How Doctor Who & Disney Parting Ways Will Impact The Show

It is now official that Disney+'s partnership with the BBC for Doctor Who has come to an end. Thankfully, it has also been confirmed by head honcho Russell T. Davies that the show will indeed return as of next December in a 2026 Christmas special.

But, with the show now creeping back to its roots as an exclusive BBC show, what does this mean? How will this differ from the newly regenerated (see what I did there?) era of working with Disney? Well, let's evaluate.

1. Back To Normal CGI

Yeah, one of the big kicks of the working with Disney was of course with budget. Each episode of the Gatwa era had a budget somewhere in the millions in order to bring the world of Doctor Who to life.

So it is with that budget no longer being available that we'll be heading back to the times of more prosthetics and lower-quality CGI. No major complaints from me on this to be honest. There's something quite nostalgic about it really.

2. More Episodes

Curiously, it was in the Disney era of Doctor Who that saw the show go into single digits for episode count more regularly. For the most part, the BBC had 12-13 episodes per series of the show. Disney only allowed eight. Why? likely to squeeze more budget into each episode.

Alas, with the BBC now being back in full control, we should expect the show to go back to giving us more episodes per year. Again, no complaints...as long as the episodes are decent.

3. Less Costume Changes

It was hard not to notice that Ncuti Gatwa's incarnation of the Time Lord never stayed in the same costume very much. Every episode had a new outfit of some sort for him to wear. Very unlike all of his predessors who had a standard costume type that they stuck to for the most part.

Again, this likely came down to the budget that Disney allowed. Probably also Gatwa's flair for fashion. But we should expect our next Doctor to go back to wearing a someday-iconic outfit style for their era on the show.

4. New Tardis

Yep, with the BBC now bound to be ushering in a new actor for the main role seeings as Billie Piper DEFINITELY won't be our new long-term Doctor, that usually means we'll be in for a new TARDIS interior also. What can we hope for? Anything really. The set designers on that show have proven to be geniuses over the years. Me personally, I would like something steam punk-esque to get things grittier again. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

5. New Title Sequence

Same as the TARDIS interior really. We're entering yet another era of the show presumably, and so it more than likely means a new title sequence for a new lead actor's name to flash up in front of our eyes. The logo is probably sticking around. No need for that to go I guess. But yeah. New Doctor. New TARDIS. New title sequence. Seems to fit the trend.

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So, what do you think? Anything else you think will impact the show now that the BBC has cut ties with Disney? Let us know what you think!