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Richard Osman delivers his verdict on Doctor Who future and reveals his tip to take on the legendary role
The newly cancelled 2026 Christmas special would have acted as a "bomb" for the show's future, Osman said.
Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)
- Molly Moss
Published: Wednesday, 17 June 2026 at 3:38 pm
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Richard Osman has said the cancellation of Doctor Who’s upcoming Christmas special was necessary to secure the show’s future, while also revealing who he’d like to take on the legendary role.
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The BBC revealed last week that the previously planned 2026 Christmas special has been cancelled, while also confirming that the programme would be put out to competitive tender - prompting renewed speculation about the future of the programme.
But speaking recently on The Rest is Entertainment podcast, Osman reassured fans: "It has not been cancelled. It has been the opposite of cancelled, continued I guess."
He explained that it had actually always been the plan for the show to be put out to tender, but that the BBC moved the process forward, meaning that the 2026 Christmas special - which would have served as a gap filler - would only have acted as "an enormous Christmas-shaped bomb in the middle of that".
Ncuti Gatwa as Doctor Who. BBC Studios/Disney/Bad Wolf/James Pardon
He said: "What happened was, 2025, Disney pull out, the BBC are still absolutely saying 'no, we'll carry on with Doctor Who, what we'll do is put this out to tender in 2028/2029.' At which point everyone says, 'Let's do a Christmas special to bridge the gap."
"And because the BBC were dealing with [the legal case involving President] Trump and Charlotte Moore, who was the chief content officer, was leaving and Kate Phillips was coming in, there was a lot of churn at this point."
He continued: "As soon as Kate Phillips got her feet under the table she said, 'Let's put it out to tender at this point, because the whole point of putting it out to tender is it's a big deal for us, it's the opposite of saying we're going to rest it, it's the opposite of saying we're putting it out to pasture. We want to give it multiple series, we now need production companies to pitch.'
"As soon as you say you're putting it out to tender, you can't make the Christmas special, because the canon of the show will be affected so much by what they were about to do with [the regeneration of] Ncuti Gatwa to Billie Piper. You can't lay that on companies who are working on where they'll take the Doctor Who universe. If you're about to drop an enormous Christmas-shaped bomb in the middle of that, it makes that process impossible for everyone."
George Fouracres. Sky UK
Elsewhere in the interview, Osman tipped SNL’s George Fouracres as the new Doctor Who.
"Wouldn’t he be amazing?" he said, before adding: "All the best Doctor Who’s can really do comedy - Matt Smith, Tennant, Capaldi.
"They can really do comedy but you could stick them on Shakespeare and they can really do that as well. And George Fouracres is a great Shakespearean actor and a great comic."
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Read more:
- Peter Capaldi reveals his Doctor Who exit was due to "direction" concerns and argues there have been "too many regenerations"
- Doctor Who icon Carole Ann Ford reacts to Christmas special cancellation news - and reveals Susan return hopes
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Authors
Molly MossTrends Writer
Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
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