The BBC’s Director of Drama Lindsay Salt said conversations over financing Doctor Who for a long-term future post-Disney have not yet started, according to Deadline.

“There are different ways of setting up a show. We just need to make sure we do it in the right way and make sure we take the right time to do it. Ultimately it’s one of the BBC’s most treasured brands, so it’s not going anywhere.”

Disney+ made its Doctor Who co-production deal with the BBC and Bad Wolf during the post-COVID boom when American streamers were still willing to spend large capitol on content. The climate has drastically changed since then.

“I managed to walk into this job when the co-pro market imploded and I’ve learned a lot about the tenacity of producers and writers to make things at all budget levels. Things are getting funded in so many different ways now.”

According to Deadline, Salt won’t rule out another prominent American co-pro deal for Doctor Who, citing the example of HBO Max working on projects with on Richard Gadd and Michaela Coel.

“We’ll wait and see how we figure it out. HBO have been great partners creatively. There’s a lot of stuff that is changing out there.”

With co-pro talks not yet started, this would indicate that the 2026 Doctor Who Christmas special, penned by Russell T Davies and produced by Bad Wolf, will to go into production this year with financing provided entirely by the BBC.