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Doctor Who: BBC Keeps Mum, Netflix Plays It Safe at Edinburgh TV Fest

With the Doctor Who tender release pending, the BBC kept things quiet during the Edinburgh TV Festival - while a Netflix exec played it safe.

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Article Summary

  • Doctor Who stayed off the BBC’s Edinburgh TV Festival agenda as fans wait for the crucial tender invite to go live.
  • The pending Doctor Who tender could reshape the series after Russell T. Davies and Bad Wolf, fueling intense scrutiny.
  • Netflix executive Anne Mensah sidestepped Doctor Who rumors neatly, praising the franchise’s longevity without adding fuel.
  • Billie Piper denied she is Doctor Who’s next Doctor, but her cryptic Rose Tyler comment keeps the finale mystery alive.

With this week being the Edinburgh TV Festival, we were holding out hope that there might be some movement on what the future holds for Doctor Who, post-Russell T. Davies and Bad Wolf. I mean, if you wanted to control the conversation at the festival for at least one day, dropping the official tender invite would definitely be one way to go. Because let's be honest: once that tender intel hits, a whole lot of folks are going pick through it to see what it all means. Unfortunately, as of this writing, the tender still hasn't gone live – and if you were expecting the BBC to tackle Doctor Who during its festival presentation earlier today, you would also be sadly mistaken. Are we surprised by that? Not really. At this point, what can anyone at the BBC really say until the official tender invite goes out? Not much. That said, we do want to give serious points to Anne Mensah, Netflix's VP of Original Series, who offered the best response someone could give if they wanted to make sure they didn't feed the rumor mill. "I love 'Doctor Who.' Anything that stays brilliant this long will have many, many lives," Mensah shared with session mediator Boyd Hilton.

Doctor Who
Images: BBC; Edinburgh TV Festival; Netflix

Did Ncuti Gatwa regenerate into Billie Piper's Sixteenth Doctor? That was an "interesting" question to answer well before the tender announcement hit – now, that cliffhanger has taken on even greater creative importance. During a special conversation at For the Love of Fantasy & Sci-Fi in London this past weekend, Piper addressed the 800 lb. TARDIS in the room, offering an interesting response regarding her on-screen status after "The Reality War" rolled its final credits.

"I am… not the next Doctor. I am Rose Tyler in hiatus. Sorry, that's a really cryptic answer. But because I'm not currently filming 'Doctor Who' as the Doctor, I can't, you know, lie and say otherwise," Piper shared, and it's an interesting point. Piper can't say she's the Sixteenth Doctor if she isn't aware of where things are heading – with the tender process further complicating matters. What's also interesting – and this is just us reading into the clip below – is that it could be implied that Piper wasn't aware of what the future plans were when she filmed that moment.

Here's a look at what Piper had to share – with huge thanks to Doctor Who Positivity (Tom) DCU fan for sharing the clip:

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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