Doctor Who "Has Legs," But "Needs a Bit of Money Behind It": Tennant
· BCPosted in: BBC, TV | Tagged: doctor who
Doctor Who "Has Legs," But "Needs a Bit of Money Behind It": Tennant
David Tennant (Rivals) is feeling cautiously confident about Doctor Who and what the future holds for it once the BBC's tender process wraps.
Published Sun, 15 Nov 2026 12:37:08 -0600
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary
- David Tennant says Doctor Who still has legs, but its future depends on who wins the BBC tender process in 2027.
- Tennant believes Doctor Who can continue for years, though he warns a series like this needs serious funding.
- The former Doctor calls Doctor Who a true television original and says the fandom will keep it alive in some form.
- Tennant also addressed the Billie Piper regeneration twist, saying he had an inkling but not where Doctor Who goes next.
We've got Russell T. Davies and Bad Wolf out the door and a ton of reminders heading our way over the next few weeks about how much it sucks going from being excited about a 2026 Christmas Special to the metaphorical punch-in-the-face realization that there never was a 2026 Christmas Special. And while the fanbase continues offering rumors, speculation, wishful thinking (in between the finger-pointing over who's to "blame"), and more, the BBC continues its tender process to determine what the future has in store for Doctor Who. Someone who knows a thing or two about the long-running show is David Tennant (Tenth Doctor, Fourteenth Doctor), who was asked about the current situation Doctor Who finds itself in and what he believes will happen once the process wraps up in 2027 during an interview with Deadline Hollywood in support of his current series, Rivals.
"It depends who gets it, doesn't it, and what they do with it," Tennant shared when asked if he believes that the show still has a long future ahead of it post-tender. "It's clearly a format that has legs. It's done all right to survive since 1963, so there's every reason to believe that it can. I think it's difficult for anything in the current environment, especially a show like that, which needs a bit of money behind it, and I don't necessarily know where that will come from. I'm so outside that loop now because all the people that I do know are no longer part of it. So I guess it depends on who wins the tender."
With a number of production companies having previously gone on record saying they will be pitching, Tennant can't see any reason why the TARDIS still shouldn't be traveling across time and space. "I hope so," Tennant shared. "I love it. It's a true television original, and it deserves to run forever. It will, in some form; the fandom will keep it alive. We'll have to wait and see; I'm sure somebody brilliant will give it a go. So there's no reason why not."
In August 2025, Tennant offered some interesting intel while speaking with BBC Radio 2's Romesh Ranganathan to promote his upcoming Netflix film, The Thursday Murder Club. Addressing the Ncuti Gatwa–to-Billie Piper regeneration, Tennant shared that he watched it live before revealing that "I might have had an inkling, yeah," that it would happen. From there, Tennant added that he did text Piper after the scene aired, but states that he doesn't know where things are going from here (though we strongly encourage you to check out Tennant's pauses and body language, because they're definitely interesting).
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