According to Deadline, several sources from inside Doctor Who and Disney+ have given reasons why the partnership has ended.

“It was pretty apparent from early on that this wasn’t for the long term,” said one of Deadline’s sources, a former Disney executive.

“Everyone got the impression that it wasn’t doing what it needed to do [on Disney+] to be sustained.”

“It certainly wasn’t being shouted about as a big success.”

Another of Deadline’s “well-placed industry” sources said Doctor Who became “too woke for Trump’s USA,” and this was “a factor in Disney minds” when it came to a renewal.

To judge whether politics could have been a factor in Disney’s decision, one has to look no further than Jimmy Kimmel’s brief suspension. Deadline has further speculated that a Disney renewal would have required showrunner Russell T Davies to dial down his commitment to diversity.

Deadline also shared quotes from several sources close to Doctor Who.

“The writing has been on the wall for ages. There has been a complete lack of enthusiasm over at Disney,” said one source.

“The ratings were not up to much,” another source ruefully acknowledged.

Deadline’s sources also said that the BBC and Disney had initially planned to make a statement about the future of Doctor Who after the premiere of the spin-off series, The War Between the Land and the Sea, but Disney moved the announcement up.

With the announced Doctor Who Christmas special 15 months away, the BBC now has time to consider how to fund a show that has lost a large chunk of its budget.

“It can be a reset and buys everyone time to make decisions,” was how it was characterised by someone close to the series.

In the meantime, the Doctor Who spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea will transmit on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK “later this year”, and on Disney+ outside of the UK some time in 2026.