Chibnall Says the Real Issue Facing Doctor Who’s Future Isn’t What Everybody Is “Moaning About”
Former Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall has shared his thoughts on the programme’s future, arguing that the biggest challenge facing the series is funding, not the issues debated by fans online.
Speaking on the Who Corner to Corner podcast, Chibnall discussed the BBC’s decision to seek a new production partner following the end of the Disney+ co-production agreement.
“I think the biggest thing you can say about all of that is it’s very easy to miss the point that this is primarily about money,” Chibnall said. “It’s not really about all of the things that everybody is banging on about and moaning about or getting emotional about.”
He continued by pointing to wider pressures across the television industry.
“It’s very hard for the BBC to fund their programmes right now because of what’s been done to them in terms of funding agreements over the past 15 years and the slow whittling away of that, and the increase in big Hollywood monoliths and conglomerates really taking over the market.”
According to Chibnall, those financial pressures affect drama production across the BBC.
“The BBC can’t afford to fully fund any drama now, and it certainly can’t afford to fund Doctor Who.”
He added that, in his view, “any discussion around it is about money more than anything else”, saying that point had been “missed a little” in much of the discussion surrounding the programme’s future.
Chibnall was also clear that he believes the BBC still wants to continue producing the series.
“This is a BBC that cannot afford to make shows that it wants to make. The BBC wants to make Doctor Who. Don’t be in any doubt about that.”
Discussing the practicalities of the BBC’s current search for a new production partner, Chibnall said prospective companies would inevitably focus on financial questions first.
“If I’m a production company and I’m looking at things that are going out to tender, what I’m going to want to know is, well, what’s the budget? How many episodes? And where’s the funding coming from? And until that’s sorted, you can’t really move forward.”
He also stressed that he has no involvement in the current process.
“That’s not me saying I have anything. I’m not going anywhere near any of that process, just in case anybody misreads that. Absolutely not.”
Addressing the end of the Disney partnership, Chibnall described it as another funding challenge rather than a creative one.
“I guess the by-product of the Disney deal ending is you had a funder, and then that funder is now gone, and it’s hard.”
“It will take some work to then convince other co-production partners to come in at that point when somebody else has dropped out. So, like I say, it all reverts back to money, and those are knotty problems that do take time.”
Looking beyond the immediate funding issues, Chibnall suggested that any future incarnation of Doctor Who will need to embrace today’s television landscape rather than attempt to recreate the past.
“Anybody thinking that it can go back to the past, or that any approach in the past is applicable, it just isn’t any more.”
“It’s entirely different to making a show three or four years ago, let alone ten, twenty, sixty years ago.”
He concluded by saying the programme would need both long-term planning and a fresh creative vision.
“It’s really going to require a lot of thought and a big visionary take that is going to be there for the ensuing ten years, because who knows what television looks like in three years, let alone five or ten.”
“It’s always been the challenge for Doctor Who. It’s always been at the forefront of those things. It always has been a pioneer, and it’s got to be that again somehow.”
