Doctor Who fans shouldn't be worried about its future – it's built to survive

Of course, these discussions will continue until Disney makes a decision about future seasons of Doctor Who (showrunner Russell T Davies says that's coming after the next season), but as a long-time fan of the show, I'm not feeling too worried.

Doctor Who's secret weapon has and always will be its ability to reinvent itself. It was the reason Doctor Who could continue after William Hartnell's exit as the First Doctor, the reason it could be brought back in 1996 and then in 2005, and it's the reason millions of viewers tune in every time the Doctor regenerates.

Even when people have fallen out of love with the show, the way it reinvents itself has brought them right back.

Right now, Doctor Who is at a crucial moment of reinvention. A season into Ncuti Gatwa's tenure as the Time Lord, and into its soft reboot from showrunner Russell T Davies, the show has once again found its voice.

We've got at least one spin-off on the way in The War Between the Land and the Sea and RTD has hinted that there are more on the way.

Davies has also promised a more diverse writing talent for next season after he wrote the majority of the season 14 episodes himself (with one episode being written by fellow former showrunner Steven Moffat and one penned by Kate Herron and Briony Redman), with fresh voices being a key way Doctor Who can continue to reinvent itself.

He previously said: "I wanted women writing, and I’m aware that we haven’t got enough women writing or writers of colour, which we’re fixing in the next series to come.

"Kate and I made contact over Loki, and she then introduced me to Briony, who might not be so well known unless you move in comedy circles – where in improv and stand-up she’s a legend – and they just bring their own style."

But what if, after all that and against all the odds, Disney doesn't commission a third season of Doctor Who? It's certainly possible. But if that does happen, the show would just reinvent itself again. Of course, there are plenty of things that Disney brings to Doctor Who (reportedly, a big old budget!) but Doctor Who survived before the Disney deal – even on a shoestring budget at points – and I'm sure it would afterwards.

You may make the very valid point that Doctor Who hasn't always survived. Ironically, it was the Seventh Doctor serial Survival that saw the Doctor (then played by Sylvester McCoy) walk off into the sunset, not to return until 1996 (then played by Paul McGann)... and then to take another nine years off from their travels in the TARDIS before returning in 2005 played by Christopher Eccleston.

But Doctor Who has learnt a lot of lessons since then, never staying static when it comes to story, production value, and even its time slots in the BBC schedule. Not all of the risks have paid off (I can't pretend I didn't almost riot when the Christmas episodes shifted to New Year for a good while there) but a hell of a lot of them have.

Carole Ann Ford, who starred as the first companion, Susan Foreman, previously told RadioTimes.com that William Hartnell believed Doctor Who could "go on forever".

She said: "Bill used to say in the very beginning that it could go on forever. Because there's no reason for it not to, because the Doctors can regenerate again and again and again, and they can go anywhere and do anything so it wouldn't get stale.

"They could meet different people, go to different planets, different circumstances, there's no reason at all why it shouldn't stay fresh... there's no reason at all for it to end, it can just go on forever and ever."

It was incredible foresight from the man who originated the role of the Doctor, and I think it's profoundly true. Like the Doctor, Doctor Who has had many lives and will continue to have many lives, I'm sure, for decades to come.

Some will be more successful than others. Some will be seen as the good old days, and some will be remembered as low points. Some will continuously offer us jelly babies (this metaphor has run away with me). But, like it or not, Doctor Who is made to survive.

Doctor Who will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer this Christmas. Previous seasons are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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