Doctor Who Given May 10 Return Date

After sagging for a few years, the BBC’s most famous property, Doctor Who, was given a massive regeneration with a move to Disney+, a higher budget and four giant specials. It not only marked the return of Russell T,. Davies as showrunner but, somehow, the return of David Tennant as the Doctor. The goal of the specials seemed to be (1) to remind you why you liked Doctor Who in the first place and (2) to set the table for the new reboot that casts Ncuti Gatwa as Doctor #15.

Yeah, I know no one really thinks of it as a “reboot” but BBC is drawing a line between the revival that was mainly seen on cable and the Disney+ version, referring to this coming season as Season 1. We thought the specials were a great return to form, that Gatwa makes for a great Time Lord and that Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday is already a very memorable Companion — much better than those whatsisnames that were following Jodie Whitaker around.

Until today the BBC would only give a vague “summer” release window for “Season 1,” but we’re pleased to report it’ll happen sooner than the summer. In fact this will be the first simultaneous release for a Doctor Who season: it will premiere worldwide on May 10, or May 11 at midnight on the BBC (due to timey-wimey time zones).

The sad thing is that Gibson’s exit has already been pre-determined….we’ll only have the Ruby character for this coming season and some of the next. We know it’s normal for Companions to only stick around for a season or two, but dangit, we wish this one would stick around longer. The TARDIS returns May 10.