The fifteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who premiered on 12 April 2025. This series is also known as "Season Two" following the production changes and the acquisition of Doctor Whos international broadcasting rights by Disney+ prior to the previous series. It is the sixth and final series led by Russell T Davies as head writer and executive producer and the second since his return to the show in 2023, having previously worked on it from 2005 to 2010. This series is the fifteenth to air following the programme's revival in 2005, and is the forty-first season overall.
This is the second and final series to star Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, an incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in the TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box from the outside. Varada Sethu joins the series as new companion Belinda Chandra, with Millie Gibson also featuring as Ruby Sunday, the previous series' companion, for her second and final series in the role. The series was preceded by a Christmas episode in December 2024, written by former showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat, where Nicola Coughlan appears as one-off companion, Joy Almondo.
The series consists of eight episodes, directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai, Peter Hoar, Amanda Brotchie, Ben A. Williams, and Makalla McPherson. Alongside Davies, who wrote four episodes and co-wrote a further one, the writers include Juno Dawson, Inua Ellams, Pete McTighe, and Sharma Angel-Walfall. Filming began in October 2023 and concluded in May 2024. Following the airing of the series, it was announced that without further backing from Disney+, a planned succeeding special had been cancelled, and Davies departed from his role as showrunner, with the BBC planning a competitive tender process for a future series.
Episodes
Notes
Casting
Main characters Ncuti Gatwa confirmed that he would return for a second series in July 2023. In November 2023, it was announced that Nicola Coughlan would appear as the companion in the 2024 Christmas special. Millie Gibson was revealed to be filming for her second series in November 2023, though reports emerged in January 2024 that Gibson would be leaving the show after the fourteenth series, to be replaced by Varada Sethu. However, in April 2024 it was announced that Gibson and Sethu would appear concurrently throughout the series. Subsequent promotional material foregrounded Gatwa and Sethu as the series' "TARDIS team", highlighting them as the first to consist solely of people of colour, with Gibson described as an "outgoing series regular". Gibson appeared in the fourth episode, "Lucky Day", and the seventh and eighth episodes, "Wish World" / "The Reality War". Sethu made a surprise appearance in the series prior in "Boom" (2024) as Mundy Flynn before her debut as the new companion. On 27 July, it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Sethu's character would be called Belinda Chandra. It is later revealed in "The Robot Revolution" that Mundy is a descendant of Belinda. Gatwa departed his lead role as the Fifteenth Doctor following the series' conclusion, citing mental and physical health reasons.
Recurring and guest characters
Alan Cumming guest starred in "Lux" as a cartoon character named "Mr Ring-a-Ding"; he had previously appeared in the show as King James VI in "The Witchfinders" (2018). Davies stated that only Cumming could give the character "so much wit, malice, danger and fun". Rose Ayling-Ellis and Christopher Chung appears in "The Well" as characters Aliss and Cassio, respectively. Jonah Hauer-King portrayed Conrad in "Lucky Day", a podcaster and Ruby's boyfriend. Jemma Redgrave also returned as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart in the same episode. Following the episode's broadcast, Gibson revealed in an interview that Hauer-King would also appear later on in the series. Jo Martin reprises her role as the Fugitive Doctor in "The Story & the Engine". Showrunner Russell T Davies stated that because the episode explored the Doctor's ethnicity it "felt like Jo Martin was missing" and that he wanted to "acknowledge her" and show "she still exists". On 2 March, following the release of the series trailer, Rylan Clark was announced to be in the series, presenting an intergalactic song competition in "The Interstellar Song Contest", an episode inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest which also stars Graham Norton. In the same episode, Freddie Fox appears as a villain, as well as Kadiff Kirwan and Charlie Condou, and Carole Ann Ford reprised her role as Susan Foreman, last appearing in the programme over 30 years prior in Dimensions in Time.
Anita Dobson appears in every episode of the series as Mrs Flood; in the sixth episode, her true identity is revealed to be The Rani, a villainous Time Lord. Archie Panjabi was introduced as another incarnation of the Rani through a bi-generation process. Bonnie Langford returns as Mel Bush in "Wish World", as well as Jonathan Groff as Rogue in a cameo. Jodie Whittaker reprised her role as the Thirteenth Doctor in a surprise cameo in "The Reality War". Billie Piper also returned to Doctor Who after previously portraying the Doctor's companion Rose Tyler last appearing in the 2013 fiftieth anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor", when the Fifteenth Doctor regenerates into a character portrayed by her at the end of the episode. While Piper's official role remains undisclosed, with the closing credits merely reading "Introducing Billie Piper", some sources assumed her to be taking on the Doctor's sixteenth incarnation.
Production Development In October 2022, it was announced that the revival's fifteenth series would be produced, alongside the prior series, in collaboration with Disney Branded Television. Series fifteen would be the final series produced in collaboration with Disney prior to them backing out of the partnership following the series' airing. The series is produced by Bad Wolf and BBC Studios, with the series also being referred to as season two following the prior season's rename to season one. Similar to the fourteenth series, the fifteenth series consists of a Christmas special followed by eight regular episodes, consisting of six standalone episodes and a two-part finale, with an additional Christmas special to air in late 2025 not being commissioned along the series. The series' release date was confirmed for 12 April 2025, with eight episodes airing weekly as part of the series. The episodes' titles were teased and released to fans a month prior to their airing.
Russell T Davies returns from the prior series as showrunner and executive producer. Additional executive producers for the series include Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, Phil Collinson, and Joel Collins. Steven Moffat, who wrote Christmas special "Joy to the World", executive produced the story.
Writing
Davies was writing the 2024 Christmas special by December 2022, and the fifteenth series by June 2023. By 18 September 2023, five of the nine scripts had been completed according to Davies's column in Doctor Who Magazine. By 2 January 2024, Davies's column stated that the fifth episode was now on Draft 5, while Episode 6 was about to enter Draft 9, "getting this script ready has been epic...but all worth it, what a story!"
In May 2024, former showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat confirmed that he had written the 2024 Christmas special, and that it was entitled "Joy to the World". Davies had initially planned to write the special, but after realizing he would be busy, he elected to enlist Moffat to write the story. The episodes of the series itself were written by Davies and four other writers, revealed on 27 January 2025 to be Juno Dawson, Inua Ellams, Pete McTighe, and Sharma Angel-Walfall. McTighe had previously written two episodes for the series: "Kerblam!" (2018) and "Praxeus" (2020), and additionally helped write the then-forthcoming spin-off series "The War Between the Land and the Sea". Dawson had also previously written for the series, having written the first official scripted podcast for the franchise: Doctor Who: Redacted. Dawson is the first transgender woman to write for the television series.
The series introduces a new companion character named Belinda Chandra, who is portrayed by Varada Sethu. In an interview with Polygon, Davies explained that Belinda's introduction was intended to "expand the range" of the show, citing that unlike the younger and more optimistic Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) who had been the prior season's companion, Belinda had a different approach in that she saw the Doctor as someone "mad" and "dangerous". Belinda is introduced in the series opener, "The Robot Revolution" (2025), where she is kidnapped from Earth and becomes unable to return home. The series focuses on the Doctor attempting to bring Belinda back to Earth as they face "wider terrors than ever before". Davies remarked this to be a unique plot thread for the series, as Belinda, unlike past companions, does not want to be a part of the Doctor's adventures; additionally, it also made it so stories set on present-day Earth were not possible due to the Doctor and Belinda being unable to return there. Sethu had previously portrayed a character in the prior series episode "Boom" (2024), with the connection being explained in-universe as being a result of Sethu's two characters being related to one another. The series continues story threads from the prior series, including continuing the story of Ruby after her departure from travelling with the Doctor, as well as the recurring presence of the Pantheon of Discord, a group of god-like entities who come into conflict with the Doctor.
Another major recurring plot thread involves re-appearing appearances by a mysterious old woman named Mrs. Flood, who had previously appeared as a recurring character in the prior series. This culminated in the reveal that Mrs. Flood is actually the character known as the Rani; the Rani had previously served as a recurring antagonist in the show's original 1963-1989 run. The character's end goal is to bring about the return of another antagonist from the show's original run: Omega. Mrs. Flood's original identity was not originally planned by Davies when filming the prior series, and was unsure of what her identity would be for a while during production. Though he initially considered bringing in an original antagonist to fulfill her role in the plot, he felt the usage of a returning character would encourage viewers to view her previous appearances on BBC iPlayer, where prior Doctor Who episodes can be watched. Omega, similarly, was originally considered to be a new Time Lord antagonist, but this ended up being substituted as a result of Davies feeling Omega fulfilled the necessary plot role better than an original character.
Filming With filming for the previous series concluding in July 2023, crew were given a four-week turnaround before pre-production started for the next series, on 14 August. Each production block was given ten weeks of preparation. The first readthrough was held on 17 October 2023.