Peter Davison says 'nobody asked' for Five-ish Doctors Reboot sequel
Fans might be crying out for a sequel to the 2013 spoof, but Davison is still waiting for the call.
Peter Davison has admitted that he's still waiting on the call to produce a sequel to The Five-ish Doctors Reboot, despite the popularity of the original.
Released in 2013 as part of Doctor Who's anniversary celebrations, the 30-minute skit followed a fictionalised Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy as they attempted to sneak onto the set of the show's 50th special.
Written and directed by Davison, the short also featured appearances from David Tennant, Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, Steven Moffat, Paul McGann, Russell T Davies and more Doctor Who alumni. (Olivia Colman even turned up for a cameo appearance.)
Speaking at a BFI Southbank event to mark the release of the Doctor Who – The Collection season 20 Blu-ray set, Davison explained that, while 2023 marks another big anniversary for the series, he hasn't been commissioned to make a Five-ish Doctors follow-up.
"The sequel would have had to have been this year and sadly there aren't [any plans]," he said.
"Nobody actually asked me to do it. I hoped that after the Five-ish Doctors in 2013, somebody in some position of power would've come through and said, 'Peter, have a go at the 60th...' No one did, so I couldn't really go to them and go, 'I've got this great idea, give me lots of money!' – so it didn't happen."
Back in July, Davison revealed exclusively to RadioTimes.com that he had come up with an idea for a sequel, but that it "was deemed, by those I showed it to, as utterly unacceptable".
Expanding on this at the BFI event, he said: "I did try and write something. I came up with what I thought was a pretty good idea, but I think my sense of humour is a little... people don't appreciate some of the jokes I put in there. That's all I can say.
"I thought it was quite a funny idea, but I was advised that it wouldn't fly.
"I didn't want to do anything, anyway, if I didn't think it could be at least as good, if not better, than the last one – and because the first one relied on a combination of circumstances and people giving up their time for nothing... I couldn't really expect people to do that again."
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Though a sequel might not be in the offing, the first Five-ish Doctors Reboot remains popular with fans – despite, according to Davison, concerns from the Doctor Who production office in 2013 that it might alienate some viewers.
"I have to say, there were moments where the Doctor Who office were trying to stop us," he said.
"They kept saying, 'We want to make it accessible to all the Doctor Who fans.'
"I wasn't concerned with whether the new people liked it or not. I hope they did, but it was really for fans of the classic series."
Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer with episodes of the classic series also available on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here.
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Authors
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
