It is truly depressing to write about this show. I own many classic Doctor Who episodes as well as some of the more modern ones like the Matt Smith era.
(Looking for a new doctor?)
Over the last few years, a program designed to interest young people in science has become a bizarre experiment in bad writing.
Stunts like the first female doctor and then the first black doctor and then Billie Piper as the latest permutation of the doctor are failures to do good writing or naturally and logically continue the series. Before you insult me as disliking women and minorities, I am very much a fan of female characters, the women who played The Master and the Tardis would have made grand Doctors. Idris Elba would have been a wonderful doctor. It is not race or sex, it is the choices.
When you choose a doctor, getting a rise out of the audience and creating controversy is not what you’re supposed to be doing. You are supposed to be casting a strong actor who will convey the essence of the character — and continue the BBC’s stated goal of encouraging young people to engage in science.
Far more significant than opinion I might express are the ratings. You might think I’m mistaken in my dislike.
But do you think the fans are mistaken when the ratings border on tragedy? Does the opinion of those who in huge numbers found other things to do and other shows to watch matter? I think they do.
How few people have to take the time to watch this before the fat lady sings?
And I have to confess after the decisions made by the show runners over the last few years, I can’t help be fear what they are going to do next. I mean just what kind of nutty, illogical nonsense are they going to pull out of their hat given new episodes to play with?
The BBC claims that the show will continue. What is interesting is that they made no commitment to who will run or act in that show and what form it would take. The only guarantee is that we would see the Tardis. Remember the devil is in the details.
Michael Savage writing for the Guardian reports that Doctor Who will continue, BBC reassures fans
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/aug/21/doctor-who-will-continue-bbc-reassures-fans
It has been attacked for running “woke” storylines and criticised for falling ratings. Its leading actor made a surprise departure at the end of the last series. Yet the BBC has now issued a reassurance to Doctor Who fans worried about the future of the show: “the Tardis is going nowhere”.
Speculation around the show had grown in recent months after Ncuti Gatwa played the eponymous Doctor for only two series before departing in the finale of the programme’s 15th series in May.
Since then, both the BBC and Disney+ – which has co-funded the last two series – have been tight-lipped over the show’s future. However, speaking at the Edinburgh TV festival, the BBC’s content chief, Kate Phillips, told anxious fans it had a future, whether or not Disney+ stayed onboard.
What is the business ethics here? Well, let’s say a hypothetical program that was once a ratings blockbuster was re-designed to attract a very small niche audience depriving its regular fans of their entertainment and their wishes. Hypothetically. Would that be wrong? I think there might be circumstances under which that could be justified. If political points of view are important enough to overtake a show’s original purpose, I believe that is a legitimate choice.
As for those who like the original program, they have other viewing choices.
But if the ratings show failure, should the show change course or end? I think those are also legitimate choices.
I personally believe that show should go on hiatus while they develop a new creative team and select new actors starting from scratch.
That is what I think. Here is more about the ratings.
DOCTOR WHO Ratings Plummet Amid Reports That The BBC Has Axed Ncuti Gatwa As The Time Lord By JoshWilding
A big-money deal with Disney+ was meant to bring Doctor Who to a global audience, with Russell T Davies considered a safe pair of hands to put the franchise in after he successfully relaunched the show in the mid-2000s with actors like Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Billie Piper.
However, his “woke” storylines have drawn widespread criticisms, with even longtime fans feeling that the show has become too heavy-handed and preachy with its messaging. Ncuti Gatwa, meanwhile, has supposedly been axed from the series (the BBC responded to those claims by calling it “pure fiction”).
This newest report has analysed the seven-day viewing figures for the first half of Gatwa’s second year in the TARDIS, and they don’t make for pretty reading.
To summarize, the ratings are worse than dismal. The fans are voting with their watching habits and they are not watching Doctor Who.
That is a legitimate concern for all of us.
If you love the core ideas that made doctor who a classic, then let us advocate for a strong show that continues the tradition.
James Alan Pilant
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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