EXCLUSIVE: Bad Wolf‘s unusual deal to make BBC Studios show Doctor Who helped the Sony-owned production outfit to record revenues.
Bad Wolf was handed the production contract to Doctor Who in September 2021 as part of an agreement to restore Russell T Davies to the role of showrunner.
In its first year of making the iconic sci-fi series, Bad Wolf recorded revenues of £117M ($148M) in the 12 months to the end of March 2023 — a 192% increase on £40.2M in 2022.
Bad Wolf subsidiary Whoniverse1, the special purpose vehicle through which Doctor Who is made, posted additional sales of £43M ($54M) in the year to March.
The overall £117M sales figure was Bad Wolf’s highest revenue in a 12-month period since the company was founded by Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter in 2015.
Bad Wolf did post revenues of £121M in 2020, but this was for a 15-month period after the company extended its accounting period.
Based in Wales, the production outfit’s pre-tax profit of £7M in 2023 was up 366% on £1.5M in the previous year, according to earnings published on Companies House.
Doctor Who has always been made by the BBC or BBC Studios and there is no precedent for the corporation handing over keys to such an iconic brand to an external producer.
BBC Studios continues to own the Doctor Who brand and oversees international sales and merchandise. The company brokered the deal with Disney+ for streaming rights outside of the UK.
Gardner and Tranter, both former BBC producers, worked with Davies on the 2005 Doctor Who relaunch. Their first episode back, a special starring David Tennant, was watched by 7.6M on the BBC last month.
Ncuti Gatwa will take control of the Tardis for his first full episode on Christmas day. The Sex Education star is the 15th Doctor.
