While announcing that Line of Duty production company Hat Trick Mercurio (HTM) has put forward a bid for the Doctor Who competitive tender, Deadline has named of several production companies that haven’t bothered to put in a bid by the 2 October 2026 deadline.

Among the production companies Deadline claims haven’t bid are A24 UK, Playground, Mammoth Screen, New Pictures, Big Talk Studios, Expectation and Quay Street.

Among the anonymous quotes given were, “Anyone with a pulse knows it will go to BBC Studios,” and “If Jane Tranter and Russell T Davies can’t make sense of that show, then who can and who wants to? It feels like a thankless task.” Previously Deadline had quoted disinterested producers as saying, “you would have to be mad” to take on the show and “[It’s a] bit of a nightmare for any producer in this market with the shadow of the Disney fallout.”

Multiple production companies owned by BBC Studios have expressed interest in the tender as well as Dean Devlin from Electric Entertainment.

Deadline also suggests that STV Studios, the production group behind Blue Lights and Criminal Record, has boldly made a pitch to move Doctor Who production to Scotland rather than remain in Wales. The Invitation to Tender (ITT) states that the production should be UK-based but not in London ‒ with a preference for Wales.

That is not to say that any or all of the mentioned interested parties will make the BBC’s longlist of production companies it invites to further compete for the Doctor Who tender. The BBC will inform the competitors whether they made their longlist very soon on Friday 9 October. The BBC will not make their longlist public.