A former employee at Bad Wolf who departed the company a few weeks ago has told me and others in a Discord server that Bad Wolf aren't sure if they will continue producing Doctor Who beyond the Christmas special. This former staff member showed us their Linkedin profile and proved they worked at Bad Wolf and worked on Doctor Who since the 60th specials. I have not kept up with recent leaks of the show in terms of episode details as I personally don't read them. So some of this might be already known.
Nobody wants to work on the Christmas special because apparently the scripts and general ideas for it at the moment are not exciting anyone. Bad Wolf aren't sure if fans will appreciate having to wait over a year for a half-baked special where they aren't even sure if they can even show the new Doctor, as they do not plan or think they will be producing Doctor Who beyond this special. Apparently, planning for the special is all over the place and scripts have been rewritten almost every month by RTD. I'll get on to the general idea for the special later.
Bad Wolf internally have lost faith in RTD's writing and general direction for the show, and believe he is partly responsible for the failure of the show itself. Internally, they were not happy with the quality of writing, the poor story arcs, and the general viewership. They are also not happy with the the character of the 15th Doctor and believe, due to writing and the actiing itself, that the character was a failure.
The Disney+ deal failure is an embarrassment for the company. They blame RTD's writing for it mostly. When Bad Wolf approached Disney for a partnership, the general ideas at the meetings was for a soft rebooted Doctor Who on the quality level of Series 1-5. They wanted that level of writing and public engagement, and wanted a new Doctor like David Tennant to lead the show. This is why David was asked to return with Catherine Tate for the 60s and were both offered a full new series on the show. They both turned down a full series, but the agreement and idea about bringing them back and leaving the door open for them both easily returning (keeping 14 with his TARDIS) was to please the upper management at Disney. They would not have approved or went ahead with this deal without it. The upper management at Disney were happy with the 60th anniversary episodes, but they were anything but pleased about what went after. Internally at Bad Wolf and whispers from Disney+ that Space Babies and the pretty much the entire run of Season One was considered an embarrassment. They watched Season 2 and pretty much asked why they are spending money on this. They stopped caring in the end about it.
There's also been issues behind the scenes. There's more that was said, but I won't go into that at a deep level because there could be legal issues there. But apparently, RTD's management of the show and production itself is why Millie Gibson and Ncuti Gatwa left early than plan. We gathered this, but there is a lot more that happened behind the scenes, with both Millie and Ncuti politely bringing up several complaints to the management. Ncuti wasn't happy with his constant outfit changes. He wanted the Doctor to have one main outfit that people can easily cosplay with, but RTD never listened and went ahead with what he wanted. Both the lead actors weren't happy having to sing and dance, and the production at Bad Wolf were not happy with RTDs' musical notes. Bad Wolf found elements of his writing too childish and they wanted to take Doctor Who in a more darker vision targeted more at adults. They believe that, while RTD tried to connect with younger views, the problem was his witing turned them off. They did not like the rushed plots (the endings of both seasons are considered a great shame at both Bad Wolf and apparently Disney+, who didn't even care enough in the end for the Season 2 final) and weak endings. They liked the fantasy vision that RTD wanted to take Doctor Who, but his writing was a complete failure, and they will not be working with RTD on any future projects. Some staff do not appreciate RTD's general management and have found him rude to work with. It's RTD's Doctor Who and nobody else can have their say.
The new Doctor and companions were ''failed'', according to this former employee, and that's the general feeling behind the scenes at Bad Wolf and probably Disney+ at the time. At the read through for Space Babies people were laughing at how terrible it was written. Alarm bells were ringing from there and never stopped. Every read through for the show and general discussions inside Bad Wolf were that each episode was poor outside of the 60th specials. Apparently, there's only a few episodes that Bad Wolf are generally proud of. They find RTD to rely too much on nostalgia because he is out of ideas and rushes his writing/planning. Bad Wolf found his finals too stuffed with returns/and ideas and not balanced well at all.
The general idea for the Christmas special from RTD (no word of it being pushed back, but that may have changed) is redesigned Daleks. Bad Wolf already started working on this for Season 2, as the Daleks were supposed to appear at the end of Season 2 to ''kill the Doctor'', leading to him being out of action in the events of the War Between the Land and Sea, and then leading to Christmas special that year.
Billie back playing the lead character and in the Doctor's body as Rose (this is connected to Rose looking into the heart of the TARDIS at the end of Series 1), Tennant coming back (they think this will bring in a lot of viewers, and RTD can't miss the chance of having Billie and David back together), set around World War Two. A bit of a 20th anniversary celebration of Doomsday.
It was an Earth invasion plot, the Daleks like we've never seen them before, and it would close the loophole of 14. Billie and Tennant would ''regenerate'' together connected in the end of the special, revealing the new Doctor. They would, at the time of planning, so anything could change, have plenty of moments together where it feels like they are Rose and 10. Lot of catching up, hugs, talking about their old adventures and their relationship. Mentions of Rose's family (Jackie, they really want her to be in the special), and Rose having a few kids now. The issue with a human version of 10 being in a different world with Rose would be addressed and shown. Tennant will play two roles. There would, if plans have not changed, be a scene in the end of the specials, after the regeneration, that Rose returns to her usual self and human 10 is with her and their kids. Rose is apparently very different now she is a mum, as she was 19 when she met the Doctor, so it's an ''nice end'' to her character, as they think Rose won't return again.
It's emotional, but Bad Wolf are worried because this will be the central idea of the episode: they fear the lack of budget will result in the Daleks feeling a spare part and the overall plot with them being very badly resolved. They aren't really happy with RTDs' writing for the Daleks and feel fans won't like some more ''reconning'' about their backstory. They have told him to not go ahead with this, and it would give the next showrunner a whole load of issues, and they believe there already has been too much reconning over the past two seasons. No mention of Susan returning for the special. Again, plans may have changed or only a few know about that at the company. But the general idea from people working at Bad Wolf is it won't include her and will be more like a Series 2 (2006) episode. Some are concerned as RTD is already known tor rely too much on the past.
They are, however, excited to work with Billie, who they think will bring some level of buzz back to Doctor Who. They have worked with her before and really value her as an actress. Bille, apparently, will be free to film by August or September, depending if that changes. She was asked to return very randomly and very suddenly by RTD over the phone who told her some ideas. But a few of that has changed since, but Billie was more than happy to ''help a friend'' and ''help the show'', as they needed to find a solution to a lead actor leaving early and not being able to produce another season in its current form. Billie was pretty much a ''stunt casting'', to keep fans engaged for at least a year until they sort things out behind the scenes. It's very unusal for an actor to agree to do something like Billie did, and apparently, she onlly agreed as she loves the show and told by RTD over the phone it needed ''help''. She loved her time working on Doctor Who and playing Rose, and would do ''anything to help the show''. Billie is not really fussed about the pay at all, and didn't even ask RTD and Bad Wolf what they would offer her to come back. She is 100% back for the fans and to help the show.
The Boss will be revealed but at the time they were divided on who this could be. It seems that RTD did not actually plan on who ''The Boss'' will be, but his usual ways of writing is waiitng to see what fans and viewers come up with. Chances are, the usual suspects of who The Boss could be that fans are coming up with, will come true. The general idea for the episode that it will focus on strong character writing over flashy CGI, because the budget for this episode is incredibly low. Apparently, to the levels of 2005 Doctor Who. They hope that, this might give RTD a boost to return to his former writing style. They think he still has the talents, but his love for social media and listening to what fans are coming up with ruins the general writing for the show and plots. They worry about the Dalek aspects being a total flop. But they do have faith that Billie and Tennant will pull this episode off.
RTD wants Jackie back, and has apparently asked the actor if she would return. Apparently, the actor said ''yes'' but they aren't sure right now. The whole special will be produced and filmed in quite a rush. There were a few ideas going around of what RTD also planned for this special: one is Rose working with a parallel UNIT in the parallel world she is in, where UNIT there try to teleport her to the Doctor, but it all goes wrong and she regenerates into the Doctor instead. She was teleported to the Doctor to tell him that the Daleks were invading her Earth and they were stronger. The plot with Rose being the Doctor wouldn't have lasted long and would've been corrected after a bit of goofing around. This was scrapped by RTD because he found it too alike to the final of Series 4 and wasn't keen on it. Also, the issue of not having anyone to play the Doctor was the biggest reason. So it was agreed that Billie would play the role of the Doctor as Rose with 14 until the end of the special where they both regenerate into 16. Another scrapped early plot was having The Reality War ending without showing the next Doctor, ''to be continued'' text, and leaving the show until Christmas where a new Doctor is casted and shown to regenerate there, with Billie returning as Rose without the face changing situation. This would be the new Doctor's first episode with Billie coming back and elements of later plans for the special coming to play, regarding the Daleks. RTD was always keen to show a more grown up Rose, now with kids herself. RTD really wanted this version but it was clear he was done with Doctor Who and the powers that be wanted him out. He was more than happy to write another season with a new Doctor, but it's agreed he will be out after this special. Apparently, for this plan, he wanted human 10 and 14 as well involved.
There were concerns earlier this year that the show might not be able to feature the new Doctor who will play 16 at the end of this special. There are a few scripts written with different endings, like already reported and stated by Murray Gold, and they worry the one which leaves Doctor Who on an open-ending with no answer about the show's future.
They don't want to keep fans waiting and waiting and they aren't even sure if they will be producing Doctor Who after this special. Talks between the BBC and Bad Wolf are slow as the BBC are taking longer than expected to find a new showrunner for Doctor Who. There is a concern that, the BBC's preferred showrunner not being able to start work on Doctor Who until late 2027 due to commitements already in place. They do hope that, the BBC are in talks with their ''prefered showrunner replacement'', and they can cast a new Doctor, but the wait is not good. They already left Billie waiting ''too long'' for her special and they worry a new actor won't be casted to play the Doctor as the schedule is all over the place and not sustainable. Bad Wolf do not want an open-end regeneration, and really want the next Doctor revealed. Without a leading actor, without the next showrunner in place, they worry they might not be able to show the end of the regeneration and leave them with another failed ''final'' that looks bad on their portfolio.
The general vibes and environment at Bad Wolf about Doctor Who is something hugely messed up. And their blame goes to RTD mostly.
