With the BBC recently inviting animation companies to tender for a new animated version of Doctor Who for CBeebies, akin in format, perhaps, to global hit Bluey, there’s inevitably been interest in past animated projects that never got off the ground.
While there have been plenty of fully realised Doctor Who animated productions to date – recreations of Missing Stories such as The Savages and Fury from the Deep among them – several attempts have also been made to reinvent the franchise as an animated show.
Perhaps the best known is Nelvana’s aborted animated proposal, its development in the 1990s extensively charted in Issue Five of the indispensable Vworp Vworp fanzine, copies still available. But there were other attempts, too.
One project – the company involved unknown, pitched by a famous British author and comic creator, yet to decloak – enlisted American comic book, conceptual and storyboard artist Dan Norton (aka Daniel Norton) to develop concept art, This included a stunning “pitch poster” featuring his take on the First Doctor and young teenage companions, menaced by the Cybermen.
Dan’s long comics career includes work on Batman, G.I. Joe, Spider-Man, Thundercats and Uncanny X-Men, and conceptual design for major film and game titles including Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the Britney Spears music video for the song “Toxic,” and Sony’s Everquest. He was previously Head of Story Development Art at Riot Games.
After the BBC passed on the proposal, Dan posted his poster and some concept sketches, including his take on other Doctors, to his deviantArt page. He teased in 2013 that in addition to featuring the first Doctor, the series would have touched on all the show’s incarnations of the Time Lord “and filled in some gaps”.
“We were so close,” Dan noted. “End of the day, BBC didn’t want anything to distract from production of the tv show.”
As we previously reported, in its “Invitation to Pitch” document for the new CBeebies project, the BBC says they are seeking a producer for one series of 52 x 11’ episodes (26 episodes for transmission in 2027/28 and 26 episodes for transmission in 2028/29). They anticipate pre-production would therefore need to begin in January 2026.
Information on the budget and financing for the series will be made available to verified production companies on receipt of a complete and signed NDA form.
Head downthetubes for…
• Follow Dan Norton on Instagram
• Dan Norton’s deviantArt page
• Dan Norton art on ComicArtFans
• The TARDIS Wiki: The ‘New’ Doctor Who – An Animated Series – The “2013” Project
OTHER NEVER WHO ANIMATED PROJECTS
This is not a definitive list and does not include fan projects
• The Daleks: The Animated Series – Reeltime Pictures
In the 1990s, John Freeman, Keith Barnfather and Kevin Davies devised a Daleks animation project, which would not have featured the Doctor. “I took the proposal to a Chicago convention organised by Howard Lee, and showed it to Terry Nation, who loved the concept,” John recalls, “and then his agent shot it down in flames because we hadn’t gone through him.” No art was created, but the series was set in the 26th Century, during the time period of the Who story Frontier in Space.
This project, and another developed by Kevin, was covered in Vworp Vworp Issue 4.
The closest this project got in terms of its possible look was a short animation scripted by John, created, but not finished, by the late Tony Luke
• The Nelvana Project
Back in the 1990s, Canadian animation company, Nelvana Productions, based out of Toronto, perhaps best known for its Star Wars tie-in series and Care Bears, was briefly involved in trying to do a Doctor Who animated series. Vworp Vworp featured the project in their fifth issue
• The TARDIS Wiki: The ‘New’ Doctor Who – An Animated Series – Nelvana Project
• The Karen McCoy Project
This was a proposed animated Doctor Who series by Karen McCoy in 1997, in the wake of Fox Broadcasting deciding not to continue with a Doctor Who TV series following the TV Movie. The series would have featured the Eighth Doctor and a new companion named Elizabeth “Liz” McPherson. Spec art was produced for the series to help sell the project to the BBC and it’s claimed several scripts were written. Vworp Vworp featured the project in their fifth issue
• The TARDIS Wiki: The ‘New’ Doctor Who – An Animated Series – Karen McCoy Project
INJ Culbard
Comic creator INJ Culbard created a pitch for an animated project in 2002, after meeting the script editor of the animation unit of BBC Bristol. When he asked if they were open to pitches regarding Doctor Who, he was told it was a “no go, animated or otherwise”, and he never got to present the pitch.
• The TARDIS Wiki: The ‘New’ Doctor Who – An Animated Series – INJ Culbard Pitch
DOCTOR WHO ART COMPETITION
Thinking caps on then, folks! Which Doctor would lead a new animated Doctor Who on CBeebies? Will they have K9? Let’s see what you come up with and we’ll dig out a Doctor Who prize from the downthetubes archives for the winner – post your images to this thread on the Facebook Doctor Who Comics and Art Group by 12 Noon UK Time on Tuesday 1st July 2025! (You’ll need to join the group to participate). Absolutely no AI submissions – they will be exterminated! Just for fun!
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Animation, Digital Media, Doctor Who, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, Science Fiction, Television
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