It hasn’t been the “best of times” for Doctor Who recently. Things were meant to “turn around” when Disney got involved and gave the beloved sci-fi series a shot in the arm…via money. Yet, even after bringing back the one and only David Tennant for the 60th anniversary specials, and having the first male black doctor, who also happened to be gay, things slowly went downhill for the show. Ratings fell. Fan love wasn’t as strong. And to top it all off, as I reported the other day, the Disney deal lasted just two seasons.
But why? Why did things go to pieces so quickly? The answer may have been revealed via some insiders, who talked to Deadline about things and made it clear that even from the early onset of the partnership between the BBC and Disney…they could see things weren’t going well, and that made Disney a lousy partner. And that comes from a former executive at the company:
“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.”
And when that happened, another insider claimed that Disney did little to try and fix it:
“The writing has been on the wall for ages. There has been a complete lack of enthusiasm over at Disney.”
Another issue was, unsurprisingly, money! Disney threw a LOT of money on the Doctor Who series, and you could tell that in certain episodes…but not in others. Remember, this franchise is known for making things work with a low budget, and then, with the bigger budget, only certain things stood out. But for Disney, they saw a lot of money going out, but not coming in, which is partly on them, as they barely marketed the thing! A person at the BBC noted to Deadline:
“It never felt like Disney were making much of a deal.”
And why didn’t they? Doctor Who has a loyal fanbase, but it can always get bigger! They should’ve been doing a massive marketing campaign from the 60th anniversary onward to showcase just how awesome it was that the show was on Disney+ and nowhere else. Except, they didn’t. Heck, Death Battle did more for the 60th anniversary than Disney did!
Oh, and the announcement about the split? The initial intent was to do that AFTER the spinoff series that’ll arrive next year, The War Between the Land and the Sea, but Disney basically went, “Nah, we’ll do it now,” and didn’t give a “memorable thank you” to the BBC for the partnership. So, yeah, Disney clearly just wanted to get out of the deal.
The other big deal, as I noted in my reviews of the last few seasons, was quality. Many feel the episodes weren’t “up to snuff,” and those that were good were quickly outweighed by bad ones. Even the insiders noted that both multi-part finales for the Ncuti Gatwa seasons weren’t “well regarded,” and that the main companions, Ruby and Belinda, weren’t as liked as past ones because we barely get to know their true personalities at times. Personally, I really liked Ruby, but Belinda was so one-note it was cringe!
Finally, and arguably most importantly, the insiders felt that Ncuti Gatwa wasn’t the “best ambassador” for the brand, as he didn’t do much to promote the show, unlike iconic past Doctors like David Tennant and Matt Smith. Not to mention, there was the “politics issue” on both sides of the pond, where some viewers (see: racists and haters) didn’t like some of the content that was shown, between The Doctor kissing the male scoundrel Rogue, or having a Transgender actor playing a key villain, and other matters.
All of that led to a huge ratings drop, and if you don’t make ratings, shows don’t continue. Now, to be fair, we know that Doctor Who will be back next year for a Christmas Special…but plans can change. This should’ve been a landmark thing, but it turned into yet another “cash grab that backfired,” and the ones left hanging are the fans.
Source: Deadline
