New Doctor Who Animated Series In Development At BBC

A new Doctor Who animated series is in development at BBC, with the series poised to draw a new audience into the Whoniverse’s sci-fi adventures. Doctor Who is slowly starting to expand its world, with new spinoffs being developed for the franchise. This includes the upcoming The War Between the Land and the Sea, a spinoff produced by BBC and Disney+ about UNIT trying to prevent a global war against Sea Devils. The show, managed by flagship showrunner Russell T Davies, is only the first in the franchise’s recent expansion.

Now, Deadlinehas confirmed that an animated Doctor Who series is in development, with adventures aimed at a preschool audience. The show will air on BBC’s children’s programming channel CBeebies, focusing on the Doctor’s adventures as they solve mysteries and problems for a younger audience. The BBC is looking for a production company to create the series, which won’t involve Disney. Patricia Hidalgo, Director of Children’s and Education at BBC, expressed excitement for the show, alongside the production companies who will pitch to work on the project. Check out what Hidalgo had to say below:

Everyone is welcome at CBeebies, including the Doctor. This much-loved franchise entertains millions around the world, so it is only right that our younger audience get to experience the wonder and the magic of the Doctor in a brand new format. This is an extremely exciting opportunity, and we are looking forward to welcoming companies to pitch for this new project, as we continue our commitment and investment in the UK’s animation industry.

What Doctor Who’s Animated Spinoff Means For The Series

The Show Is Expanding To A Completely Different Audience

With the upcoming animated series aimed at a preschool audience, it seems the Whoniverse is hoping to provide adventures for a wide array of age brackets. While the main series has plenty of fun adventures, many episodes have content and themes that wouldn’t be suitable for a preschool audience. Even so, the preschool show seems like it will be an educational spin on the original series, potentially with some familiar Doctor Who characters showing up in the process.

Although the exact details of the series remain unknown, the show seems like it will compliment the pre-existing series with its different audience in mind. However, with no production company attached yet, it’s unclear just how long it will take for the show to enter development. While Doctor Who season 15 ended with Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor reincarnating into Billie Piper, it’s unknown if the events of the main show serve as a basis for the preschool series or not.

Our Take On Doctor Who’s Upcoming Preschool Series

The Series’ Universe Lends Itself To Fun, Kid-Friendly Adventures

Because of the number of alien creatures, sci-fi adventures, and interesting pieces of lore Doctor Who has, it lends itself quite well to a preschool series. The more fantastical elements of the series being translated into a show for a younger audience can help draw more eyes into the Whoniverse from a completely new perspective. While it could be some time until the show does come out, the series’ development means there’s a concrete plan for how the BBC wants to introduce a younger crowd to the franchise.

Source: Deadline

Doctor Who

5/10

Release Date

December 25, 2023

Directors

Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Richard Martin, Peter Moffatt, Pennant Roberts, Lennie Mayne, Chris Clough, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Gerald Blake, Graeme Harper, Waris Hussein, Rodney Bennett, Mervyn Pinfield, Hugh David, John Gorrie

Writers

Russell T. Davies, Dave Gibbons, Kate Herron, Steven Moffat

Franchise(s)

Doctor Who / Whoniverse