Episode 1 – Billie Piper is revealed to actually be the Sixteenth Doctor. Camille Coduri returns to the show as the Doctor’s newest companion, Martha.
Episode 2 – We see the long-awaited return of the classic monster, the rat from The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
Episode 3 – An episode continuing the storyline of Class. There is a six minute scene of exposition for those who haven’t seen the show.
Episode 4 – Sequel to ‘The Devil’s Chord’. We get a musical episode with licensed songs this time, all of them from Billie Piper’s Walk of Life album.
Episode 5 – This will be the greatest episode that the show has made in years. The Doctor will barely be in it.
Episode 6 – The rat again?
Episode 7 – Mrs Flood returns. She bigenerates into Panjabi Rani, again. The Panjabi Rani who was swallowed by Omega also returns. The Doctor must now defeat three Ranis.
Episode 8 – The Three Ranis are swallowed by Romana. Billie Piper regenerates into Paul McGann.
What We Know About Series 16 (and the future of Doctor Who)
This post will be updated with new information.
Christmas Special 2026
On October 28, the BBC announced that Doctor Who will next return to television with the 2026 Christmas special, written by Russell T Davies. They also announced that, as was widely anticipated, the Disney deal is over – The War Between the Land and the Sea will be the last of the Whoniverse to come to Disney+.
Afterwards, news about the next season will come "in due course".
As for the actual story of this Christmas special and the next season, that's a lot more unknown. Davies previously indicated he had something planned out, but that was before Ncuti Gatwa left.
Since Davies is writing the Christmas special, it will very likely follow up on the cliffhanger of "The Reality War", which saw a shocking regeneration seemingly introducing a new incarnation played by Billie Piper (her of Rose Tyler fame). However, the episode doesn't actually credit Piper as playing the Doctor, and official sources have avoided referring to her as such. Piper confirmed in an appearance at Florida Supercon that her casting was very last-minute, suggesting that no one, not even RTD, actually knew who she was – he outright said he had "no idea".
Davies has only been confirmed for writing the Christmas special. The wording of the BBC's announcement has led to speculation that he may only be doing the special, not returning as showrunner.
Davies told the Radio Times on November 26 that he won't actually be writing the special until 2026 due to his commitments to The War Between and not-Who-related Tip Toe, but he "know[s] exactly what happens in it".
On December 6, he told BBC Newsbeat that BBC executives were left "with jaws agape, loving it" when he told them his proposed plot for the special.
On February 22, composer Murray Gold said in an interview with Half the Picture that Davies wrote several different versions of the script depending on "certain outcomes", presumably casting availability.
In his 2025 Twelve Days of Christmas column in Doctor Who Magazine 624, Davies teased three words in it: "Bafflers", "Winternox" and "village".
Davies told Doctor Who Magazine he wants a "spoiler-free" Christmas special.
The Future
On February 9, BBC Studios Chief Creative Officer Zai Bennett said in an interview that "we're all in it together" in terms of keeping Doctor Who airing in the long run, and that after the Christmas special, "it's time for us all to work on it."
On February 23, in an interview with Deadline, BBC Director of Drama Lindsay Salt said that conversations about funding the show long-term haven't started yet, but that another American co-production deal isn't being ruled out.
On March 23, Matt Brittin was announced as the BBC's incoming Director General. He has previously spoken about being a fan of Doctor Who. However, the BBC's 2026/7 annual plan is candid about the corporation facing a lot of budgetary and funding issues.
On May 14, it was announced that the first 13 seasons of the New Series, with specials, will be coming to American streaming on AMC+ on June 11. AMC, which owns that streaming service, also owns BBC America, where the show used to be broadcast Stateside.
Interestingly, in late April, a press release of dubious veracity made the rounds on Reddit claiming the BBC was making a Doctor Who co-production deal with AMC, which may well actually be on the table considering this news.
Other
Gatwa was previously open to returning as the Fifteenth Doctor, but it appears the delay on a renewal decision led him to change his mind. However, the ambiguity around what exactly is going on with Piper means I can't personally rule anything out, but I will do my best to keep this post updated as things hopefully become clear.
Notably, in a July appearance on The One Show, he implied he would be willing to return to fight Daleks or Cybermen, but later that same week on Lorraine he seemed to have moved on.
The series' pre-RTD2 back catalogue left HBO Max on July 31, which currently has the 2005-2022 episodes unavailable for international streaming. The confirmed end of the Disney+ deal makes it unclear what the show's international streaming future is.
On a different note, the BBC announced Blue Zoo won the bid to produce a CBeebies animated series, which is expected to premiere in 2027.
In early March, the official website posted a UNIT report noting Rose Tyler's disappearance (in "Rose") and that she's flagged as a "complex space-time event", causing speculation this may connect to the Christmas special.
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Possible spoilers below the cut!
LEAKS AND SPOILERS
On November 13, Bad Wolf Studios registered a subsidiary production company, Bad Wolf (TLD) Ltd. As it is standard practice in modern movie and TV production to create such companies to handle specific individual series or movies, and the timing is right, it is being speculated that this company has been created to handle production of the 2026 Christmas special – and, thus, that "TLD" is an acronym of the episode's title.
An alleged leak of the BBC's 2026 Christmas programming posted on Reddit named the Christmas special as "World War Dalek". IF it's real, it could very well be a placeholder.
Confidential sources speaking to Ellie Littlechild from WhoCulture told her the Christmas special will likely begin filming in September, and that this was always the plan.
When Doctor Who returns, I think it would be fun if:
Immediately when the episode begins there's a brand new actor playing the Doctor.
It's in the middle of an adventure.
It's made clear from the dialogue that the Doctor's companion has been traveling with the Doctor for quite some time.
At the end of the first act, the companion makes their farewell, never to be seen again (except for anniversary stories).
The Doctor travels to another time in Earth history (distant past or distant future).
Has another adventure where they meet a new companion from that time period.
In the next episode the Doctor and the new companion travel to an alien world where over the course of their adventure they befriend an alien who becomes a second companion.
This TARDIS team is featured in a season of at least 12 episodes.
This team also carries over into the next season.
There's a moratorium on any showrunner/writer explaining or filling in the gap between the end of "The Reality War" and the beginning of Series 16 until at least the 75th anniversary.
Lucy, I'll tell you what I wrote down. I wrote "I could watch Lucy Beaumont walk about with a leaf blower attached to her foot all day."
Oh, that's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said.
