Fans are raging that the Christmas special has now been cancelled, was never actually written, and leaves a hole which may take years to fill19:29, 11 Jun 2026BBC bosses and Russell T Davies have suffered a huge backlash over the decision to pull the Doctor Who Christmas special, with fed-up fans feeling they’ve been “lied to".‌Some have been left livid after the one-off festive instalment was cancelled this week after months of rumours, despite having been officially announced in October, with showrunner Russell claiming he’d not even written the script.‌Eight months ago, as the BBC used the announcement of a Christmas special to demonstrate it was “fully committed” to Doctor Who, Russell said he’d yet to put pen to paper. "I know what happens, but I better write it down soon in case I get run over by a bus,” he quipped. He later told Newsbeat that he’d shared his plan with BBC bosses who’d been left “with jaws agape, loving it”.‌But two months on, writing in December's Doctor Who Magazine, he suggested that it was going well, writing: “Next December, I'll be here to trumpet and toot about the 2026 Christmas Special. It contains these three words, "Bafflers," "Winternox" and "village".One confused fan told him: "You say that you never wrote a script for the Christmas special and you're right to assume we wouldn't believe that. But here's the unfortunate truth of the matter: you're a liar either way. You either lied about having the script written, or you're lying now."‌Many fans now feel dismayed that the truth about the special not actually happening was kept from them for many months. "To say you didn’t even write it when we’ve all been led to believe something was going to be waiting under the Christmas tree - I’m sorry, but that was not fair at all,” one lamented.In his post on social media, Russell wrote that the festive one-off had been "cooked up - to guarantee a future when no one knew what would happen". In response, one long-term viewer branded him "smug" and moaned: “This sucks and you brushing it off as ‘stuff we had to say because it’s showbiz’ is cynical and disingenuous."‌Others felt he should apologise for the disinformation. “Not even saying sorry for lying to us - not taking any blame and instead making fun of the fans for not believing you? What a bad move," one said.“It would’ve been better if you and the BBC had just admitted that the show would be on hiatus from the get go."To say you didn’t even write it when we’ve all been led to believe something was going to be waiting under the Christmas tree - I’m sorry, but that was not fair at all.”‌They also questioned why the show’s long-term composer Murray Gold had previously claimed it was business as usual. “You did lie to us,” one pointed out in a message. “Murray Gold said he saw versions of scripts for the special. You said plans for the special left BBC bosses ‘with jaws agape'. I am astonished at this total sense of betrayal from a man who I always considered to be someone I admired. When you use ‘cooked up’ to describe the initial idea of a 2026 Christmas Special it feels like you threw us a crumb of hope - and then swept it into the bin.”In the last episode to be screened, which aired in May 2025 featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor, viewers saw him regenerate into former companion Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper, causing widespread confusion.“I feel let down by the way the whole situation has been handled, particularly shoehorning in Billie as the Doctor,” one dejected viewer opined. "I hope the show can move on from the very damaged way it’s been left.”‌The sci-fi series, one of the BBC’s biggest and best-loved brands, has now been put out to tender, meaning TV production companies are invited to pitch for the commission to make it. One fan who said they “felt like I’ve been lied to” made suggestions of how the show could get back to its best. “Doctor Who needs to go back to being a little more mysterious,” they insisted. “Hide the monsters in the shadows, we don’t need a huge TARDIS like that. We need the darkness, interspersed with the light - we really do want to hide behind the sofa again.”Fans have been looking forward to the festive special since it was announced by BBC drama boss Lindsay Salt in the autumn. Now the tender process is likely to take at least a year, with another year or 18 months needed for the writing and filming of the series - leaving fans to fear no new episodes will be ready until the end of 2028 at the very earliest. One sighed: “We’ll probably have to wait until 2039 or something now.”Another viewer said they should have just got on with the tender process last autumn. "Potentially they could have been getting ready to announce the new production company instead of spending eight months on an imaginary Christmas special,” they moaned.Article continues belowA BBC source said the announcement about the Christmas special had been made in good faith at the time.Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .