“Doctor Who Is Dead”? Bad Wolf’s Jane Tranter Challenges “Really Rude” Claim
Bad Wolf co-founder and Doctor Who executive producer Jane Tranter has hit back at former writer Robert Shearman, rejecting his claim that the series is “as dead as we’ve ever known it.”
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales (via Deadline) to mark the tenth anniversary of Bad Wolf, Tranter called Shearman’s remarks “really rude” and “really untrue,” insisting the show remains full of life.
“The plans for Doctor Who are really simply this,” Tranter explained. “The BBC and BBC Studios had a partnership with Disney+ for 26 episodes. We are currently 21 episodes down into that 26-episode run. We have got another five episodes of [spin-off series] The War Between the Land and the Sea to come. At some point after that, decisions will be made together with all of us about what the future of Doctor Who entails.”
Her response follows Shearman’s comments in Doctor Who Magazine issue 622, where the writer, best known for the 2005 episode “Dalek“, said he felt the show had reached a point of finality and that anything now produced “is going to feel retrogressive.”
Series 15 concluded earlier this year with Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor regenerating in a surprise scene featuring Billie Piper. Since then, the show’s future has remained in limbo, with no confirmation yet of a new series beyond the existing Disney+ co-production deal.
Tranter, however, urged fans not to lose faith. “It’s a 60-year-old franchise. It’s been going for 20 years nonstop since we brought it back in 2005,” she said. “You would expect it to change, wouldn’t you? Nothing continues the same always, or it shouldn’t continue the same always. So it will change in some form or another. But the one thing we can all be really clear of is that the Doctor will be back, and everyone, including me, including all of us, just has to wait patiently to see when, and who.”
In a separate interview with Broadcast, Tranter clarified that while Bad Wolf continues to oversee production, key decisions about the show’s future lie elsewhere. “What will happen next is between the BBC Studios and Disney+ – and Bad Wolf certainly won’t be the first to know,” she said. “I take responsibility for lots of things, but gloriously on this occasion, that one is out of my hands.”
The War Between the Land and the Sea will air in 2026.
