How a global pandemic forced Doctor Who to reinvent its entire storytelling structure

Countries & Cities · Published 15 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Facing severe production constraints during the COVID-19 pandemic, the thirteenth series of Doctor Who abandoned its traditional episodic format. Instead, showrunner Chris Chibnall crafted a single, universe-spanning narrative titled Flux. This ambitious pivot allowed the production to maintain scale while navigating the logistical challenges of filming under strict health protocols.

The thirteenth series, which aired in late 2021, marked a significant departure for the long-running British science fiction programme. For the first time since 1986, the show abandoned self-contained stories in favor of a single, continuous narrative arc across all six episodes. This shift was largely a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the production to reduce its episode count from the originally planned eleven to six. Showrunner Chris Chibnall opted for this serialized approach to avoid the alternative of producing small, contained stories set in single rooms, choosing instead to deliver the most ambitious action-effects sequence in the show's history.

Filming for the series was a complex undertaking that commenced in November 2020 and concluded by July 2021. The production team faced constant hurdles, including crew shuffling and the necessity of single-camera setups to adhere to social distancing requirements. These constraints influenced everything from the musical score, where composer Segun Akinola utilized more synthesizers and experimental audio manipulation to create a larger-scale sound, to the cinematography, which relied on studio-based spectacular set-pieces to compensate for the inability to travel to exotic locations.

Critical reception of the series was mixed but generally favorable, with an 82% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While many reviewers praised the ambition required to film during a pandemic and lauded Jodie Whittaker’s performance, others criticized the overcrowded plot and the perceived lack of consequences for the catastrophic events depicted. Despite these critiques, the series remains a notable experiment in the show's history, representing a period where the production team narrowly avoided cancellation to deliver a final, frenetic chapter under the leadership of Chibnall and Whittaker.

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