For much of their history, Radio Times were owned by the BBC and unsurprisingly tend never to speak ill of Doctor Who.

When discussing the recently revealed viewing numbers for Jodie Whittaker's final episode (spoilers ahead), again they don't speak ill of that or the Chibnall era, but do throw in a few extra numbers to show that the final episode only had half as many viewers (5.3 million) as his first (10.9 million).

Ouch.

We had stuck with it up until The Flux, when they terrifyingly began promoting racism.

Then we tuned out.

On checking the finale's plot, our hope that Jodie had actually been the Master didn't pan out.

Leaving us with an uncharacteristically racist, unpalatable, thirteenth Doctor.

Ideally, the BBC would address and apologise for this horrific mistake.

That's not likely to happen.

Though unlike Star Wars and Star Trek, we have seen relatively swift and substantial change in leadership.

Russell T Davies is back as executive producer and rather than being produced by the BBC, the next series will be made by a private media company (Bad Wolf) headed by former BBC staff who worked on Doctor Who with Davies.

One of the BBC's most iconic series being farmed out to a commercial enterprise is extraordinary.

And we think that's why Radio Times included these numbers.

Understandably there could be reservation or even alarm about some of these changes. Especially with Sony then buying Bad Wolf.

But Doctor Who is both a commercially and socially valuable property which deserves the greatest of care and regardless of how anyone feels about any specific recent changes, viewership has dropped sharply.

Change is desperately needed.

We didn't tune back in for Chibnall's final episode where Jodie Whittaker regenerated back into David Tennant.

We will be back for Russell's second run.

Though not on the ABC.

Disney having struck a deal for international rights to Doctor Who outside of the UK, which Bloomberg reported they were seeking in July.

A major loss for free-to-air sci-fi but potentially a whimsical win for irony lovers.

Disney - who seemingly will never let go of the Star Wars "racist fans" false narrative - may eventually host Doctor Who episodes which promote racism.

Never doubt that the universe has a sense of humour.

Their deal is for new episodes but when contracts for existing episodes expire, we would expect Disney to snap them up.

Doctor Who, The Power of the Doctor, can be seen now on ABC iview.

[ Main Image: Doctor Who - The Power of the Doctor - Jodie Whittaker. Credit: BBC via IMDb.com. ]

References

Craig, David (November 1, 2022). Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor ratings revealed. Radio Times.

Morris-Grant (October 26, 2022). ABC's five-decade partnership with Doctor Who ends after BBC confirms Disney+ deal from 2023. ABC News.

Wikipedia. The Power of the Doctor. (viewed November 2, 2022)