has put those rumours to bed, confirming there will be a Christmas special in 2026. The Guardian’s Martin Belam writes the paper’s blow-by-blow accounts of every episode, so he’s a man who knows his stuff. Morning, Martin. So, good to hear that there is going to be a Christmas special, but not this year?

Martin Belam: I think what has happened is that the BBC did a deal with Disney for two series, and then has been sort of left a little bit in limbo and unable to announce what was happening until Disney made a final decision on whether it would continue the partnership. Which Disney is not going to continue the partnership. And I think it’s been left a bit too late to try and get a Christmas special together for this year. But as you say, Doctor Who will be returning, which I think most fans will welcome. Although, you know, Doctor Who fandom is always unhappy about something …

Laura Maxwell: It’s a long wait for the Whovians. Why did Disney decide it wasn’t going to reinvest?

Martin Belam: I think the thing is that Doctor Who has got itself in an interesting position in that, internationally, it wants to try – or the BBC seems to think it wants to try – and compete with prestige dramas like Andor or The Last Of Us. But also it wants people to sit down as a family on a Saturday teatime and watch it on BBC One. And that’s quite a unique proposition. And I think it maybe hasn’t been the international streaming success that Disney were perhaps looking for when they initially struck the deal, and indeed, probably that the BBC was looking for as well.

Laura Maxwell: So the BBC has obviously decided that it wants to continue with Doctor Who, but it is going to leave them quite cash-strapped, isn’t it, because Disney invested an awful lot of money?

Martin Belam: The numbers are a closely guarded secret, as always with these kind of commercial partnerships, but fans I think would say that some of the best and scariest episodes Doctor Who has ever produced has been when it had a much more constrained budget, and couldn’t go crazy with CGI and massive sets. I think it depends what kind of story you’re going to tell. But yes, I imagine that we will see a difference on screen. We will definitely see that some of the money has gone on screen.

Laura Maxwell: But might that be a good thing, though, actually, for the Whovians? It’s maybe a return to basics, rather than than having all the bells and whistles.

Martin Belam: Well, I’m old enough that I grew up watching it in the 1970s, in an era where they could use bubblewrap as a monster costume …

Laura Maxwell: … and the walls would wobble occasionally as people ran past them, yeah, I was there too.

Martin Belam: Yeah, I’m not quite sure modern TV audiences will put up with that level of budget. But I’m sure it could be done a bit more cheaply than it has been done in the last couple of seasons, which went for really quite spectacular set pieces.

Laura Maxwell: So for those of us who don’t watch it religiously, what do we know about the next Doctor? Because Billie Piper has arrived, but what’s going on there? She was Rose.

Martin Belam: I don’t think anybody knows. I think it was quite carefully done that she wasn’t introduced as “The Doctor”. So, I mean, there’s a question about whether you can get her to do like a one-off Christmas special. I think it would be fun to see her in the role – and then you hand over to someone who wants to do a series. Or maybe she will want to do a series, who knows? I guess the ball’s a little bit in her court, whether she wants to commit to the filming. Because, you know, one of the reasons that Ncuti gave for leaving was that the filming is quite grueling for the Doctor. It’s a lot of lines. It’s a lot of action. I think most Doctors, the people who play the Doctor, end up with bad knees from all the running around down corridors.

Laura Maxwell: We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with it. Martin, thank you very much indeed for joining us this morning. The Guardian’s Martin Belam there, who is something of a Doctor Who expert.

I was also on page three of the Guardian in print today, wittering on about much the same thing …