The BBC’s competitive tender to find the next producer of Doctor Who has produced its first public bidders, and the field already points to three very different futures for the franchise: a Mercurio-led creative reset, an ITV Studios push, or a move to Scotland.
The confirmed bids
Deadline reports that Hat Trick Mercurio, the company run by Jed Mercurio and Jimmy Mulville, has submitted a plan with Mercurio attached as an executive producer. Mercurio’s sci-fi credentials go back to the BBC series Invasion: Earth in the 1990s, before he became one of British TV’s most bankable writers with Line of Duty, Bodyguard and Cardiac Arrest.
Separately, World Productions has tabled its own proposal and is effectively spearheading ITV Studios’ effort, according to Deadline. And STV Studios has made a bid with Screen Scotland to take the show north of the English border for Season 17.
Bids closed last Friday. The BBC will interview bidders in January and award a contract in March.
What the BBC is asking for
The brief requires a plan that can get Doctor Who back on screen in 2028-29 and keep it “relevant, surprising, brave and inspiring” for both long-standing fans and new audiences. Production must sit outside London, which formally ends the show’s long association with Wales as its home base.
The Scotland proposal is not just geographic. The BBC faced criticism last year for axing the long-running Scottish soap River City, though at the time it said it would spend £100M ($132.3M) on drama in Scotland over three years. A Doctor Who production based in Scotland would sit against that commitment, and STV already has a Whoniverse link: Peter Capaldi, who played the Doctor, stars in its Apple TV series Criminal Record.
The industry’s split view
BBC Studios labels are still likely to bid, and BBC Studios scripted boss Jamie Hall said last week that there is “an opportunity to get back to what the core offering was” during the Matt Smith and David Tennant era. But a string of high-profile producers is declining to enter, including A24 UK, Playground, Mammoth Screen, New Pictures, Big Talk Studios, Expectation and Quay Street, with concerns about limited rights and creative energy.
Some of that scepticism is blunt. One producer told Deadline, “Anyone with a pulse knows it will go to BBC Studios.” Another added that if Jane Tranter and Russell T Davies cannot make the show work, “then who can and who wants to?”
What to watch before March
For ScreenStat readers, the real story is the deal structure, not just the winner. The BBC was not prescriptive about budgets and asked producers to propose third-party investment, which some bidders said left funding expectations unclear. That could shape co-production terms, distribution and brand safety for one of Britain’s biggest scripted exports.
- Return window: 2028-29.
- Process: interviews in January, contract award in March.
- Location rule: production must be outside London.
- Scotland context: £100M three-year drama commitment after River City’s cancellation.
The BBC has declined to comment. Deadline says its list is not exhaustive, and a second Scottish bid could still emerge.
Source: Deadline
