The next series of Doctor Who, starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson, was initially planned to start screening on BBC1 and Disney+ in January 2024, before being delayed.

In the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, showrunner Russell T Davies says that he’d wished Series 14 had followed the Christmas Day special, The Church on Ruby Road:

“There’s still a lot of work to do. Tons and tons. In an ideal world, we might have followed The Church on Ruby Road with a full series of Ncuti and Millie in January, and believe me, we tried. Way back in 2022, we juggled schedules and budgets and capacity, but… nope. We’d have ended up spending money on the rush, rather than on the programme itself.”

So what’s caused the delay? Davies reveals it’s actually all the FX work:

“It’s the FX, really; people keep telling me how fast and easy FX are, and I hear the distant sobs of our FX teams. This stuff takes ages! Look at that gorgeous UNIT Tower. The Not-things. The Meep! It’s months and months of hard work, and well worth the wait.”

So if that had all gone to plan, we’d have been enjoying brand new adventures for the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday by now! But, on the other hand, with the schedule as it is, we’ve got all that to look forward to, and the wait until the next Christmas special afterwards won’t seem quite as brutal…

Nonetheless, it would’ve been cool to get more of the Doctor to kick-start the year.

Either way, we’ve got nine episodes of Doctor Who to get excited about, with Series 14 debuting instead this spring. Ah, we can’t complain really. It’s going to be worth it…