10 Reasons RTD's Doctor Who Return Failed

For one last baffling flourish, Doctor Who has been left with an awkward cliffhanger that in all likelihood will never be addressed on TV. Because how can it?

The Doctor regenerating into Billie Piper was... a choice. But at the time, we could at least speculate about how it was going to be resolved, and it seemed like the show had some sort of direction for its next episode.

Now we know that there’s not going to a follow-up (and any plans for a followup were tenuous at best), we can see it for what it was: a last-ditch attempt to generate some good old content, perhaps in the hope that Disney or another partner would be convinced to pick the show up.

In fairness, it does also feel like this decision was taken to help Doctor Who itself. The last year has already been quiet – can you imagine how quiet it would have been if we didn't have a floating Billie Piper head to speculate about? A fade-to-black ending would've also made it feel like Doctor Who had actually ended, even though it hasn't. Russell was trying to keep the show ticking over, and he sort of succeeded.

But with the cancellation of the Christmas special, the overriding emotion is frustration. It feels like we've wasted a year treading water, when the show could have been pushing forward. Without all this Christmas special and Billie Piper baggage, could Doctor Who have gone to tender sooner? Why didn't someone put their hand up and make that decision in early 2025 when it became clear that the Disney era was crumbling?

Instead we have a cliffhanger that just makes the transition to the next era more difficult. If you ignore it, that's weird, and if you acknowledge it... well, you can't acknowledge it can you, because the show is destined for a soft reboot. Awkward.

Still, at least this gives Big Finish something to do for the next couple of years.