Paul McGann rumoured to return as Eighth Doctor in new Doctor Who spin-off

As reported by The Mirror, it looks as though Paul McGann could be set to make his return as the Eighth Doctor in a brand new series.

According to the newspaper, the spin-off will work in the same way as the Disney-created series for Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which also stream on Disney Plus, the new international home for Doctor Who.

A source told The Mirror: "Russell likes the idea of bringing back McGann with his own set of episodes in the TARDIS.

"Disney are on board as they want more original content and want to fully exploit the franchise as they know how big it could become."

The BBC declined to comment "due to speculation" when approached by RadioTimes.com.

McGann became widely known for his role as the eighth incarnation of the Doctor for the 1996 television film, which also starred Eric Roberts, Daphne Ashbrook and featured Sylvester McCoy as the outgoing Seventh Doctor.

The TV film was a co-production between BBC Worldwide, Universal Studios and Fox Broadcasting Network, and was an attempt to revive the show.

McGann had come on board to star in the series, with the film intended to be a "back door pilot" - meaning if it drove up viewer figures, new seasons with McGann would then be produced.

Although the TV film achieved success in the UK, the same couldn't be said for the US, so the series was never picked up. But could now be the time that McGann gets a show of his own?

McGann has gone on to star in Luther, Holby City, Annika and made his first appearance on the main television series in a cameo in the 2022 special The Power of the Doctor, alongside other previous Doctors.

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McGann previously told The Guardian: "The fans call me the longest and the shortest. I’ll have it. Less than two hours of screen time in 27 years, but somehow still kind of everywhere all at once. It could only happen in Who world.

"I was recently in one of the Jodie Whittaker episodes (The Power of the Doctor). That's the only time that the Eighth Doctor got onto the telly. So it gave me a little taste for it. I wouldn't mind doing some more."

While McGann's spin-off is yet to be confirmed, it's not the only potential new series that has garnered much fan excitement recently. Over the past few months, eagle-eyed fans have spotted clues hinting at a possible UNIT series.

Returning showrunner Russell T Davies has, of course, hinted that there will be spin-offs to look forward to, and former showrunner Steven Moffat said one centred around UNIT would be an 'obvious' choice.

"It's tough with spin-offs of Doctor Who," he exclusively told RadioTimes.com. "I like them, I always have a slight suspicion that the thing that's best about Doctor Who is that Doctor Who's in it.

"You don't improve a Doctor Who by taking Doctor Who out of it - said the writer of Blink!

"So, I don't know. There's loads of things you can do, there's loads of ideas in Doctor Who that are good enough for their own show, that's the truth. The obvious one is UNIT - why did no one just do UNIT?

"I was always half-tempted to do Jenny and Vastra solving crimes in Victorian London with big swords, I thought that would be quite fun. I never got round to it because I was kind of busy."

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