The Mona Lisa of Dumpster Fires

A new Christmas special of Doctor Who has been cancelled while the BBC plans the next phase of the sci-fi show.

The corporation announced last year that there would be a festive special in 2026, but confirmed on Wednesday that it will no longer proceed.

Instead, the broadcaster is inviting production companies to put themselves forward to help co-produce the next series.

Showrunner Russell T Davies also confirmed he will leave, external the long-running programme, writing on Instagram that it is "goodbye from me but hello to a big new future for the show".

Referring to the announcement of the Christmas special, he explained: "We only cooked that up to guarantee a future when no one knew what would happen, but now we do know, there's no need for it.

"You'll have to wait a bit longer for new Doctor Who... but you'll be waiting for more Doctor Who than a one-off. So it's worth it!

"For the record: there was no script, I never wrote it, and no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor."

This is just to let everybody know that for Pride Month of 2026, the Ebooks Direct Pride Package has been really ridiculously discounted.

...From the product page:

This package contains all our Middle Kingdoms material—some of the first LGBTQ-representing epic fantasy in the 20th-century fantasy field, now continuing into the 21st. It also contains the matter-of-fact exit from the (contextual) closet of two of the best-loved characters in the Young Wizards universe—Advisory wizards Tom Swale and Carl Romeo, on their first canonically-"out" venture as a couple. The main part of the collection spans more than forty years, from the publication of Diane Duane's two-time Astounding Award finalist The Door Into Fire, first published in 1979, through its main-sequence sequels (both also Gaylaxic Spectrum Awards Hall of Fame winners) The Door Into Shadow and The Door Into Sunset, to 2018's and 2019's interstitial Tales of the Five novels, The Levin-Gad and The Landlady. The collection also includes such otherwise hard to find short works as Lior and the Sea and the two current volumes of the "Sirronde's World" group, The Span and Parting Gifts.* And finally, it also includes the Middle Kingdoms novelette Overdue (Tales of the Middle Kingdoms #2), and the short Young Wizards work Owl Be Home For Christmas.

All that for $19.99? Seriously, I need my head felt! So please go validate my mental state by buying the package.

And happy Pride!

(Meanwhile, the project for the course of the month is to put all the major queer, bi, and/or ace characters in my various series into that shot. Just added: Mevraen, Wyn and Eftgan. Now to get Lissa and Matt and Matt's boyfriend in there...) 😏

"Venus in a bikini" untying her sandal, with a small Eros touching her foot and a figure of Priapus standing next to her on an altar

Her clothes and jewelry are gilded, and there are traces of red paint on the tree trunk, her hair, her lips, Eros, and Priapus

Found in Pompeii - dated before 79 CE

WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS MY FAVORITE TELEVISION SERIES OF ALL TIME (it's not out yet)

Analyzing: Cute —>

Cute = [Human Infant] —>

Evolutionary Pressure = Prepare [Human Infant] to Survive —>

Evolution as a Social Species = Communication Essential to Survival

Conclusion: Teach [Human Infant] to Communicate via Speech —>

Production: Enunciated Vocal Sounds and Exaggerated Vowels to Encourage Speech in [Human Infant] —>

The e-book of Slayers of Old is on sale for $2.99. Today only. Pass it on.

Bookshop

Amazon

B&N

Kobo

iBooks