In an interview in Doctor Who Magazine 622, Robert Shearman, writer of the 2005 Doctor Who episode Dalek and several Doctor Who audio adventures and novelisations, described feeling more distant from the television programme of late.

“I go through phases,” Shearman told DWM. “I have a real push/pull thing with the show. At the moment I’m in a ‘pull’ phase. It’s weird because the show is probably as dead as we’ve ever known it.”

This seems an odd thing to say since Doctor Who languished for 16 years from 1989 until its revival in 2005 and the latest new episode had its transmission at the end of May 2025 — with Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor seemingly regenerating into the form of Billie Piper.

“After 1989 we had, for years, a current Doctor,’ Shearman continued. “Now, everything that is ever going to be produced in Doctor Who terms is going to feel retrogressive. At least with the New Adventures and then the BBC Books [original novels published in the nineties] you thought, ‘It’s the current Doctor – McCoy or McGann’. No one’s going to start writing Doctor Who books with a Billie Piper Doctor, because no one knows what that means. In a funny way, the closing moments of The Reality War seem to put a full stop on things. We didn’t have that before.”

However, having resumed purchasing the new series Blu-rays, Shearman finds this “full stop” somewhat appealing as it feels complete to him for the time being.

“I don’t know that it matters,” Shearman added, “but it’s a strange thing: it’s made me want to embrace it, because the whole of Doctor Who feels like it’s in its own bubble.”

Shearman has stated on other private media that his comments to DWM weren’t meant to be pessimistic. His main point was that the ambiguity regarding Billie Piper’s appearance and having no current established Doctor necessitates that all extended media will be retrospective for the time being. He stated that, despite the current uncertainty, he’s looking forward to future Doctor Who on television.

BBC Chief Content Officer Kate Phillips stated at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August 2025 that the BBC is committed to making more Doctor Who “Soon, don’t worry.”