# Doctor Who series 15

The fifteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who is expected to premiere on 12 April 2025. This series is referred to as "Season Two" in marketing, following the production changes and the acquisition of Doctor Who's international broadcasting rights by Disney+ prior to the previous series. It will be the sixth 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 set to be the fifteenth to air following the programme's revival in 2005, and will be the forty-first season overall.
This will be the second 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. Millie Gibson is to reprise her role as the Doctor's companion Ruby Sunday from the previous series, along with Varada Sethu as new companion Belinda Chandra. Nicola Coughlan also appeared as a one-off companion in the 2024 Christmas special.
The series, which was preceded by a Christmas episode in 2024, is set to consist of eight episodes, directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai, Peter Hoar, Amanda Brotchie, Ben A. Williams, and Makalla McPherson. Alongside Davies, the writers include Juno Dawson, Inua Ellams, Pete McTighe, and Sharma Angel-Walfall, with former showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat writing the Christmas special. Filming began in October 2023 and concluded in May 2024.

## Episodes

| No. story | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) | AI |
| Special ||||||||
| 312 | – | "Joy to the World" | Alex Sanjiv Pillai | Steven Moffat | 25 December 2024 (2024-12-25) | 5.91 | 76 |
| The Doctor arrives at the Time Hotel, an establishment that allows visits to historical points. The Doctor enlists the aid of Trev, a hotel employee, as he investigates a mysterious briefcase. Trev's Silurian manager arrives in Joy Almondo's hotel room with the briefcase and the Doctor following him. The briefcase takes control of Joy, and the Doctor finds a strange device inside about to disintegrate Joy; suddenly a Doctor from the future arrives from the Time Hotel with the required code. The future Doctor returns to the Time Hotel with Joy, stranding the current Doctor. He takes a job working at the hotel, befriending the manager Anita, awaiting an opportunity to get back to the Time Hotel, which he does a year later. He opens a door to the distant past, where he frees Joy by provoking her anger. The briefcase, of Villengard origin, is to be used to create an energy source. Trev, who connected psychically to Villengard's system before he died, reveals the briefcase's location. The Doctor opens it, but Joy lets the star seed enter her. Joy pilots it into space, where it detonates safely as the Star of Bethlehem, and the star gives hope and comfort to those who see it. ||||||||
| Series ||||||||
| 313 | 1 | TBA | Peter Hoar | TBA | 12 April 2025 (2025-4-12) | TBD | TBA |
| 314 | 2 | TBA | Amanda Brotchie | TBA | 19 April 2025 (2025-4-19) | TBD | TBA |
| 315 | 3 | TBA | Amanda Brotchie | TBA | 26 April 2025 (2025-4-26) | TBD | TBA |
| 316 | 4 | TBA | Peter Hoar | TBA | 3 May 2025 (2025-5-3) | TBD | TBA |

## Casting

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. Along with Jonah Hauer-King being added to the series, 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. 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.
On 17 September, it was announced that Archie Panjabi would portray a villain. On 20 December, it was announced that Rose Ayling-Ellis would have a role in the series. On 21 February 2025, it was announced that Christopher Chung had been cast as new character called Cassio. On 26 February, it was revealed that Alan Cumming would guest star in episode two 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". On 2 March, following the release of the series trailer, Rylan Clark was announced to be in the series, presenting an intergalactic song competition. The trailer also confirmed that Jemma Redgrave and Bonnie Langford would return as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Mel Bush respectively; Anita Dobson was also confirmed to return as Mrs. Flood. On 6 March, Freddie Fox was announced to play a villain.

## Production
### Development

Similar to the fourteenth series, the fifteenth series consists of a Christmas special to be followed by eight regular episodes, consisting of six standalone episodes and a two-part finale. The synopsis of the series was officially stated to be about an "epic quest" getting Belinda back to Earth, as the TARDIS team face "wider terrors than ever before".

### Writing

Davies was writing the 2024 Christmas special by December 2022, and the fifteenth series by June 2023. By October 2023, five of the nine scripts had been completed. In May 2024, former showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat confirmed that he had written the 2024 Christmas special instead, and that it was entitled "Joy to the World". 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.

### 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 prep. The first readthrough was held on 17 October 2023.
Principal photography began on 23 October 2023 at Bad Wolf Studios, with the 2024 Christmas special "Joy to the World" assigned to the first block, directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai. The second block — containing the first and fourth episodes — began filming on 14 November 2023, directed by Peter Hoar. Hoar had previously directed the sixth series episode "A Good Man Goes to War" (2011), and had worked with Davies on It's a Sin and Nolly. Filming for the third block — containing the second and third episodes — began in January 2024, directed by Amanda Brotchie. Location filming at Penarth Pier marked the first time that Sethu was photographed on-set as the new companion. Makalla McPherson and Ben A. Williams directed further blocks, with Williams directing the sixth episode, which he described as a "very big episode", and Davies described as "epic". The episode from Williams is titled "The Interstellar Song Contest", and is written by Dawson; it is themed after the Eurovision Song Contest. Production for the series wrapped on 24 May 2024.
Production blocks are set to be arranged as follows:
| Block | Episode(s) | Director | Writer(s) | Producer |
| 1 | Christmas special: "Joy to the World" | Alex Sanjiv Pillai | Steven Moffat | Alison Sterling |
| 2 | Episode 4 | Peter Hoar | TBA | TBA |
| 2 | Episode 1 | Peter Hoar | TBA | TBA |
| 3 | Episode 2 | Amanda Brotchie | TBA | TBA |
| 3 | Episode 3 | Amanda Brotchie | TBA | TBA |
| TBA | Episode 6 | Ben A. Williams | TBA | TBA |
| TBA | TBA | Makalla McPherson | TBA | TBA |

## Release
### Broadcast

On 21 February 2025, a trailer stating that the series would launch on 12 April was shown during the BBC's coverage of a Six Nations Under 20s Championship rugby match between England and Scotland. The series will be released in the UK on BBC iPlayer and internationally on Disney+. The episodes will be released at 12 a.m. Pacific Time and 8 a.m. BST, with episodes airing weekly.
Due to the terms of a deal between BBC Worldwide and SMG Pictures in China in May 2017, the company has first right of refusal on the purchase for the Chinese market of future series of the programme until and including Series 15.

### Home media

| Series | Story no. | Episode name | Number and duration of episodes | R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
| 15 | 312 | Doctor Who : "Joy to the World" | 1 × 55 min. | 27 January 2025 $^{(D,B)}$ | — | — |

## Ratings

| No. | Title | Air date | Overnight ratings | Consolidated ratings | Consolidated ratings | Total viewers (millions) | AI | Ref(s) |
| No. | Title | Air date | Viewers (millions) | Viewers (millions) | Rank | Total viewers (millions) | AI | Ref(s) |
| – | "Joy to the World" | 25 December 2024 | 4.11 | 1.8 | 6 | 5.91 | 76 | |