Doctor Who star Paul McGann thought that he almost ruined the franchise after starring as the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 television movie.
"I remember thinking Doctor Who is now finished and I’m probably partly responsible for it," McGann said in an interview with RadioTimes about his role in Doctor Who: The Movie. The movie was an attempt to revive the series following its cancellation in 1989 before it was revived successfully by Russell T. Davies in 2005.
McGann also joked that when Davies revived the series, he waited for an invitation to return to the series that never came. "It's funny to tell now, but at the time, I really was like 'It's me and Peter Cushing. We're in the naughty room. No one's going to mention our names when they talk about Doctor Who.'" Cushing starred as Dr. Who, a character based on the BBC's Doctor, in two films: 1965's Dr. Who and the Daleks and 1966's Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Plans for a third film were scrapped due to the poor reception of the first two films.
Davies is credited with reviving BBC's cult, sci-fi drama in 2005 and served as showrunner until Steven Moffat took the reigns in 2009. The showrunner returned to the series following the exit of Chris Chibnall, joining Doctor Who as showrunner alongside Jodie Whittaker, who debuted as the Thirteenth Doctor (and the first woman to play the character) in 2018.
It was announced in May that Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa would take over as The Doctor for Season 14. However, when Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor regenerated in her final special, "The Power of the Doctor," it was fan-favorite Doctor David Tennant who appeared as the Fourteenth iteration of the character. "If you thought the appearance of David Tennant was a shock, we’ve got plenty more surprises on the way!" Davies said. "The path to Ncuti’s Fifteenth Doctor is laden with mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger and fun! And how is it connected to the return of the wonderful Donna Noble? How, what, why? We’re giving you a year to speculate, and then all hell lets loose!"
It was revealed in May that Tennant and Catherine Tate would return to Doctor Who for the franchise's 60th anniversary, both reprising their respective roles as the Tenth Doctor and fan-favorite companion Donna Noble. Both Tennant and Tate made their final appearances in Doctor Who in the two-part 2010 Christmas special, "The End of Time," which saw the Tenth Doctor erase all of Donna's memories of him as a way to save her life.
Doctor Who will be available to stream on Disney+ in late 2023, with new episodes of the series premiering on the BBC that same year.
Source: RadioTimes