The Budget For 'Doctor Who' Is Set To At Least Triple Under The New Deal With Disney+ And Spinoffs Are Back In Consideration

TV & Film

Nov 9

After a bit of confusion and worry, we have some clarity on the details of Doctor Who’s move to Disney+. In the BBC and Disney Branded Television’s efforts to push the show further into the mainstream as a global franchise, it’s being reported that Disney is infusing its money into the budget, and looking to rebuild the franchise in a manner that hasn’t been seen in over a decade.

Doctor Who episodes were previously typically budgeted at $1-3 million dollars (it’s unknown whether these numbers cover all of the modern era or just the previous season or so), but under Disney, this could grow to $10 million. Even if series/seasons were to remain at 10 episodes and a special each, that still means a $110 million franchise. But that’s not all. Sources are expecting returning showrunner, Russell T. Davies, to start building spin-offs again, as he had done in his first stint with Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. The only spin-off launched in Davies’s absence, 2016’s Class, had trouble surviving in what was essentially a gap year for the mothership show. Maybe in this new era, a few spin-offs of various formats can develop beloved but undeveloped characters, while the ones that get ongoing series can have an Arrowverse-type relationship.

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The last time a Davies production received American money, Torchwood’s fourth season Miracle Day, it became an American coproduction, the prospects of such scaring many Who fans. It had to be reassured that the show would remain “quintessentially British.” Since the partnership starts with these 60th-anniversary specials, we’ve seen a sample with the 2023 teaser, and it still looks like Doctor Who. Even upon that, audiences have seen a creative hands-off approach with Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar, there’s no reason to believe similar boundaries would be broken with a show they have not even acquired ownership of. Since series 10, episodes have decreased from twelve to ten for two series. There was another gap year in 2019, and then a reduction down to six episodes, and a year of four specials due to a pandemic that series 12 narrowly avoided. Anything to strengthen Doctor Who’s TV presence to legendary levels at no cost of integrity is most definitely a win.

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