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It is bad news for Doctor Who fans around the world. After a tumultuous couple of years, it appears that the BBC is rethinking its approach to the iconic sci-fi series. With the partnership with Disney seemingly in the past, the British broadcaster is looking for new partners. In the meantime, they’re cancelling the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Episode that was scheduled to air later this year.

The BBC released the statement on their website. “As part of securing the next phase of the show for future generations, and in line with the BBC’s Charter and Agreement requirements, the BBC will put Doctor Who out to competitive tender this year.” This means that they will be inviting bids from production companies and distributors to help finance and produce new episodes of Doctor Who, although the statement made it clear, "The BBC retains all IP in Doctor Who."

That wasn’t the only news they dropped this morning. “After careful consideration, the BBC, Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf have collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor Who Christmas episode. This decision was not taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one off special, we are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory.”

Curiously, Davies took to Instagram to reveal that the previously announced Christmas episode was never as real as fans believed it to be. "[W]e only cooked that up to guarantee a future when no one knew what would happen, but now we do know, there’s no need for it," he wrote, adding, "For the record: there was no script, I never wrote it, and no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor."

The news is indeed disappointing for fans, who had hoped to find out just what is going on with the recently regenerated Doctor following Ncuti Gatwa’s brief stint in the role. This gives us a future with no definite Doctor Who show or specials in the pipeline, and no timeline for when that may change. A pretty bleak future, indeed.

If you want to start watching Doctor Who and don't know where to start, check out our handy Doctor Who watch guide. Or maybe you're already finished with the show - We've got the perfect Ten shows to watch when you're done watching Doctor Who guide for you too. If you're already heads over heels for the Fifteenth Doctor and want to learn more about the actor playing him, check out what he's been in before here. Or maybe you just need to figure out how the new series numbering is going to work (Are there really gonna be two series 1s? Yes.) - if so, this is the explainer you want.