In an era where diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are getting slashed and Jimmy Kimmel is being pulled off the air, it’s not a stretch to imagine someone at Disney had qualms about a show so unapologetically queer and inclusive. But “too woke” is not a criticism that showrunner Russell T Davies was willing to entertain about Doctor Who. “Someone always brings up matters of diversity. And there are online warriors accusing us of diversity and wokeness and of involving messages and issues,” he said in April. “And I have no time for this. I don’t have a second to bear [it]. Because what you might call diversity, I just call an open door.”
Of course there are other factors to contend with—if the series was a major ratings hit, the higher ups probably wouldn’t have cared about the show’s values. But as one Deadline source put it, the show “wasn’t doing what it needed to do [on Disney+] to be sustained.” Some folks on the Who side blamed Disney for not marketing the series well, though Disney sources disagree. One insider even blamed star Ncuti Gatwa: “There is more to that role than performing,” they said. “You have got to be an ambassador for the brand and embrace being that generation’s Doctor. Matt Smith and David Tennant fully understood the responsibility it carried.”
With not-so-great ratings, the series’ bigger budget was harder to justify. Per Deadline, it was between £6 million ($8.5 million) and £8M per episode. Davies conceded in 2023 the budget was “more than I’ve ever had to work with,” though he specified that it was “not on the budget level with Star Wars and the Marvel shows.” An insider speaking with U.K. tabloid The Mirror suggested that a “huge chunk” of that money went to upscaling the image for streaming (BBC broadcasts in 2K, while Disney requires a 4K image). “Budget limitations used to help the idiosyncrasies of the show,” an executive who used to work on Doctor Who said to Deadline. “Big budgets can cause a problem—a huge variety of voices tend to push towards the mediocre—but then the budget was nowhere near as big as [shows like] The Mandalorian, so they were stuck in the middle. You can have planets, flying cars, and robots, but ultimately you are always going to get better versions elsewhere.”
