Doctor Who’s surprise regeneration into a former companion is not all that it seems, fans suggested, as uncertainty surrounded the BBC show’s future.
Saturday’s night’s season finale, concluding with Ncuti Gatwa’s departure as the fifteenth Doctor, recorded just 2.2m viewers, according to Barb figures, the lowest for a Doctor Who conclusion since its launch in 1963.
An £80m co-production deal with Disney is under threat as viewing numbers slumped by 2 million compared to the audience who watched Gatwa’s predecessor, Jodie Whitaker, when she was in the role.
Gatwa’s regeneration into Billie Piper, a hit with viewers when she first appeared in the show in 2005 as Rose Tyler, companion to Christopher Eccleston and then David Tennant, was seen as a plea to the streaming giant to stick with the series.
Ncuti Gatwa regenerating in his final episode of ‘Doctor Who’ (Photo: James Pardon/BBC Studios/Bad Wolf)Scott Bryan, BBC broadcaster and TV critic, wrote on social media: “The last minute of the Doctor Who finale felt like a pitch to Disney+ for a third season more than anything else.”
Fans shared suggestions that Piper would not be returning as the sixteenth Doctor after all.
Screen shots showed that whilst Gatwa was credited as “The Doctor” on his first appearance, Saturday’s episode simply said “Introducing Billie Piper” when the credits rolled.
After the episode aired, Piper shared photos on Instagram with the caption “A rose is a rose is a rose !!!”
Reddit threads buzzed with speculation that Piper appearance was actually “Rose returning from another world” as the “Bad Wolf Doctor”, a nod to an earlier storyline.
Others said the popular Piper’s appearance was a practical solution to a real-world headache following Gatwa’s exit, after just 18 months on screen.
“Piper’s not the new Doctor. She’s a placeholder till they decide who to cast as Sixteen (something they didn’t expect to have to do yet),” one fan wrote on X.”
Gatwa and Jodie Whitaker, who returned for a guest role, in his final episode of ‘Doctor Who’ (Photo: Bad Wolf/BBC Studios/Disney)Other suggested bringing back Piper, who made her last appearance in 2010, was “stunt casting” and a “desperate” act of “nostalgia bait” at the conclusion of a series which has shed one million viewers compared to the 2024 run, amid criticism of its storylines.
Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies declined to confirm Piper’s role. “It’s an honour and a hoot to welcome her back to the TARDIS, but quite how and why and who is a story yet to be told,” he said.
The BBC added: “Just how and why she is back remains to be seen…”
Davies insisted: “After 62 years, the Doctor’s adventures are only just beginning!” But insiders say the series is on pause, with production work halted at Doctor Who’s Cardiff base.
Doctor Who was beaten in Saturday night’s ratings by the final of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, which averaged 4.1m viewers.
A BBC spokesperson said: “Overnight ratings no longer provide a full picture of all those who have watched in an on-demand world.”
“Doctor Who is the BBC’s biggest drama for the under 35s and remains one of the most popular brands on iPlayer, with over 70 million viewing hours in 2024.”
The BBC said a decision on a new season will be made after this series has aired, however discussions with Disney could take some time.
Disney’s £80m investment and global distribution muscle allowed the BBC to pump up Doctor Who’s production values.
A spin-off drama, The War between the Land and the Sea, also made with Disney, will air later this year.
Doctor Who episodes have a long afterlife, with the 2024 Christmas special going on to rack up 7m views on iPlayer.
But even with catch-up viewing included, the 2025 series looks set to be the least watched in Doctor Who’s history.
Critics have claimed that “woke” storylines, including the introduction of transgender and binary characters, under showrunner Davies’s stewardship, had turned off viewers.
Insiders said the Doctor Who brand was too valuable for the BBC to let die. Gatwa’s episodes helped the show’s back catalogue, collected on iPlayer under the Whoniverse label, record 70 million viewing hours last year.
One said: “There would still be Doctor Who audiobooks, games and other spin-offs if the main series is cancelled. The BBC could support a one-off feature-length episode next year so that the brand still has continuity.
“The 2005 reboot was a bigger success than anyone imagined but all franchises need a chance to refresh. Look at the current gap between James Bond films.”
Davies has also suggested there could be a hiatus, telling Newsround that Doctor Who is like Robin Hood, meaning “there might be a pause” in the story.
Steve Hatcher, who runs Whoovers – a Doctor Who fan club – said: “The question in the mind was, is it going to be a regeneration to a new Doctor, which it was, or is it just going to be a regeneration to black and an uncertain future?
“So I’m very relieved that they’ve found a new Doctor and she’s a brilliant actor and I’m sure that’ll be terrific, so Doctor Who continues.”
However Brendan Noble, who runs the Sense Sphere Doctor Who YouTube channel, said of the finale: “I am absolutely shocked, irritated, frustrated, people are contacting me now in absolute shock and horror at what’s just happened.”
“It’s lazy writing, hodgepodge of exposition, escapism, nonsense, (Russell T Davies) was throwing every toy from the Doctor Who box at the telly, hoping that some of it would make sense in the way of entertaining you.”
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