Doctor Who, Daredevil and The Last of Us director Peter Hoar has reflected on Disney+ ditching its lucrative co-funding deal for Doctor Who, and admitted that ultimately "something went wrong."
Hoar originally directed Matt Smith episode A Good Man Goes to War, before returning to the BBC's flagship sci-fi series for Ncuti Gatwa's more recent stories The Robot Revolution and Lucky Day. These formed part of show's most recent season — the second and final set of episodes brought to life with an injection of Disney cash.
Speaking now, months after the BBC was left to confirm Disney had walked away, Hoar suggested the deal hadn't been successful as the show hadn't gotten "better" despite the extra money on screen.
"I don't think anybody would doubt the skills at the front line of that show but something went wrong," Hoar told Deadline. "I think there were lots of areas you could point fingers at but ultimately it wasn't a better show with more money."
Still, Hoar framed this ultimately as a "good thing" — as without Disney+ on board and with other streamers also looking to be more economical with their own investments, "we haven't got the money anymore, nobody has."
Hoar was interviewed as he revealed plans to reboot fellow classic BBC sci-fi show Blake's 7, a project he's undertaking alongside A Good Girl's Guide To Murder and The Witcher producer Matthew Bouch. Discussing why now was a good time to revive the Blake's 7 franchise, Bouch noted that the pair had seen "a gap in the market in the UK – particularly with the well-publicized dropping off of Doctor Who – for genre-based British IP." Ouch.
The BBC's belated confirmation that it would continue Doctor Who without Disney's funding came after months of speculation surrounding the show's future. Current Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies had previously talked of writing scripts for a third season in the show's current era. Now, all the BBC has confirmed is that it will fund a single, one-off episode penned by Davies to be shown this Christmas — which many fans expect will be used to wrap up his cliffhanger, before a more permanent future for the show is found.
Deadline previously reported that Disney's Doctor Who deal fell apart due to concerns around the show's budget and shrinking audience — with no suggestion it was likely to break through to a mainstream American audience. Amid criticism of the series' writing and story arcs, even Doctor Who actor, writer and superfan Mark Gatiss recently suggested the show was in need of a rest.
"We’d like to thank Disney+ for being terrific global partners and collaborators over the past two seasons, and for the upcoming The War Between the Land and the Sea," said Lindsay Salt, the BBC's Director of Drama, upon the announcement that Disney had walked away. "The BBC remains fully committed to Doctor Who, which continues to be one of our most loved dramas, and we are delighted that Russell T Davies has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas special for 2026. We can assure fans, the Doctor is not going anywhere, and we will be announcing plans for the next series in due course which will ensure the TARDIS remains at the heart of the BBC."
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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