Doctor Who series 15
The fifteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who premiered on 12 April 2025. This series is also known as "Season Two" following the production changes and the acquisition of Doctor Whos international broadcasting rights by Disney+ prior to the previous series. It is the sixth series led by Russell T Davies as head writer and executive producer and the second since his return to the show in 2023, having previously worked on it from 2005 to 2010. This series is the fifteenth to air following the programme's revival in 2005, and is the forty-first season overall.
This is the second and final series to star Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, an incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in the TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box from the outside. Varada Sethu joins the series as new companion Belinda Chandra, with Millie Gibson also featuring as Ruby Sunday, the previous series' companion, for her second and final series in the role. The series was preceded by a Christmas episode in December 2024, written by former showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat, where Nicola Coughlan appears as one-off companion, Joy Almondo.
The series consists of eight episodes, directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai, Peter Hoar, Amanda Brotchie, Ben A. Williams, and Makalla McPherson. Alongside Davies, who wrote four episodes and co-wrote a further one, the writers include Juno Dawson, Inua Ellams, Pete McTighe, and Sharma Angel-Walfall. Filming began in October 2023 and concluded in May 2024.
Episodes
; Notes
Casting
Ncuti Gatwa confirmed that he would return for a second series in July 2023. In November 2023, it was announced that Nicola Coughlan would appear as the companion in the 2024 Christmas special. Millie Gibson was revealed to be filming for her second series in November 2023, though reports emerged in January 2024 that Gibson would be leaving the show after the fourteenth series, to be replaced by Varada Sethu. However, in April 2024 it was announced that Gibson and Sethu would appear concurrently throughout the series. Subsequent promotional material foregrounded Gatwa and Sethu as the series' "TARDIS team", highlighting them as the first to consist solely of people of colour, with Gibson described as an "outgoing series regular". Gibson appeared in the fourth episode, "Lucky Day", and appears in the seventh and eighth episodes, "Wish World" / "The Reality War". Sethu made a surprise appearance in the series prior in "Boom" as Mundy Flynn before her debut as the new companion. On 27 July, it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Sethu's character would be called Belinda Chandra. It is later revealed in "The Robot Revolution" that Mundy is a descendant of Belinda.Alan Cumming guest starred in "Lux" as a cartoon character named "Mr Ring-a-Ding"; he had previously appeared in the show as King James VI in "The Witchfinders". Davies stated that only Cumming could give the character "so much wit, malice, danger and fun". Rose Ayling-Ellis and Christopher Chung appears in "The Well" as characters Aliss and Cassio, respectively. Jonah Hauer-King portrayed Conrad in "Lucky Day", a podcaster and Ruby's boyfriend. Jemma Redgrave also returned as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart in the same episode. Following the episode's broadcast, Gibson revealed in an interview that Hauer-King would also appear later on in the series. Jo Martin reprises her role as the Fugitive Doctor in "The Story & the Engine". Showrunner Russell T Davies stated that because the episode explored the Doctor's ethnicity it "felt like Jo Martin was missing" and that he wanted to "acknowledge her" and show "she still exists". On 2 March, following the release of the series trailer, Rylan Clark was announced to be in the series, presenting an intergalactic song competition in "The Interstellar Song Contest", an episode inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest which also stars Graham Norton. In the same episode, Freddie Fox appears as a villain, as well as Kadiff Kirwan and Charlie Condou, and Carole Ann Ford reprised her role as Susan Foreman, last appearing in the programme over 30 years prior in Dimensions in Time. Anita Dobson appears in every episode of the series as the enigmatic Mrs Flood; in the sixth episode, her true identity is revealed to be The Rani, a villainous Time Lord. Archie Panjabi was introduced as another incarnation of the Rani through a bi-generation process. Bonnie Langford returns as Mel Bush in "Wish World", as well as Jonathan Groff as Rogue in a cameo recorded in 2023 during the production of the series 14 episode, "Rogue". Jodie Whittaker reprised her role as the Thirteenth Doctor in a surprise cameo in "The Reality War".
Billie Piper also returned to Doctor Who after previously portraying the Doctor's companion Rose Tyler last appearing in the 2013 fiftieth anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor", when the Fifteenth Doctor regenerates into a character portrayed by her at the end of the episode. While Piper's official role remains undisclosed, with the closing credits merely reading "Introducing Billie Piper", some sources assumed her to be taking on the Doctor's sixteenth incarnation.
Production
Development
Similar to the fourteenth series, the fifteenth series consists of a Christmas special followed by eight regular episodes, consisting of six standalone episodes and a two-part finale. The synopsis of the series was officially stated to be about an "epic quest" getting Belinda back to Earth, as the TARDIS team face "wider terrors than ever before".Writing
Davies was writing the 2024 Christmas special by December 2022, and the fifteenth series by June 2023. By 18 September 2023, five of the nine scripts had been completed according to Davies's column in Doctor Who Magazine. By 2 January 2024, Davies's column stated that the fifth episode was now on Draft 5, while Episode 6 was about to enter Draft 9, "getting this script ready has been epic...but all worth it, what a story!"In May 2024, former showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat confirmed that he had written the 2024 Christmas special, and that it was entitled "Joy to the World". The episodes of the series itself were written by Davies and four other writers, revealed on 27 January 2025 to be Juno Dawson, Inua Ellams, Pete McTighe, and Sharma Angel-Walfall.
Filming
With filming for the previous series concluding in July 2023, crew were given a four-week turnaround before pre-production started for the next series, on 14 August. Each production block was given ten weeks of preparation. The first readthrough was held on 17 October 2023.Principal photography began on 23 October 2023 at Bad Wolf Studios, with the 2024 Christmas special "Joy to the World" assigned to the first block, directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai.
The second block – containing the first and fourth episodes – had its first readthrough on 7 November 2023, and began filming on 14 November 2023, directed by Peter Hoar. Hoar had previously directed the sixth series episode "A Good Man Goes to War", and had worked with Davies on It's a Sin and Nolly.
Filming for the third block – containing the second and third episodes – began on Monday 8 January 2024 after the Christmas break, directed by Amanda Brotchie. Location filming at Penarth Pier marked the first time that Sethu was photographed on-set as the new companion.
Makalla McPherson and Ben A. Williams directed further blocks, with McPherson directing the fifth episode, where she described she had "created a unique crane shot as the Doctor runs through a maze as they escape their captors" and Williams directing the sixth episode, which he described as a "very big episode", and Davies described as "epic". The episode from Williams is themed after the Eurovision Song Contest. Production for the series wrapped on 24 May 2024.
Production blocks were arranged as follows:
| Block | Episode | Director | Writer | Producer |
| 1 | Christmas special: "Joy to the World" | Alex Sanjiv Pillai | Steven Moffat | Alison Sterling |
| 2 | Episode 4: "Lucky Day" | Peter Hoar | Pete McTighe | Vicki Delow |
| 2 | Episode 1: "The Robot Revolution" | Peter Hoar | Russell T Davies | Vicki Delow |
| 3 | Episode 2: "Lux" | Amanda Brotchie | Russell T Davies | Chris May |
| 3 | Episode 3: "The Well" | Amanda Brotchie | Russell T Davies & Sharma Angel-Walfall | Chris May |
| 4 | Episode 5: "The Story & the Engine" | Makalla McPherson | Inua Ellams | Vicki Delow |
| 4 | Episode 6: "The Interstellar Song Contest" | Ben A. Williams | Juno Dawson | Vicki Delow |
| 5 | Episode 7: "Wish World" | Alex Sanjiv Pillai | Russell T Davies | Chris May |
| 5 | Episode 8: "The Reality War" | Alex Sanjiv Pillai | Russell T Davies | Chris May |
Release
Broadcast
On 21 February 2025, a trailer stating that the series would launch on 12 April was shown during the BBC's coverage of a Six Nations Under 20s Championship rugby match between England and Scotland. The series is released in the UK on BBC iPlayer and internationally on Disney+.The episodes are released weekly on Saturdays at 8a.m. BST. Episodes also air on the evening of their release on BBC One. The sixth episode of the series, "The Interstellar Song Contest", was scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One on 17 May, ahead of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. However, if the FA Cup final, which was also scheduled to be played that afternoon, went to extra time, the episode would not be shown on BBC One. The two-part finale, "Wish World" / "The Reality War", were screened together in UK cinemas on 31 May. Release of "The Reality War" across streaming and cinemas and internationally aligned with its simultaneous evening BBC One broadcast. The episode was released at 6:50p.m. BST in the United Kingdom, and at 11a.m. PT in the United States.
Due to the terms of a deal between BBC Worldwide and SMG Pictures in China in May 2017, the company has first right of refusal on the purchase for the Chinese market of future series of the programme until and including series 15.
Aftershow
The series is accompanied by Doctor Who: Unleashed, a behind-the-scenes companion show. Adopting a similar format to the former behind-the-scenes programme Doctor Who Confidential, Unleashed follows every new episode of Doctor Who with a 30-minute instalment on BBC Three, hosted by Steffan Powell.Reception
Ratings
The fifteenth series continued to see a consistent drop in overnight viewing figures, with the second episode setting a record-low. Despite this, the show remained high in ranks, the series premiere was the second most-watched programme broadcast on BBC One on the day it transmitted and 75% of its total viewership was from online streaming. Consolidated ratings also experienced a decrease from previous series, averaging 3.1 million after the fourth episode had concluded, down from the 3.9 million who viewed the first four episodes of the previous series, and 5 million that watched episodes one through four of series thirteen. The lower numbers led to tabloid rumors that Gatwa was fired, which the BBC refuted.Speculation on the future of Doctor Who and its involvement with Disney also arose, with Davies suggesting that another hiatus may be imminent. Deadline Hollywood noted that while "broadcasters and streamers prefer to use 28-day figures, seven-day viewing is usually directional". In the United States, series fifteen failed to enter streaming charts from Luminate or Nielsen. The BBC ultimately announced in October 2025 that the programme would continue and return with a 2026 Christmas special, although without backing from Disney+. A further report from Deadline Hollywood indicated that Disney ultimately decided to back away from Doctor Who because of low ratings due to their failure to properly market the show; which was in-turn caused by Bob Iger's return to the company, Trumpism, and budgetary reasons.