Chris Chibnall explained the most compelling reason why the BBC has not yet posted its Invitation to Tender (ITT) for Doctor Who after the corporation announced its intention to do so in June of this year.

The former Doctor Who showrunner described the BBC’s dilemma to WHO Corner to Corner podcast.

“I think the biggest thing you can say about all of that is it’s very easy to miss the point ‒ that this is primarily about money.”

“It’s not really about all of the things that everybody is banging on about and moaning about or what or getting emotional about.”

How is it about money? Before the BBC posts the Doctor Who ITT, there must be a clear plan of how they intend to fund the programme, as Chibnall explained.

“It’s very hard for the BBC to fund their programs right now because of what’s been done to them in terms of funding agreements over the past 15 years and the slow whittling away of that. And the increase in big Hollywood monoliths and conglomerates really taking over the market. And really what you’ve got is a, you know, the BBC can’t afford to fully fund any drama now and it certainly can’t afford to fund Doctor Who.”

“Any discussion around it is about money more than anything else. And I think that that’s been missed a little in in the sort of in the discourse that I saw around the show.”

“There’s all kinds of other things and obviously it’s hugely disappointing and hasn’t been handled brilliantly. But really, the big story is, look, this is a BBC that cannot afford to make shows that it wants to make. The BBC wants to make Doctor Who. Don’t be in any doubt about that.

On October 28, 2025, the BBC announced that the Doctor Who co-production deal with Disney had ended. Chibnall explained on the podcast that replacing that funding will take time.

“I think there are lots of things they will have to have to sort out. And I guess the byproduct of the Disney deal is ending is you had a funder and then that funder is now gone and it’s hard.”

“It will take some on any show it would take some work to then convince other co-production partners to come in at that point when somebody else has dropped out.”

At the time, the plan was to commission a 2026 Doctor Who Christmas special from Bad Wolf. Months later, it was decided that a better approach was to offer the program for competitive tender, inviting production companies to pitch for the opportunity to make future episodes. By mutual decision, this effectively quelled any impetus for both the BBC and Bad Wolf to create a 2026 Christmas special.

Chibnall thinks it will take time to find a new production partner, funding source and international distributor and suggests that these things must be in place before the BBC posts the Doctor Who ITT.

“So like I say, it all reverts back to money and those are knotty problems that do take time. And in an ideal world, it wouldn’t come off air while you’re sorting that stuff.”

“If I’m a production company and I’m looking at things that are going out for tender, what I’m going to want to know is, well, what’s the budget? How many episodes? And where’s the funding coming from? And until that’s sorted, you know, you can’t really move forward for it.”

“It will need, you know, new people and a new generation to really kind of redo it and make it new again. That’s what it always needs ‒ always needs to be new and exciting and surprising and you know that taking by surprise is really important.”

Chibnall was quick to say that he has neither intention to pitch to the Doctor Who tender nor interest in writing future episodes of the programme.

“I’m not going anywhere near any of that process just in case anybody misreads that. Absolutely not!”

“I won’t come back for a guest writing appearance or to run it.”

The BBC announced its intention to post the Doctor Who ITT on June 10, 2026, with a plan to offer the tender some time “this year”, with the details announced “in due course.”