This week, we lost another Doctor. After a measly two seasons, with sixteen episodes and three specials, Ncuti Gatwa is no longer our favourite Time Lord. It's always sad to see a Doctor go, but this time it hurt more, it didn't feel right that we were losing the Fifteenth Doctor so soon. Of course, this isn't the first time a Doctor's tenure has been short lived. Paul McGann (the Eighth Doctor) took over from Sylvester McCoy to star in Doctor Who - The Movie in 1996, which was meant as a revival of the series which had seen its cancellation after over twenty years of broadcasting and seven actors playing the Doctor. This sadly wasn't successful, despite bringing in Hollywood actor Eric Roberts to play The Master, therefore the Doctor Who franchise lay dormant until 2005 when it was revived again much more successfully by writer Russell T Davies and Christopher Eccleston playing the Ninth Doctor.
Eccleston only stayed for one series, dying at the end to regenerate into David Tennant, after having well publicised creative differences with the writing team and issues over working conditions with the BBC's production team. David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker followed and each managed to stay for three series, all with various amounts of specials in between. Enter Ncuti Gatwa, springing onto the screen after Bi-generating from David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor in his series of specials marking the show's sixtieth anniversary.
Ncuti Gatwa not only had one of the shortest amount of series for a NuWho Doctor, but his series were much shorter, with them being cut down to eight from the usual thirteen. Moreover, he's the only Doctor (with a TV series, at least) to not face, the Daleks, the Cybermen or the Master. Add to that, the nature of Gatwa's death, a very forced and rushed suicide, and you wouldn't be blamed for thinking that he was taken away before his time. This isn't the same as McGann, because the show carries on with Gatwa regenerating into...Billie Piper?
How did we get here? Why did this happen? There's a lot of theories roaming about online but the simple answer is that the BBC are desperate and they're throwing everything at the wall to save the sinking ship that is Doctor Who. Ncuti Gatwa was thrown under the bus for the sake of a reveal made simply for click bait to boost the show's ratings, that seemingly has quite rightfully blown up in their face. Gatwa's potential was sprinkled generously around his episodes with him having some phenomenal moments in series best moments like in "Dot and Bubble"'s ending and the entirety of "Boom". He's probably one of the best actors to take on the role and now he's gone forever, doomed to live out his tenure in audio dramas and novelisations.
It's sad to say but the the ship hit the iceberg ever since Matt Smith regenerated and the show's never recovered since. Smith kept the ship afloat after fan favourite David Tennant left, with the show reaching its peak of popularity having various LEGO sets made and the evidence of that series' success still being evident today with Matt Smith and series companion Karen Gillan having the most successful post-Who careers of anyone from the show (aside from Andrew Garfield of course). Peter Capaldi started off with a rocky first series but eventually found his footing with his final series being many Whovians' favourite, but the show still wasn't as popular as it had been.
To make a big change, the BBC decided to turn the Doctor into his first female incarnation, with Jodie Whittaker taking over alongside Chris Chibnall as the new showrunner after Steven Moffat. There are many defenders of the Thirteenth Doctor era but it can't be denied that this was when Doctor Who really started to suffer. Even though Whittaker's opening episode brought in a record number of viewers, these numbers quickly dropped after it was clear that the writing and acting just weren’t there. The issue was never the Doctor being a woman or the scripts being too "woke", the show at this point was just badly made. Had Gatwa been the one to take over from Capaldi instead, he almost certainly would have had a longer tenure, as by this point, stalwart Whovians had given up.
The BBC got desperate, they brought back David Tennant and Russell T Davies for a series of specials which did well critically and in terms of viewers, this was certainly helped though by the show reaching its sixty year milestone. It wasn't enough to save the show's reputation, however, meaning nobody ever gave Gatwa a chance, the ratings remained low and now the BBC have made the baffling decision to give the Doctor the face of an old companion, Rose Tyler - David Tennant's first and most famous partner. It's proved to be an unpopular choice online and it's sad considering there's so many other things Russell T Davies could have done first to bring in more viewers.
For one, the BBC could have given Gatwa his own Dalek story, viewers haven't seen the Doctor's nemeses since 2022 and they would have definitely been a more welcome reveal. Another more interesting idea, they could have started a new series with Paul McGann, either as a prequel, or with him as Doctor Sixteen. Or, a wild card idea, cast a big actor as the Doctor, a fan casting favourite that no one would ever have thought would have the time to play the role.
Interestingly, Billie Piper has not been labelled as the Sixteenth Doctor officially, which leads some to believe something else is going on here. We also can't forget that David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor is still alive and kicking. But frankly, it doesn't matter anymore. When your show's desperation to survive is blindingly obvious, it becomes almost depressing to watch. With or without Disney's money, Doctor Who will carry on, but for how much longer?
Doctor Who is a national treasure and a cornerstone of British culture, but it has been hobbling along not knowing what it wants to do with itself for almost a decade now. It's main issue is its insistence on keeping to sixty years worth of canon and lore. Despite Tcuti Gatwa's new era labelling itself as a jumping off point for new fans, it spent half its time referencing stories and characters from the 1970s and 80s which even fans of the original Russell T Davies era wouldn't necessarily be familiar with.
Doctor Who needs to take a break, maybe five years, maybe ten, maybe even more. Then, they need to get a writer like Tony Gilroy, who's not a fan of the original show(s) who can bring a new take on the material and do a full cold reboot. Not like the Russell T Davies revival, a FULL reboot. Start from the First Doctor, have them start their whole life anew, rediscover the horrors of the Daleks, the beauty of the universe and the joy of companionship all through new, fresh eyes. It worked for Marvel when they launched their Ultimates universe, why can't it work for Doctor Who?
Doctor Who needs to stop clinging to the past and embrace the future.
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