Doctor Who bosses deny claims star Ncuti Gatwa 'axed' from show
23 May 2025, 08:42
Bosses have claimed rumours Gatwa will leave the hit show are 'pure speculation', amid controversy over Gatwa's decision to back out of the Eurovision Song Contest.
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A statement from the show's bosses said: "As we have previously stated, the decision on season 3 will be made after season 2 airs and any other claims are just pure speculation."
"The deal with Disney+ was for 26 episodes – and we still have an entire spin off, The War Between the Land and the Sea, to air. And as for the rest, we never comment on the Doctor and future storylines.”
Rumours of Gatwa's departure comes after the Scottish-Rwandan actor, 32, backed out of announcing the UK's jury scores in last weekend's Eurovision Song Contest.
It was confirmed the actor would no longer be involved in the final of the contest due to "unforeseen circumstances." Gatwa's involvement was part of a Doctor Who crossover, with an episode titled “The Interstellar Song Contest” airing before Saturday’s Eurovision final.
The announcement of Gatwa's withdrawal was made on X just two minutes after Israel's Yuval Raphael qualified at Thursday's semi-final.
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A statement about the actor's withdrawal said: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, unfortunately, Ncuti Gatwa is no longer able to participate as Spokesperson during the Grand Final this weekend."
"However, we are delighted to confirm that BBC Radio 2’s very own Friday night Kitchen Disco Diva Sophie Ellis-Bextor will be presenting the Jury result live from the UK.”
A source told the Sun: “If the final nail wasn’t already in the coffin, it was well and truly hammered in after that.“
"Bosses were incredibly disappointed. Ncuti, as the Doctor is one of the corporation’s most high-profile faces."
“His withdrawal was incredibly embarrassing. It caps what has been a largely depressing tenure in the Tardis for Ncuti.”
Gatwa has been vocal in his support for Palestine, sharing photographs of 'Free Palestine' graffiti on his Instagram and posting links to fundraisers for Palestinian causes on social media.
Insiders also believe Disney+ will not review its 2-year multi-million pound deal with the show, which gave the corporation exclusive streaming rights outside the UK.
Rumours of Gatwa's departure from the show circulated in February, when a source told the Sun: "Ncuti doesn’t want to be tied to the series beyond this and plans to relocate to Los Angeles with several Hollywood projects standing by for him."
"His team also see a lot of fan backlash from the series, and don’t want the perception of him still being The Doctor to get in the way of any future work."
"The show has been poorly managed in recent years, and there’s a lot of people who’ve been working on this show for years and now being cast aside due to poor leadership."
Gatwa was announced as the most recent incarnation of the Doctor in 2022, alongside the return of showrunner Russel T Davies.
Ratings have fallen since the beginning of Gatwa's tenure as the Doctor.
The most recent episode of the show attracted overnight viewing figures of just 2.57 million. 3.57 million watched the series premiere.
At the beginning of the revival of the hit sci-fi series in 2005, it regularly achieved an average viewership of around 8 million.
