Russell T Davies has said that one of the reasons he decided to return to Doctor Who for his second stint at the helm was to protect the show during the early days of its partnership with Disney.

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Davies – who originally served as showrunner between 2005 and 2010 – was revealed as Chris Chibnall's successor in a shock announcement back in 2021, around a year before news emerged of a deal that has seen Disney Plus become the international home for the series.

But speaking to David Tennant on the latest episode of the former Doctor Who star's podcast, Davies admitted that discussions about a move to a big streaming service had been ongoing before he decided to rejoin the series.

"There was already a move from the BBC to shift it to a streamer," he said on David Tennant Does a Podcast With.... "I kind of thought it would need protecting and they very honestly said that to me, 'We’re gonna need a producer who can deal with 1,000 executives,' which is what it’s like."

Pressed on why the BBC had felt the show would need a cash injection from a streamer to keep going, Davies added that "that's what they wanted".

He explained: "It’s not just that’s the world we’re in. [The BBC's former director of drama] Piers Wenger genuinely thought it deserves this budget.

"You’re looking at all Stranger Things and Star Wars shows and Marvel shows and he said, 'It should look like that. It deserves to look like that.'"

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Season 15 – the second full run since Davies resumed his showrunner post and the Disney partnership began – is set to get under way next month, with Varada Sethu joining Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday as a new companion.

Meanwhile, the BBC recently moved to deny tabloid reports that the series was set to be cancelled in the near future, saying that "the story is incorrect" and that "Doctor Who has not been shelved".

Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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Authors

Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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