Doctor Who fans have slammed the decision to include Billie Piper in last year's series finale following the shock axe of an upcoming episode. In a bombshell revelation yesterday, long-time showrunner Russell T Davies announced that he was leaving the show in a farewell statement on social media. This came after the BBC confirmed that the 2026 Christmas special is no longer happening.
Elsewhere in the BBC's statement, the national broadcaster confirmed that it planned to put Doctor Who out to competitive tender this year, which follows its deal with Disney Plus coming to an end after just two seasons. Now, however, fans have leapt to the defence of Billie, who is best known for playing Rose Tyler, the iconic companion to the Ninth and Tenth Doctors.
Fans React to Billie Piper's Regeneration
Writing on social media, several people claimed that she 'did not deserve this' after Ncuti Gatwa regenerated into Billie in May 2025. One user called @Erdenetkulkanfc commented: 'What I'm most angry with RTD about is the regeneration. If this was always the plan, either Fifteen shouldn't have regenerated or the ending should've been left open-ended. They shouldn't have shown Billie Piper. Neither the fans, nor Ncuti, nor Billie deserved this.'
@cheemaprod questioned: 'Was the Billie Piper decision a final Hail Mary to keep Disney on board? If so, that was pretty pathetic.'
Criticism of the Writing
Meanwhile, Ally claimed: 'Now it's all said and done that Billie Piper thing will go down as one of the worst examples of writing yourself into a corner this country's ever put to screen. The only way they escaped it was letting everyone on production go to reboot the entire show years down the line lmao.' Discussing Billie's regeneration, Joe also added: 'If the show comes back it will be ignored. If it doesn't come back, God I feel bad for Billie Piper.'
BBC Statement on Christmas Episode Cancellation
Explaining the decision to cancel the Christmas episode, the BBC said in a statement: 'After careful consideration, the BBC, Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf have collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor Who Christmas episode. This decision was not taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one off special, we are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory.'
In a separate post on Instagram, Russell then declared that 'it was GOODBYE from me to Doctor Who but HELLO to a big new future for the show'. 'You'll have to wait a bit longer for new Doctor Who… but you'll be waiting for MORE Doctor Who than a one-off. So it's worth it,' the TV legend continued. 'For the record: there was no script, I never wrote it, and no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor. You may disagree; fine, sit in that chair and wait to be proved right. You'll wait a lonnng time. Now I'm as excited as anyone to see what comes next! Will they keep the theme tune? Will they lose the blue box? Will they bring back the Drahvin?! It's all up for grabs, which is so Doctor Who, exciting and unpredictable and new!'
Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
