A new rumour may shed some light on what Russell T Davies had planned for his final Doctor Who story, with his unproduced 2026 Christmas Special reportedly scrapped after only reaching the early draft stage.
According to the claims, which you can read in full below, the BBC and Bad Wolf Productions decided in January not to move forward with the episode. An initial script had been completed by Davies, but this new leak says it remained in the very early stages and was never developed further.
While the BBC is said to have been enthusiastic about the overall concept, the decision to put Doctor Who out to tender, combined with Davies' planned departure from the series (following a largely negative fan reaction and low ratings), is said to have convinced executives that investing in a standalone special was not financially viable.
Despite that, the episode would have served as a farewell of sorts to the current era, tying together several lingering storylines.
The rumoured story followed the Sixteenth Doctor to a frozen human colony orbiting a dying star after responding to a distress signal. Residents of the isolated settlement were said to be seeing apparitions of deceased loved ones.
Interestingly, the episode was designed to be a relatively inexpensive Doctor Who adventure (it wouldn't have had any financial support from Disney, remember). Most scenes were set in a single village set built on existing sound stages, with only a handful of small, alien creatures requiring additional VFX work.
The mystery deepened with the colony's leader allegedly refusing to acknowledge the growing crisis. Upon arriving, the Doctor would have discovered that his current face had effectively been chosen because the colony's leader had once met a young Rose Tyler, presumably meaning the TARDIS, aware of this star's true nature, chose that face to convince him to accept the Time Lord's help.
The star would have been revealed as sentient, having spent years trying to lure the Doctor to the colony. It accomplished this by taking the form of Susan Foreman, the Doctor's granddaughter, who made her long-awaited return in Doctor Who Season 2.
The entity apparently regarded the Time Lord as the ultimate power source and could also assume the appearances of familiar nightmares such as the Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels, opening the door to them making cameo appearances here.
In the final act, the remorseful entity would have released the trapped colonists before the Doctor used their combined energy to restore the star, triggering another regeneration cycle. In gratitude, the cosmic being, which was allegedly also responsible for creating the Time Hotel introduced in "Joy to the World," would have enabled the Doctor to rescue Rogue and finally reunite with the real Susan.
That reunion reportedly allowed the Doctor to fulfil the promise he first made in 1964: to return for his granddaughter and properly say goodbye.
The story was apparently intended to provide emotional closure to the trauma and loss that have defined much of Davies' recent tenure, allowing the Doctor to move forward into an entirely new chapter.
However, it also sounds as convoluted as the other stories Davies told during his time back aboard the TARDIS, and while an explanation for Rose's apparent return would have been welcomed, this not happening doesn't feel like any great loss.
As things stand, Doctor Who is expected to be sidelined for a good five years or so, as the BBC looks for a new production partner and creative team to put a fresh spin on the franchise and return it to its former glory. Whether that's possible remains to be seen.