Don’t panic, Mr Mainwaring?
By Louisa Mellor (Den of Geek) July 22, 2024|
Last week, Deadline published a report into the current health of Doctor Who and its international distribution deal with Disney that left some people spooked. The future of the Disney deal “hangs in the balance”, one anonymous source close to the production was reported as feeling; it “may not last beyond its initial two seasons”.
That’s a reasonable position to take because the deal was initially only made for two seasons and at the time of writing, no deal-renewal announcement has been made public. The deal’s future hangs in the balance in the same way that the future of a packet of Jaffa Cakes on a supermarket shelf hangs in the balance, because I’ve yet to buy and eat them – it hasn’t happened yet, and granted, it may not. (Except for the Jaffa Cakes, in which case it absolutely will.)
While casting doubt on the future of the Bad Wolf/BBC/Disney partnership, several online responses have repeated an error that was debunked 18 months ago, and reported as shadowy fan rumour something that showrunner Russell T Davies made public last December. To point any of this out isn’t to undermine the conclusions being drawn about Doctor Who’s potentially insecure future at Disney, it’s just to get the facts straight.