Summary

Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor on Doctor Who regenerated into Billie Piper, surprising many fans.
Fans are left questioning if Billie Piper is actually playing the Doctor.
Doctor Who's future is uncertain as a new season hasn't been ordered, and the yearly Christmas special is absent.

Numerous fans had speculated that Ncuti Gatwa's time as the Doctor on Doctor Who would be coming to an end after two seasons. That being said, no one was expecting his assumed replacement to be such a familiar face.

What is there to say about Doctor Who at this point? Between the original series (which began in 1962 and ran up through 1989) and the reboot (which has run yearly since 2005), there have been nearly 900 episodes of television bearing the Doctor Who name. Add in various films, spin-off series, and other media (like books, comics, and audio dramas), and the hours one can spend consuming the wild, wacky adventures of the titular Doctor are seemingly endless. Although Doctor Who is a decidedly British series, the show has become a staple for sci-fi fans across the globe. As such, a whole lot of people are kind of losing their minds about what just happened on Doctor Who's latest episode.

Doctor Who Ratings Continue To Plummet Amid Cancelation Rumors

Doctor Who ratings have continued to drop this season as rumors about the show being axed intensify.

Posts

By Matthew Wilkinson

While many people have been satisfied with Ncuti Gatwa's run as the Doctor, the ratings haven't been setting the world on fire for the BBC and Disney. Rumors have been circulating that Gatwa would leave the series after this year, and with the latest episode's regeneration scene, that certainly appears to be the case. Although the drama isn't coming from the fact that Gatwa's Doctor regenerated, it's who he regenerated into: Billie Piper. Yes, Billie Piper of Rose Tyler fame. Billie Piper, who got her big break in the first season of Doctor Who's 2005 reboot. Billie Piper, who played the Bad Wolf entity on the show as well. It's a lot to take in.

Doctor Who Is Certainly Swinging For The Fences By Having Ncuti Gatwa Regenerate Into Billie Piper

Understandably, fans are a bit confused at the moment. This could honestly be the biggest cliffhanger in modern Doctor Who history. Is Billie Piper actually playing the Doctor? Are these some timey-wimey shenanigans where Rose Tyler has somehow been regenerated in the Doctor's place? Does all of this involve Bad Wolf somehow? Considering current showrunner Russell T. Davies was also the showrunner behind Doctor Who when Piper, Tyler, and Bad Wolf all popped up into the public consciousness all those years ago, anything is on the table right now.

Conspicuously, Piper isn't credited as "the Doctor" in the episode's credits. As tradition has gone, whenever the Doctor regenerates into a new actor, that actor is credited with "and introducing [insert name here] as the Doctor." Piper wasn't given this illustrious honor, which opens the door quite a bit for her not to be the next Doctor. Of course, even with the upcoming spinoff War Between Land and the Sea on the way, Doctor Who's future is entirely up in the air at the moment. There won't be a Christmas special this year (which feels off) and a new season hasn't been ordered by Disney and the BBC just yet.

Doctor Who is available to stream on Disney+.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image

Display card tags widget

TV-PG

Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget

Release Date: 1963 - 1989-00-00
Network: BBC One, BBC Television
Directors: Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Peter Moffatt, Richard Martin, Chris Clough, Lennie Mayne, Pennant Roberts, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Graeme Harper, Gerald Blake, Hugh David, Mervyn Pinfield, Rodney Bennett, Waris Hussein, John Gorrie
Writers: Robert Holmes, Bob Baker, Malcolm Hulke, Dave Martin, David Whitaker, Brian Hayles, Robert Sloman, David Fisher, Dennis Spooner, Terrance Dicks, Eric Saward, John Lucarotti, Don Houghton, Chris Boucher, Ian Stuart Black, Louis Marks, Peter Grimwade, Henry Lincoln, Johnny Byrne, Mervyn Haisman, Jane Baker, Pip Baker, Robert Banks Stewart, Anthony Read