Doctor Who: 52 New Episodes — Not the Return Fans Were Expecting

Although Doctor Who has been off the air since last December, the show is making a kind of comeback on the BBC — albeit in a different form. The broadcaster announced that next year it will premiere a new program titled Doctor Who: TARDIS Crew, an animated series made up of 52 episodes, each running roughly 11 minutes.

Created for a younger audience, the series centers on a youthful incarnation of the Doctor who travels with several companions: Hannah, Beastie, and a charming little robot named Toast-IE. Each episode will send them to astonishing worlds across various eras, and familiar faces from the original show are expected to pop up from time to time. It’s designed to entertain both kids and longtime fans of the franchise.

When will regular Doctor Who continue?

The BBC has not yet announced who will provide the Doctor’s voice in the animated series. It seems unlikely that the role will be voiced by one of the actors who have portrayed the Doctor on television, though with Doctor Who, surprises can happen. This animated Doctor won’t be counted among the fifteen on-screen incarnations already established — including those played by David Tennant, Matt Smith, and more recently Ncuti Gatwa.

By launching a kids’ version of the franchise, the BBC hopes to attract younger viewers and rebuild the program’s future audience. That’s an important objective: recent seasons of Doctor Who have suffered steep drops in viewership, and as a result the main live-action series remains on an indefinite hiatus while the network assembles a fresh creative team and searches for a new actor to take on the role.

The most recent seasons of Doctor Who are available exclusively on Disney+.

Check out the current list of series offered on the streaming platform to see what else is available.