Posted in: BBC, Disney+, Doctor Who, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: bbc, david tennant, disney, doctor who, opinion

Doctor Who: Maybe It's Time to Stop Wallowing in Negative Rumours?

Why are you wallowing in negative rumours about Doctor Who from the British tabloids and unnamed sources when they're not even true?

Another day, another totally unsubstantiated rumour for Doctor Who. Ncuti Gatwa is leaving!  David Tennant might be returning to play the Doctor? Oh, noes! It's more doom and gloom for Doctor Who! This year's Christmas Special is cancelled! The show is cancelled! Disney is pulling out! And the internet and the fans eat it all up like bad slop. Entire careers have launched on YouTube based on the grift: talk about rumours as if they're real, be pro or anti, complain that the show is dying because of "woke", and these bloggers and commentators get advertising money from the algorithm and followers. It's a whole cottage industry based on geek panic for those who love a show and those who hate it. They make money off you fretting that your favourite show might be going away. This is not a healthy way for you to connect with a TV series, whether you like or hate it.

It's time for a Reality Check: all those rumours are just rumours. There is nothing to indicate they're true. That is the whole point of rumours. Why let reality get in the way of your misery? Haters have been gloating that Doctor Who will be cancelled just because the broadcast ratings are lower now than they were before the streaming era sucked away live broadcast ratings. Here's the first reality check: as we said before, Doctor Who generates over US$100 million in revenue for the BBC every year and generates jobs and income for the Welsh economy. Doctor Who is not going to get cancelled. It's worth too much to the BBC.

Let's go over some of those other rumours: the rumour of David Tennant returning was started by UK bookmakers who take bets. This is not news or a rumour. This is wish-fulfilment from fans that The Sun picked up and ran like it was actual news. The Sun also has been running "news" from unnamed "sources" that Gatwa is leaving and that Disney is pulling out. Anyone could be an unnamed "source" including the reporter writing up those rumours. Did any official representative of Ncuti Gatwa make a statement that he was leaving? No. Did the BBC announce there would be no Christmas Special this year? No. And think about the agenda behind a tabloid like The Sun reporting negative rumours. The Sun is a right-wing paper owned by Rupert Murdoch that's had a reputation for being sexist, racist and homophobic for decades, and Murdoch has been trying to bring down the BBC for decades. This is about both making the BBC look bad and clickbait.

Why do you, the fans, want to listen to all these negative rumours? Yes, you're hungry for any news about the upcoming season of Doctor Who, but none of this is news, just rumours. It's the equivalent of doomscrolling. Why do you want to wallow in the possibility that the show you love will get cancelled and go away forever? Negative rumours encourage people to catastrophise, and life is chaotic and bad enough right now without wanting to believe your favourite or once-favourite show might get canned. Why do you like negative rumours that might be totally untrue over the positive parts of the show that you like? Here's what's true: Doctor Who season 2 will premiere on BBC One, iPlayer and Disney+ on April 12th, and The War Between the Land and the Sea has been shot and is now in postproduction, so it will premiere either later in the year or early next year. Getting more shows is good news, not bad. Every rumour is just noise. Whether it's renewed or not, why not wait for an official announcement from the BBC and Disney and just relax? You're better off watching a show or movie you like or reading a book you like, whether it's Doctor Who or not.

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