Report: Why Disney Dropped Doctor Who: Big Budgets, Poor Ratings, and “Too Woke”

Hollywood trade publication Deadline has published an in-depth report exploring the reasons behind Disney’s decision to walk away from Doctor Who.

According to the outlet, several people close to the show described an early lack of enthusiasm from Disney. One former Disney executive told Deadline, “It was pretty apparent from early on that this wasn’t for the long term. Everyone got the impression that it wasn’t doing what it needed to do [on Disney+] to be sustained.”

Another person close to Doctor Who added, “The writing has been on the wall for ages. There has been a complete lack of enthusiasm over at Disney.”

Deadline’s sources said the partnership quickly came under pressure after Bob Iger returned to Disney and began cutting costs. A former Disney executive said they soon detected “regret at spending so much on Doctor Who,” noting the show’s estimated budget of between £6 million and £8 million per episode. “It certainly wasn’t being shouted about as a big success,” the same source added.

An executive at BBC Studios, which oversees Doctor Who, echoed that feeling. “It never felt like Disney were making much of a deal about the show,” they told Deadline. However, Disney sources pushed back, telling The Times of London (as cited by Deadline) that “a lot of marketing muscle” had been put behind the series.

According to Deadline, Doctor Who’s performance in the United States was “far from stellar.” The series failed to appear in Nielsen and Luminate’s streaming charts, and the Entertainment Strategy Guy blog branded it one of the “flops” of 2024.

In the UK, ratings have also fallen, with viewing figures down by around one million compared with the previous series. Someone involved in the show admitted, “The ratings were not up to much.”

A separate Doctor Who source suggested that Ncuti Gatwa “never fully embraced” the wider responsibilities of the role. “There is more to that role than performing,” they said. “You have got to be an ambassador for the brand and embrace being that generation’s Doctor. Matt Smith and David Tennant fully understood the responsibility it carried.”

One “well-placed industry source” claimed Doctor Who had become “too woke for Trump’s USA,” suggesting Disney executives feared a political backlash over the show’s inclusive storytelling.

While Deadline noted that Disney is unlikely ever to admit that politics played a part, the same source said this concern was “a factor in Disney minds.”

Looking ahead, a source close to the production told Deadline, “It can be a reset and buys everyone time to make decisions,” referring to the long gap before the next Doctor Who Christmas special in 2026.

The financial implications of losing Disney’s funding are significant. A former Disney executive estimated that the BBC will now be able to spend “at most £2.5 million to £3 million per episode,” compared with up to £8 million under Disney. “Once you’ve gone up, it’s always difficult to go back down,” the source said. “You can cut budgets to a certain degree but not by so much.”

However, others told Deadline that a smaller budget could actually work in the show’s favour. One former Doctor Who executive explained, “Budget limitations used to help the idiosyncrasies of the show. Big budgets can cause a problem, but the budget was nowhere near as big as The Mandalorian, so they were stuck in the middle.”

While finding another American buyer may be difficult, a BBC Studios executive told Deadline that major streamers could still be interested. “I could make a case for any streamer wanting to create a foothold in a world with a pre-existing fanbase,” they said. “If I’m Paramount right now, I’m losing Taylor Sheridan in 2029, and so am thinking about IP. What else can I buy for my streamer?”

As one BBC Studios source summed up, “We’re talking about a show that has re-launched many different times and shown up in many different places.”