Russell T Davies, the showrunner of Doctor Who, has confirmed that he’s planning at least four series of the show under his stewardship — and that the programme is being renumbered so that the next run of episodes will count as Doctor Who Season 1 again!

In the latest issue of SFX, which features a look at the 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor, Davies says:

“I’m planning season 3 now; there’s plans for season 4.”

He goes on to imply there’s even more Who in the future beyond those four seasons:

“Absolutely. Who knows? Who knows! I’m not getting any younger.”

And this also means that Ncuti Gatwa’s first series, comprised of eight episodes plus a Christmas special, is now Season 1, with the “2005- 2022 era” now at an end.

What does this mean for us? Well, both a great deal and very little. The show will continue, still referencing the past as an ongoing narrative — i.e. Ncuti is the Fifteenth Doctor in Season 1, just as Christopher Eccleston was the Ninth Doctor in Series 1. Series 1 in 2005 was also Season 27 of Doctor Who in all. But things will admittedly get confusing from here because Season 1 of the 2024 season, i.e. the first with Gatwa, is also Season 41 of Doctor Who overall. So that’s why it’s going to be a bit of a headache for now.

Until we know exactly how things will work out, it’s likely we’ll continue calling Ncuti Gatwa’s first run of stories as Series 14. The “season” numbering, we think, is going to be largely production-based, i.e. what Davies and Bad Wolf will call it. But we don’t know. Either way: more Doctor Who in the future — yay!