Is Doctor Who a success on Disney+?

During the Doctor Who Hall H panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), Disney+ and the BBC announced that The War Between The Land And The Sea — a new five-part spin-off series written by showrunner Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe — is on the way.

Rather than the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), the new series will revolve around a group of humans working together to face the Sea Devils, a race of ancient, ocean-dwelling creatures who first appeared in Doctor Who in 1972.

The fan-favourite marine monsters last appeared in Legend of the Sea Devils. The new Whoniverse spin-off begins filming soon with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Russell Tovey, Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient leading the cast!

Now that the dust has settled following the conclusion of Doctor Who season one, Nick Smith, our US-based veteran Whovian, looks back at the start of the Disney+ era.

Guest post by Nick Smith

The Star Wars prequels. Google+. New Coke. Sometimes the hype is so high, that nothing can live up to it.

Expectations were massive for writer/producer Russell T Davies’ first full season of Doctor Who since the noughties. Many fans reenlisted during his original run on the show; some were captivated children when it began. There was no way that Davies could meet their expectations. But that wasn’t his goal.

A sense of freedom shines through the 2024 episodes of Doctor Who that isn’t present in Davies’ 2005 relaunch. Visually, he can now do anything; there are dinosaurs, talking infants, diabolical animated musical notes, and a CGI boss battle. Budget-wise, he has more to play with than ever before. And when it comes to story, he has slipped the shackles of pseudo-science, moving the Doctor into the fantasy realm.

If anything, Davies has tried to do too much in a handful of episodes. There’s a lot of exposition, as the Doctor (played by Ncuti Gatwa) explains to his companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) who he is and what he does. Donna Noble’s daughter Rose (Yasmin Finney) returns, but has little to do. The Doctor falls in love - a bigger upheaval to the show than the Timeless Child saga - but there are no consequences. There’s no time to get to know Ruby, and returning characters like Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and Sutekh (Gabriel Woolf) act out of character.

The usually stoic Kate is warm and friendly; Sutekh is far less eloquent and sinister. It’s as if their familiar names are chucked in to please the fans. Both should have been new or different personae.

The pace of this series seems rushed, with unlikely heroes popping up to save the day: a baby with a flamethrower, and John Lennon with a piano. Almost every week, the Doctor defeats an indomitable god, over-emoting as he goes.

When the show slows down, it’s delightful. 73 Yards focuses on atmosphere, a sense of dread, and is our one chance to gain a deep understanding of Ruby’s personality. In other adventures, small moments centred around her family are touching and believable. Boom focuses on one location, building up tension as the Doctor tries not to get himself blown up. Otherwise, the rhythm is discordant and breathless throughout the season, as if the show has been edited for the TikTok generation.

Davies aimed his 2005 season at young kids, hoping to lure them into watching his program with fart gags, piggy aliens, and high adventure. His latest stories see a return to this tone; Space Babies includes the biggest, silliest joke about flatulence Doctor Who has ever cracked. There’s an effective focus on visual imagery, from iconic close-ups of the Doctor’s face to the memorable sight of Sutekh being dragged through the time vortex.

But style over substance was never Doctor Who’s bag, and the best stories, like Boom, work on multiple layers: a dilemma and an insensible child for the kids to latch onto, and relationship drama and the theme of legacy-building for the adults.

With a Christmas special lined up and a 2025 season already in the can, the hype continues, albeit tempered by the unevenness of this year’s offerings. There’s room in Doctor Who for broad comedy and body horror, tales of love and bright redemption, but the producers would do well to remember that the TARDIS has all of time and space to explore, and there’s no need to rush.

Ultimately, season one of Doctor Who is subject to the cultural shift of a streaming era, where fewer fans are sitting around a telly at primetime on a Saturday (circa 2005). Willow was removed without warning on Disney+. I hope the Doctor doesn't suffer a similar fate after two seasons.

Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and Disney+ outside the UK and Ireland. Season one is available for pre-order (affiliate link).

Have you watched Doctor Who season one? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Nick Smith's new audiobook, Undead on Arrival, is available from Amazon (affiliate link).