6 'Doctor Who' Spinoffs We'd Like to See

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies initially announced he was considering Whoniverse spinoffs when it was initially confirmed the series would be streaming on Disney+ in the U.S., and with Season 14 filming well underway, the news could be coming any time now. Katy Manning (who played Third Doctor companion Jo Grant) teased at a recent BFI screening of “The Sea Devils" that "There will be spin-offs, there will be people returning." 

Manning was right; as Deadline reported on March 15, 2023, BBC sources have offered confirmation the series' first spin-off is in the works. The series will center around UNIT, the Earthbound military task force that investigates and confronts extraterrestrial threats, and will star Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart, UNIT’s Chief Scientific Officer.

Davies has been vocal about his desire to create an MCU-style Whoniverse; he already tried it once as showrunner, bringing us both Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. The UNIT spin-off may be the first of many. Now that Doctor Who will be operating with a Disney+ budget on the streaming service that has brought us more Marvel and Star Wars spin-offs than one can count, anything is possible.

But what could the enigmatic RTD possibly have in store for us? We can’t hop in a TARDIS to see what the future holds, but we can certainly do what Doctor Who fans do best: speculate! Here are six spin-offs we’d like to see, and one we know we will.

Of all the companions who have returned in recent years, Seventh Doctor companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) has the most spin-off potential. A fan favorite since her time in the TARDIS was cut off in 1989, “The Power of the Doctor” seemed to set Ace up for something bigger. Aldred jumped at the chance to return to the show in 2022 and has said that she would be equally enthusiastic to return again in the form of a spinoff.

Ace alluded to her post-TARDIS adventures in “The Power of the Doctor,” so we know she’s been busy. Her position as the last on-screen companion during the 1990-1995 wilderness years also means she has a significant back catalog of non-televised stories to serve as inspiration. We would love to see Ace gallivanting worldwide and blowing things up, occasionally accompanied by her doting sidekick, former Thirteeth Doctor companion Graham (Bradley Walsh).

Paul McGann's The Eighth Doctor is wildly popular for a character whose only on-screen appearances have been a made-for-TV movie in 1996 (which flopped due to being too American), a YouTube minisode in 2013, and a brief cameo in “The Power of the Doctor.” However, the character gained a loyal fanbase primarily due to McGann’s prolific work on the Big Finish audio dramas during the series' wilderness years.

Due to the plethora of stories that were released on audio, comics, and novels between 1997-2004, if the Eighth Doctor were to get his own series, there would be ample material to draw from and a small but mighty army of people eager to watch. He has been gradually re-introduced to more casual fans through his more recent cameos, but he is still the (numbered) Doctor with the least amount of screen time. It's time to give Paul McGann his due!

Doctor Who has often relied on fan-favorite villains like the Daleks and Cybermen to stir up excitement for the show (and sell merchandise). Overused as they may be, these creatures are prime contenders for a spinoff. We’ve seen humans across the galaxy contend with iconic villains like the Daleks and Cybermen in recent stories like “Ascension of the Cybermen” and “Flux.” This show could grapple with what happens when regular people are left to fend for themselves without the Doctor’s intervention. A spinoff that relies heavily on CGI creatures and battles would come with a hefty price tag, so an obvious choice would be to make the series animated.

The last animated Daleks mini-series didn’t precisely wow viewers, but Lucasfilm has had success with its animated Star Wars series in recent years, and Doctor Who could follow suit. Doctor Who is, at its core, a family show, and with the success of the previous kid-centric spinoff, The Sarah Jane Adventures, it would be a natural move to make an animated show aimed at younger viewers.

The lore surrounding Gallifrey has been growing more complex by the minute, and this could be an opportunity for Davies to do some much-needed spring cleaning of the Whovian canon (if you call it that). Doctor Who spent extended periods on Gallifrey in the classic series, but very few modern Who stories have taken place on the Doctor’s home planet. Poor Gallifrey has been destroyed and resurrected so many times in the past 18 years with very little to show for it.

A spinoff set on Gallifrey could follow the vaguely sinister Time Lord bureaucracy (a la Loki’s TVA) and bring back beloved Time Lord characters like the Rani (Kate O'Mara), Rassilon (who has been played by multiple actors, including Richard Matthews and Timothy Dalton), and Omega (Stephen Thorne). This would be one for the Classic Who fans, but with huge potential to introduce fans of the modern series to older lore.

"The Timeless Child" storyline divided fans during Jodie Whittaker’s tenure as the Thirteenth Doctor, but the love for Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor is universal. Martin filled the role of the Doctor perfectly and left fans wanting more. She didn’t get to have an episode, let alone a season, to herself as the Doctor. A series that included her could resolve a lot of the issues fans had with her rapid introduction and exit.

The Chris Chibnall era ended with many unanswered questions about the Doctor’s past, not to mention bringing in the Morbius Doctor faces that had, up until that point, been considered a continuity error. If Davies is up to the challenge of picking up where Chibnall left off, Jo Martin would be a familiar face to guide us through the murky canon—maybe even with Karvinista by her side for a bit of comic relief.

Billie Piper’s exit from Doctor Who in 2006 (and 2008… and again in 2013) seemed to position her perfectly for a spinoff that would follow her world-saving adventures post-TARDIS travels. Big Finish has picked Rose’s narrative up where the show left off with Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon, proving that a TV spinoff would have plenty of material. In an interview with Buzzfeed, BPiper said she would love to return to Doctor Who… provided it films in London and is only about four episodes long.

Perhaps the Disney+ money will make it happen? David Tennant is already on the payroll as the Fourteenth Doctor, so why not bring him back as the human version of the Tenth Doctor too? Some would argue that Billie Piper has been trotted out one too many times on Doctor Who, but Rose remains one of the most iconic companions of modern Who, and another return from her would certainly turn heads.

The reported UNIT spinoff doesn’t come as too much of a surprise given that Jemma Redgrave had already been announced as part of the cast of Season 14, signaling a possible UNIT show soft-launch. No details have been released about the UNIT spinoff, but we know what we’d like to see: More Companions.

A UNIT show would be an easy way to bring back former companions who might be unwilling to head their own series. Many former companions and characters like Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding), Jo Grant, and Ace have ties to UNIT, and the existence of a support group is a great way to cycle faces in and out. (Maybe even Clara (Jenna Coleman) and Me (Maisie Williams) could drop by with their diner for breakfast one morning.) The series could take an anthology approach to bringing companions back, focusing on one or two companions per storyline. Most importantly, a re-envisioned 2020s UNIT would be nothing like the boys’ club UNIT of the 1970s. (No offense to the Brig!) “The Power of the Doctor” gave us an impressive lineup of women at the organization's helm who would make for an epic main cast.

Are any of these spinoffs likely to happen? We know we’ll get a UNIT show of some sort, and we’d bet on a creature-villain show, but the others… not so much. Chances are Davies will blow us out of the water with something no one saw coming. We’ll just have to wait and see!