Russell T Davies has addressed his sudden exit from Doctor Who for the second time, revealing it was simply 'time to move on.' The 63-year-old screenwriter, who revived the iconic sci-fi series for the BBC in 2005 and returned as showrunner in 2023, announced his departure weeks ago amid confusion over a cancelled Christmas special.
Davies Confirms No Bad Blood
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror at the Attitude Awards in London, Davies dismissed any speculation of behind-the-scenes discord. 'Time to move on, that's all,' he said. The writer is now focusing on other projects, including a dance show based on his Channel 4 series It's A Sin, which starred Olly Alexander and explored the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. He also expressed satisfaction with the success of his recent drama Tip Toe.
'I just had Tip Toe go out. And there's the It's A Sin stage show, the dance show that's coming out. In February. It's quite strange with dance shows, with theatre shows, because they have lots of launches,' Davies added. 'It's in Manchester in February, then it goes to Cardiff in June, then it's Sadler's Wells in the autumn. So it keeps launching. I feel excited.'
Christmas Special Confusion
Davies' comments come amid fan confusion regarding the Christmas special that was apparently in the works. The last episode to air featured Billie Piper, who previously starred as Rose Tyler, seemingly being unveiled as the next Time Lord following Ncuti Gatwa's departure. In December's Doctor Who Magazine, Davies had suggested the special was progressing well, writing: 'Next December, I'll be here to trumpet and toot about the 2026 Christmas Special. It contains these three words, "Bafflers," "Winternox" and "village."'
However, on June 10, Davies announced on Instagram: 'And so GOODBYE from me to Doctor Who but HELLO to a big new future for the show, as the BBC announces it's putting the show out to tender. As a result, there won't be a Christmas Special - we 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 added: 'For the record: there was no script, I never wrote it, and no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor.'
Fan Backlash
Fans expressed dismay over the conflicting messages. One fan told Davies: 'You say that you never wrote a script for the Christmas special and you're right to assume we wouldn't believe that. But here's the unfortunate truth of the matter: you're a liar either way. You either lied about having the script written, or you're lying now.' Another fan said: 'To say you didn't even write it when we've all been led to believe something was going to be waiting under the Christmas tree - I'm sorry, but that was not fair at all.'
The festive special was announced by BBC drama boss Lindsay Salt in the autumn. Now the tender process is likely to take at least a year, with another year or 18 months needed for writing and filming, leaving fans to fear no new episodes will be ready until the end of 2028 at the very earliest. One viewer said: 'We'll probably have to wait until 2039 or something now.' Another added: 'Potentially they could have been getting ready to announce the new production company instead of spending eight months on an imaginary Christmas special.'
A BBC source said the announcement about the Christmas special had been made in good faith at the time.
