Doctor Who is one of the most iconic sci-fi franchises, but it seems even the Doctor only barely managed to make it through COVID-19 unscathed. According to former showrunner Chris Chibnall, the show came close to being cancelled by the BBC during his and Jodie Whittaker's run!
Talking to Radio Freaks Skaro (via SFFGazette.com), he explained that "there was a week where [Doctor Who: Flux] was not going to be made."
"The BBC was just like, 'Where’s the money coming from? How are we going to do this? Is it too difficult?' And it literally went down to the wire of like, yeah, there was an hour on one day when it’s like, it was done. And yeah, we had to do - there are certain things I had to do to get that season made. Because they couldn’t find a way to do it."
Chibnall would also go on to reveal that Whittaker had to give up a number of jobs in order to be on hand for her third season as the Doctor. "She’s in demand, and so she sacrificed a lot. Everybody sacrificed a lot. But again, see now it’s like, we’re into that - everybody’s sacrifice and painful, but it’s not that at all!"
"But yeah, we did have those moments. Yeah, completely," he continues. "And there was, yeah, there’s some things like, I’ll just keep to myself."
The pandemic was clearly a real hurdle for the team working on Doctor Who at this time to overcome, and while we're sure the series would have eventually returned to our screen in some form, there would have been a great deal of disappointment had this season been scrapped.
Chibnall and Whittaker have always maintained that they only intended to do three seasons together, but with Russell T Davies now returning to the franchise, big changes are coming. BBC has reached a deal with Disney+ that will see the show get a significant cash injection, bringing it more in line with the high-concept TV shows Doctor Who now needs to compete with.
David Tennant is taking over from Whittaker for a few specials before Ncuti Gatwa becomes the permanent Doctor in this new era. With that in mind, 2023 looks set to be an exciting year for Doctor Who fans!