The actual reason is that Disney *never* planned to bother with Doctor
Who long-term. All they wanted was a popular show to try to con more
people into signing up for their streaming service. They wanted to get
as much as they could (which was very little anyway) and then toss the
show aside and look for another show to scam potential customers with.


Report: Why Disney Dropped Doctor Who:
Big Budgets, Poor Ratings, and "Too Woke"
-----------------------------------------
Hollywood trade publication Deadline has published an in-depth
report exploring the reasons behind Disney's decision to walk
away from Doctor Who.
<https://deadline.com/2025/10/why-disney-ditched-doctor-bbc-1236601181/>

According to the outlet, several people close to the show
described an early lack of enthusiasm from Disney. One former
Disney executive told Deadline, "It was pretty apparent from
early on that this wasn't for the long term. Everyone got the
impression that it wasn't doing what it needed to do
[on Disney+] to be sustained."

Another person close to Doctor Who added, "The writing has been
on the wall for ages. There has been a complete lack of
enthusiasm over at Disney."

Deadline's sources said the partnership quickly came under
pressure after Bob Iger returned to Disney and began cutting
costs. A former Disney executive said they soon detected "regret
at spending so much on Doctor Who," noting the show's estimated
budget of between ?6 million and ?8 million per episode. "It
certainly wasn't being shouted about as a big success," the same
source added.

An executive at BBC Studios, which oversees Doctor Who, echoed
that feeling. "It never felt like Disney were making much of a
deal about the show," they told Deadline. However, Disney
sources pushed back, telling The Times of London (as cited by
Deadline) that "a lot of marketing muscle" had been put behind
the series.

According to Deadline, Doctor Who's performance in the United
States was "far from stellar." The series failed to appear in
Nielsen and Luminate's streaming charts, and the Entertainment
Strategy Guy blog branded it one of the "flops" of 2024.

In the UK, ratings have also fallen, with viewing figures down by
around one million compared with the previous series. Someone
involved in the show admitted, "The ratings were not up to much."

A separate Doctor Who source suggested that Ncuti Gatwa "never
fully embraced" the wider responsibilities of the role. "There is
more to that role than performing," they said. "You have got to
be an ambassador for the brand and embrace being that
generation's Doctor. Matt Smith and David Tennant fully
understood the responsibility it carried."

One "well-placed industry source" claimed Doctor Who had become
"too woke for Trump's USA," suggesting Disney executives feared a
political backlash over the show's inclusive storytelling.

While Deadline noted that Disney is unlikely ever to admit that
politics played a part, the same source said this concern was
"a factor in Disney minds."

Looking ahead, a source close to the production told Deadline,
"It can be a reset and buys everyone time to make decisions,"
referring to the long gap before the next Doctor Who Christmas
special in 2026.

The financial implications of losing Disney's funding are
significant. A former Disney executive estimated that the BBC will
now be able to spend "at most ?2.5 million to ?3 million per
episode," compared with up to ?8 million under Disney. "Once you've
gone up, it's always difficult to go back down," the source said.
"You can cut budgets to a certain degree but not by so much."

However, others told Deadline that a smaller budget could actually
work in the show's favour. One former Doctor Who executive
explained, "Budget limitations used to help the idiosyncrasies of
the show. Big budgets can cause a problem, but the budget was
nowhere near as big as The Mandalorian, so they were stuck in the
middle."

While finding another American buyer may be difficult, a BBC
Studios executive told Deadline that major streamers could still be
interested. "I could make a case for any streamer wanting to create
a foothold in a world with a pre-existing fanbase," they said. "If
I'm Paramount right now, I'm losing Taylor Sheridan in 2029, and so
am thinking about IP. What else can I buy for my streamer?"

As one BBC Studios source summed up, "We're talking about a show
that has re-launched many different times and shown up in many
different places."


<https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/why-disney-dropped-doctor-who-106264.htm>





--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Daniel70 wrote:

On 31/10/2025 2:51 pm, Your Name wrote:

The financial implications of losing Disney's funding are
significant. A former Disney executive estimated that the
BBC will now be able to spend "at most œ2.5 million to œ3
million per episode," compared with up to œ8 million
under Disney. "Once you've gone up, it's always difficult
to go back down," the source said. "You can cut budgets
to a certain degree but not by so much."

Cutting the Budget can certainly effect quality .... but
reading here, it seems the quality IS fairly abysmal already.

No, the last couple of seasons actually looked quite good, with
[probably] very expensive special effects. So in that way the
quality was quite good. There was a distinct lack of serious
plotting to some of the episodes though, and as I have said
before, it was more style over substance.

The characterisations were all over the place (Belinda Chandra
is a good example of this) and the reason for doing a lot of
the things in the episodes were simply because they could. In
the 1960's/1970's the show's producers made up for the lack of
a big budget by concentrating on the story. In 2023-25 RTD just
blew the money on big FX and big plans but ultimately dished up
sloppy episodes that seemed to be more about suiting his agenda
than entertaining the masses.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 31/10/2025 11:47, Daniel70 wrote:

On 31/10/2025 2:51 pm, Your Name wrote:

The actual reason is that Disney *never* planned to bother with Doctor
Who long-term. All they wanted was a popular show to try to con more
people into signing up for their streaming service. They wanted to get
as much as they could (which was very little anyway) and then toss the
show aside and look for another show to scam potential customers with.


ÿÿÿ Report: Why Disney Dropped Doctor Who:
ÿÿÿ Big Budgets, Poor Ratings, and "Too Woke"
ÿÿÿ -----------------------------------------
ÿÿÿ Hollywood trade publication Deadline has published an in-depth
ÿÿÿ report exploring the reasons behind Disney's decision to walk
ÿÿÿ away from Doctor Who.
<https://deadline.com/2025/10/why-disney-ditched-doctor-bbc-1236601181/>

ÿÿÿ According to the outlet, several people close to the show
ÿÿÿ described an early lack of enthusiasm from Disney. One former
ÿÿÿ Disney executive told Deadline, "It was pretty apparent from
ÿÿÿ early on that this wasn't for the long term. Everyone got the
ÿÿÿ impression that it wasn't doing what it needed to do
ÿÿÿ [on Disney+] to be sustained."

ÿÿÿ Another person close to Doctor Who added, "The writing has been
ÿÿÿ on the wall for ages. There has been a complete lack of
ÿÿÿ enthusiasm over at Disney."

ÿÿÿ Deadline's sources said the partnership quickly came under
ÿÿÿ pressure after Bob Iger returned to Disney and began cutting
ÿÿÿ costs. A former Disney executive said they soon detected "regret
ÿÿÿ at spending so much on Doctor Who," noting the show's estimated
ÿÿÿ budget of between œ6 million and œ8 million per episode. "It
ÿÿÿ certainly wasn't being shouted about as a big success," the same
ÿÿÿ source added.

<Snip>

In the pre-Disney+ era, didn't someone here suggest the per episode
Budget was in the relmn of hundreds of thousand of Dollars/pounds??

If they've now been spending 6 to 8 million pound per episode, did the quality of the episodes increase by a factor of 5 - 10 (if at all)??

These crooks were either spending the money all on themselves or are a
pack of disgusting liars. The episodes were all filmed with very small
casts, very few or next to no extras, and the special effects were no
better than an amateur could do with Blender, Unreal Engine 5, and an
RTX 4090 paired with at best a Threadripper. And on top of that the
writing was absolute complete and utter shit. No more than about
œ800,000 could have been spent on each episode at most by the look of
them. What happened to the other œ179,000,000? Compare with Woke Trek:
Woke New Worlds.

<Snip>

ÿÿÿ The financial implications of losing Disney's funding are
ÿÿÿ significant. A former Disney executive estimated that the BBC will
ÿÿÿ now be able to spend "at most œ2.5 million to œ3 million per
ÿÿÿ episode," compared with up to œ8 million under Disney. "Once you've
ÿÿÿ gone up, it's always difficult to go back down," the source said.
ÿÿÿ "You can cut budgets to a certain degree but not by so much."

Cutting the Budget can certainly effect quality .... but reading here,
it seems the quality *IS* fairly abysmal already.

The money all went into Davies's and Bad Wolf's own pockets. Davies,
Tranter, Gardber, and Collinson probably all paid themselves annual
salaries of œ20,000,000 each while they bullied the cast and production
team just like they did when they caused Eccleston to quit, and shat all
over the audience. That's the only way you could possibly explain the
missing millions because it certainly wasn't being spent on the actual
show or to hire good writers, assuming these condescending woke bigots
are not all lying about how much Disney+ gave them.

ÿÿÿ However, others told Deadline that a smaller budget could actually
ÿÿÿ work in the show's favour. One former Doctor Who executive
ÿÿÿ explained, "Budget limitations used to help the idiosyncrasies of
ÿÿÿ the show. Big budgets can cause a problem, but the budget was
ÿÿÿ nowhere near as big as The Mandalorian, so they were stuck in the
ÿÿÿ middle."

Unfortunately the arrogant, fan hating, narcissistic bigot RTD hasn't
been sacked so don't expect good writing to overcome the low budget. On
top of that the show has been totally dead since 2017 so unless there's
a complete retcon of the Timeless Child monster don't expect any
broadcaster or streaming service to throw even more money down the toilet.

What happened to the deal to show Doctor Who in China, where science
fiction involving time travel is banned? More lies?

--
The True Doctor https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCngrZwoS0n21IRcXpKO79Lw

"To be woke is to be uninformed which is exactly the opposite of what it stands for." --William Shatner

--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

The True Doctor wrote:

Unfortunately the arrogant, fan hating, narcissistic bigot
RTD hasn't been sacked so don't expect good writing to
overcome the low budget.

For a grown man, RTD's writing has become very juvenile and
dumbed down... maybe it was always that way? I dunno. But for
his second stint in charge of Doctor Who he seems to have lost
the run of himself and just writes any crap he wants to because
he likes the idea of it. And as he's such a powerful figure,
nobody seems to have challenged him on his nonsense.

On top of that the show has been totally dead since 2017
so unless there's a complete retcon of the Timeless
Child monster

But, if Doctor Who ended in 2017 there can be no Timeless Child
to retcon!!!

don't expect any broadcaster or streaming service to throw
even more money down the toilet.

The word [on the internet] is that one of the other streaming
services wants it, IF they can have the "Doctor Who" back
catalogue...

I'll believe nothing the BBC say on the matter anyway as
everyone else seems to be better sourced than them. All of the
internet rumours and leaks about S1 & S2 turned out to be true!

--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2025-10-31 14:06:01 +0000, Blueshirt said:

The True Doctor wrote:

Unfortunately the arrogant, fan hating, narcissistic bigot
RTD hasn't been sacked so don't expect good writing to
overcome the low budget.

For a grown man, RTD's writing has become very juvenile and dumbed down...

Doctor Who was and still is a kids' show. The problem is RTD tries to
shovel in lots of Politically Correct idiocy to appease the few
loud-mouthed adults who whine on about stupidities like a lack of
female characters (really? most of the sidekicks have been female!),
etc.

maybe it was always that way? I dunno. But for his second stint in
charge of Doctor Who he seems to have lost the run of himself and just writes any crap he wants to because he likes the idea of it. And as
he's such a powerful figure, nobody seems to have challenged him on his nonsense.

On top of that the show has been totally dead since 2017
so unless there's a complete retcon of the Timeless
Child monster

But, if Doctor Who ended in 2017 there can be no Timeless Child to retcon!!!

don't expect any broadcaster or streaming service to throw
even more money down the toilet.

The word [on the internet] is that one of the other streaming services
wants it, IF they can have the "Doctor Who" back catalogue...

I'll believe nothing the BBC say on the matter anyway as everyone else
seems to be better sourced than them. All of the internet rumours and
leaks about S1 & S2 turned out to be true!

--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <10e2f0c$hfo3$1@dont-email.me>, agamemnon@hello.to.NO_SPAM wrote:

What happened to the deal to show Doctor Who in China, where science
fiction involving time travel is banned?

Wait, what?



--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <xn0pcp41pb9pz9t005@post.eweka.nl>, blueshirt@indigo.news wrote: >The True Doctor wrote:

Unfortunately the arrogant, fan hating, narcissistic bigot
RTD hasn't been sacked so don't expect good writing to
overcome the low budget.

For a grown man, RTD's writing has become very juvenile and
dumbed down... maybe it was always that way?

I remember TORCHWOOD, which I think he produced, was great.



--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 03/11/2025 09:34, Ubiquitous wrote:

In article <10e2f0c$hfo3$1@dont-email.me>, agamemnon@hello.to.NO_SPAM wrote:

What happened to the deal to show Doctor Who in China, where science
fiction involving time travel is banned?

Wait, what?

Google AI Overview
Yes,
in 2011, China?s media regulator banned time-travel dramas, citing that
the genre disrespects history, creates absurd plots, and promotes superstition. While the ban was specific to time-travel dramas on
television, the underlying reasons were a broader concern over
irresponsible storytelling and its potential to distort the
understanding of history.

Reasons for the ban: The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) stated that time-travel dramas often featured
"monstrous and weird plots" ...

and China Bans Time Travel Films and Shows, Citing Disrespect of History https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/china-bans-time-travel-films-177801/

This proves that Moffat was lying about a deal to show Doctor Who in China.

There isn't a single show runner that hasn't lied about everything.

Where is the deal with China?

--
The True Doctor https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCngrZwoS0n21IRcXpKO79Lw

"To be woke is to be uninformed which is exactly the opposite of what it stands for." --William Shatner

--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 31/10/2025 21:59, Your Name wrote:

On 2025-10-31 14:06:01 +0000, Blueshirt said:

The True Doctor wrote:

Unfortunately the arrogant, fan hating, narcissistic bigot
RTD hasn't been sacked so don't expect good writing to
overcome the low budget.

For a grown man, RTD's writing has become very juvenile and dumbed
down...

Doctor Who was and still is a kids' show. The problem is RTD tries to

It was a kids show written for adults. The pile of shit it was replaced
with is written for and by infantile woke degenerates with the mental
age of a 4 year old child.

shovel in lots of Politically Correct idiocy to appease the few loud- mouthed adults who whine on about stupidities like a lack of female characters (really? most of the sidekicks have been female!), etc.

The audience for Doctor Who has always been 67% male and of high
intelligence. Therefore it must be written for and represent that
audience and not be written to please a minority of brainwashed woke
pieces of shit of very low intelligence who don't even watch it and
despise the mainly white heterosexual male audience and everything that
is different from their own disgusting mentally ill selves because
they're institutionally stupid.

maybe it was always that way? I dunno. But for his second stint in
charge of Doctor Who he seems to have lost the run of himself and just
writes any crap he wants to because he likes the idea of it. And as
he's such a powerful figure, nobody seems to have challenged him on
his nonsense.

On top of that the show has been totally dead since 2017
so unless there's a complete retcon of the Timeless
Child monster

But, if Doctor Who ended in 2017 there can be no Timeless Child to
retcon!!!

don't expect any broadcaster or streaming service to throw
even more money down the toilet.

The word [on the internet] is that one of the other streaming services
wants it, IF they can have the "Doctor Who" back catalogue...

I'll believe nothing the BBC say on the matter anyway as everyone else
seems to be better sourced than them. All of the internet rumours and
leaks about S1 & S2 turned out to be true!

--
The True Doctor https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCngrZwoS0n21IRcXpKO79Lw

"To be woke is to be uninformed which is exactly the opposite of what it stands for." --William Shatner

--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)