Doctor Who Tender Race Narrows as the BBC Picks Its Shortlist

Evening News · Tuesday 10 November 2026

The race to make the next Doctor Who has narrowed, with the BBC’s shortlisted bidders due at a briefing this Friday. Also tonight: the BBC pulls a Matt Smith-era episode from iPlayer, the Sting team reunite for an outback creature feature, Netflix gives us a first look at Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson in The Take, Catan finds its directors, and Sinners breakout Miles Caton joins Christopher McQuarrie’s new thriller.

The News That Matters

Update: The BBC has its shortlist for the next Doctor Who, with bidders briefed on Friday

• What’s new: The BBC finalised its shortlist of production companies on Friday 6 November, based on their written pitches, Blogtor Who reported today. Those still in the race now get more detailed production information, said to include likely broadcast dates and budget, and must sign non-disclosure agreements
• What happens next: The shortlisted bidders meet the BBC in person on Friday 13 November for a tender briefing. Final bids are due early next month, and under the BBC’s published timetable the contract is awarded and the winner announced in March 2027. The BBC says its dates are indicative
• Who is in the running: The BBC has not said which companies applied or made the cut. Hat Trick Mercurio, World Productions and STV Studios have all been reported as bidders, but none of that is confirmed
• UK availability: The next series is expected on the BBC in the 2028/29 season; no date has been set

Since our 27 October look at the three companies reported to be in the running, the first cut has been made, and the winner is now only four months away. Peter Capaldi has already explained why he turned down the bids that approached him. While we wait, our Doctor Who watch guide has every era ready to stream.

BBC removes Doctor Who’s “The God Complex” from iPlayer as it reviews David Walliams programmes

• What happened: The BBC has taken the 2011 Doctor Who episode “The God Complex”, in which David Walliams played the alien Gibbis, off BBC iPlayer, The Independent and TV Zone reported. Little Britain, Come Fly With Me and episodes of The Wheel and Would I Lie to You? featuring Walliams have also been removed
• Why: It follows the publication today of allegations of sexual misconduct against Walliams by a joint ITV News and Guardian investigation. A BBC spokesperson said: “These are serious allegations. As such, the BBC is looking carefully at all material featuring and written by David Walliams on our platforms”
• His response: Walliams denies all the allegations. In a statement to the Guardian and ITV News, he said: “I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law”
• UK availability: “The God Complex” (series 6, with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill) is unavailable on BBC iPlayer while the review is under way. The BBC has not said whether the removal is permanent

Toby Whithouse’s episode, set in a hotel where every room holds a guest’s worst fear, is one of the most talked-about stories of the Eleventh Doctor’s second series, so its absence leaves a gap for anyone watching series 6 in order.

Sting director Kiah Roache-Turner and Alyla Browne reunite for outback creature feature Don’t Look

• What’s new: Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood, Sting, Beast of War) will direct Don’t Look, re-teaming with his Sting star Alyla Browne (Furiosa), Variety reported. The film was previously titled From Below, with screenwriter Sean Loch set to direct
• The story: Fifteen-year-old Riley (Browne) is travelling across the Australian outback with her father when they find two seemingly abandoned cars at an isolated desert crossing. When an invisible force drags her father away, she must fight a creature that only its next victim can see
• Who else: George Pullar (Evil Dead Burn), Masha Basman and Stephen Peacocke also star. Roache-Turner promises “scenes in this movie that are going to traumatize people very deeply”
• UK availability: UK date not yet confirmed

A monster only its next victim can see is a brilliantly simple hook, and Roache-Turner has form with small-scale, high-energy Australian horror. For more creature chills, our definitive horror guide has plenty to choose from.

First look: Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson plan a Manhattan bank job in Netflix’s The Take

• What’s new: Netflix has released first-look images and a release date for The Take, a psychological heist thriller directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Two Popes) and written by Simon Kinberg
• The story: Fresh out of the Army, former captain Noah (Pattinson) is recruited by charismatic master thief Christian Carter (Washington) to rob the richest bank in Manhattan. The catch: Noah’s girlfriend Rose (Daisy Edgar-Jones) works there as a teller
• Who else: Danai Gurira, Sean Harris, Moisés Arias and Justin Kirk also star. Meirelles told Netflix that “until the end, you don’t know if you’re making a love story that has a robbery, or if you’re making a robbery film that has a love story”, and that the whole film plays out from Noah’s point of view
• UK availability: On Netflix from Friday 15 January 2027, with a limited cinema release; UK cinema plans not yet confirmed

Washington and Pattinson are a pairing worth getting excited about, and Meirelles says Washington improvised so freely that “each take is a surprise”. Pattinson is also reported to be among the actors who screen-tested for James Bond, as we covered in our 7 November Morning News; nothing has been announced.

Netflix’s live-action Catan film finds its writer-directors in the Nee brothers

• What’s new: Aaron and Adam Nee, who directed Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in The Lost City, will write and direct a live-action film based on the board game Catan for Netflix, Deadline reported. Netflix had no comment
• The background: Netflix secured exclusive global rights to Catan in October 2025, covering live-action and animated films, series, unscripted shows and games. Klaus Teuber’s game, first released as The Settlers of Catan in 1995, has sold more than 50 million copies
• Who’s making it: Asmodee’s Darren Kyman, Catan Studio’s Pete Fenlon, Teuber’s sons Guido and Benjamin Teuber, and Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment produce. The Nees also wrote the upcoming Masters of the Universe
• UK availability: No release date yet; it will stream on Netflix

Turning a game about trading wheat and sheep into a film is a big ask, but the island setting, its rival settlers and its roaming robbers give the Nees a ready-made adventure world, and The Lost City showed they can do fun, crowd-pleasing action.

Update: Sinners breakout Miles Caton plays Denzel Washington’s grandson in Christopher McQuarrie’s thriller

• What’s new: Miles Caton, who played young blues guitarist Sammie in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, has joined Denzel Washington and Teyonah Parris in McQuarrie’s untitled thriller for Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists, Deadline reported
• The story: Washington plays a former police detective serving a life sentence who is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Granted compassionate release with six months to live, he returns home to the estranged daughter he left behind (Parris) and a grandson he never knew existed (Caton). He wants to make amends, but his dark past has not forgotten him
• Behind it: Scott Barkan and Gregg Zehentner wrote the script. Producers include Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt for United Artists, and Christopher and Heather McQuarrie for Invisible Ink
• UK availability: In US cinemas from Friday 1 October 2027; UK date not yet confirmed

Caton won the Critics Choice award for best young performer for Sinners and was nominated for the EE BAFTA Rising Star Award, so this is a big next step. Parris’s casting was in our 7 November Evening News.

Who would you like to see make the next era of Doctor Who? Tell us below.

Back tomorrow with What to Watch Tonight at 7:30am and the Morning News at 8am.