Entertainment
Doctor Who Showrunner Tries To Reassure Fans, Makes Everything Worse
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Right now, former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies seems to have a new full-time gig: sticking his foot into his mouth. Previously, he was revered as the man who brought this franchise back in 2005, turning a show that only older nerds cared about into a youth-friendly, worldwide phenomenon. Eventually, Davies left, and other showrunners (including the excellent Steven Moffat) took the reins. But enthusiasm for the franchise waned when Jodie Whittaker played the Doctor under showrunner Chris Chibnall. To help the show get its groove back, the BBC partnered with Disney and brought Davies back for two more seasons, both of which streamed on Disney+.
Unfortunately, it was a disaster. Disney refused to renew their deal with the BBC, meaning that a third season under Davies was more or less dead. Fans still hoped to see a Christmas special, but the showrunner dashed those hopes recently by hopping on Instagram to confirm that 1) the special, which he never even wrote, was canceled and 2) the BBC had parted ways with him and his production company. This led to widespread news that Doctor Who had been canceled over 20 years after its revival. Now, Davies claimed in a recent interview that the show hadn’t actually been canceled, but his phrasing has angry fans wanting to shove a sonic screwdriver into his mouth.
Getting Angry With The Fans
In an appearance on Gaydio, Russell T. Davies expressed anger at those reporting that Doctor Who has been canceled. “It’s extraordinary to see newspapers, who should know better, saying the show has been canceled,” he said. “It’s the opposite.” He went on to explain that the show is “being put out to tender,” meaning that the BBC will try to find an independent company that is willing to produce the show. By way of example, Davies noted that the show Casualty was previously “a BBC show,” but after being “put out to tender last year,” the show will “be made independently by BBC Studios,” which he noted was “separate to BBC Public Service.”
Wrapping up his thoughts on the matter, he speculated that nobody is going to apply for a tender for Doctor Who for at least a year. “You got to lock it in just to make it financially worthwhile,” a move that he thinks “guarantees years of the program.” He then ended this statement with some of the cattiness that has become his recent trademark: “But no, go ahead and call it canceled, everyone. You’re wrong. You’re literally wrong!”
All Of This Has Happened Before, And It Will Happen Again
So, why are fans irked at these words from the Doctor Who showrunner? For one thing, many are still salty about his recent Instagram post, where he claimed that he had never worked on a Christmas special despite previously saying he did and even teasing elements from a presumably completed script. The great writer effectively wrote himself into a corner, having basically admitted that he was either lying before about having worked on the script or lying now about having never worked on the script. Mostly, though, fans were annoyed at Davies’ pedantry here because what he is describing is a cancellation by another other name.
For example, the last episode of the original Doctor Who series aired back in 1989, after which it was effectively canceled. I say “effectively” because, according to the BBC, the show was never officially canceled. They simply stopped commissioning Doctor Who episodes (not counting the weird 1996 made-for-TV movie) for a period of 16 years. Fans now call these “the wilderness years.” We might have been in the wilderness even longer, but the BBC was so impressed by Russell T. Davies’ pitch that they made him showrunner for the celebrated 2005 Doctor Who revival.
More Who When?
On Gaydio, Davies seemed to revel in snarky pedantry, noting that fans who don’t understand what is currently happening with the franchise “are complaining on devices which have a search engine. Go and look it up.” But Davies is acting like this is just a temporary bump in the road and we’ll see new Doctor Who episodes in just a few years. But there’s no guarantee about that, and the last time the franchise was forced into hiatus, it was the better part of two decades before we got new episodes. Furthermore, while many changes were for the best, it’s worth noting the new show was very, very different from what came before.
Accordingly, Davies’ attempt to reassure fans completely backfired. Along with reminding us that we just don’t understand media like him (the guy who recently ran this franchise into the ground), the former Doctor Who showrunner reminded us that the last time the show was not officially canceled, we didn’t have any new episodes for 16 years, and the show came back completely different from what it was before. Because of that, no amount of snark and pedantry about whether it is officially canceled changes the fact that Doctor Who fans have every reason to be worried about a show they might not see more of for literally decades.
Entertainment
How to watch Sweden vs. Tunisia online for free
TL;DR: Live stream Sweden vs. Tunisia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free on ITVX. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is finally here, and the start of this famous tournament has already delivered loads of huge moments. We’re expecting more of the same from Sweden vs. Tunisia.
These sides will battle it out with Netherlands and Japan for places in the knockout rounds. On paper, it’s a really difficult group to predict. We could see any of these four sides taking control of the group, so these opening games could prove pivotal.
If you want to watch Sweden vs. Tunisia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
When is Sweden vs. Tunisia?
Sweden vs. Tunisia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off at 10 p.m. ET on June 14. This fixture takes place at the Estadio BBVA.
How to watch Sweden vs. Tunisia for free
Sweden vs. Tunisia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup is available to live stream for free on ITVX.
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ITVX is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock ITVX to live stream the 2026 World Cup for free from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Sweden vs. Tunisia for free by following these simple steps:
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Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
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Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
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Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK
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Visit ITVX
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Watch Sweden vs. Tunisia for free from anywhere in the world
$12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee)
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can access free live streams of the 2026 World Cup without actually spending anything. This obviously isn’t a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream Sweden vs. Tunisia (plus more World Cup fixtures) before recovering your investment.
If you want to retain permanent access to the best free streaming services from around the world, you’ll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.
What is the best VPN for ITVX?
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on ITVX, for a number of reasons:
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Servers in 105 countries including the UK
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Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
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Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
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Fast connection speeds free from throttling
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Up to 10 simultaneous connections
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30-day money-back guarantee
A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).
Live stream Sweden vs. Tunisia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free with ExpressVPN.
Entertainment
As an early Prime Day treat, Amazon is offering 3 months of free access to Kindle Unlimited
SAVE $35:97: Get three months of free access to Kindle Unlimited as part of Amazon’s early Prime Day special offers. In total, that’s a savings of $35.97 for the three-month duration. Current and past Kindle Unlimited members aren’t eligible for this deal.
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Prime Day is officially on the calendar. Instead of July, Amazon is hosting Prime Day between June 23 and 26 this year, but the deals have already started. One of the best offerings applies to those who plan to spend the summer reading. Here are all the details.
For a limited time, Amazon is offering a free three-month subscription to Kindle Unlimited, which usually comes with a bill of $11.99 per month. In total, that works out to a savings of $35.97. You’ll need to be new to Kindle Unlimited to be eligible for this deal, and it’ll auto-renew at $11.99 per month until canceled.
Mashable Trend Report
You have the Kindle, but you’ve been waiting in a Libby line for your titles to become available. We’ve all been there. Instead of waiting, consider upgrading for the summer by snagging this free deal from Amazon that’ll give you three months of access to nearly unlimited book titles.
Kindle Unlimited has more than 5 million digital titles, audiobooks, and magazines. The Kindle Unlimited subscription is a bit like a library hosted by Amazon. Members can borrow up to 20 titles at a time, and magazines don’t count in this title total.
If you have a Kindle, that’ll be great for reading your Kindle Unlimited books, but it’s not a requirement. You can use Kindle Unlimited on any device with the Kindle app. That includes your phone, tablet, computer, or any web browser. But if you’re wondering, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is Mashable’s favorite Kindle.
If you’ve never tried out Kindle Unlimited, but you’re interested in reading more for the next three months, hop on this free deal.
Entertainment
Claude Fable 5 vs GPT 5.5: Is this why the Trump admin banned one and not the other?
Earlier this week, Anthropic released its most powerful public model yet: Claude Fable 5. This model is the “safe” version of an even more powerful model, Mythos, that Anthropic has yet to release to the public due to potential dangers.
Just days later, the Trump administration issued an export control directive barring the use of Fable 5 from foreign nationals. As a result, Anthropic was forced to disable Fable 5 for all its customers to comply with the order.
In a statement, Anthropic said it believed the order was issued by the U.S. government to use a method to “jailbreak” Fable 5 to identify vulnerabilities. Anthropic claimed in its statement that other AI models could do the same without a bypass. The company specifically named GPT 5.5, the latest AI model from its biggest competitor, OpenAI, as one such model.
There are currently too many unknown variables to determine if this is accurate. However, Mashable was preparing a piece comparing Anthropic’s Claude Fable 4 and OpenAI’s GPT 5.5 prior to the Trump administration’s order.
It appears the U.S. government’s concerns could be related to just how powerful Claude Fable 5 appears to be, even with its safeguards.
Here’s how Fable 5 stacked up against GPT 5.5.
Claude Fable 5 vs GPT 5.5: Feature set
According to Anthropic, “Fable 5’s capabilities exceed those of any model we’ve ever made generally available.”
“It is state-of-the-art on nearly all tested benchmarks of AI capability, showing exceptional performance in software engineering, knowledge work, vision, scientific research, and many other areas,” Anthropic says. “The longer and more complex the task, the larger Fable 5’s lead over our other models.”
When GPT 5.5 rolled out in late April, OpenAI said that the model had improved on its “agentic coding, computer use, knowledge work, and early scientific research” capabilities.
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Both are very similar when it comes to their feature set and stated purpose. These aren’t images or videos. generation models. These are large language models used for document analysis, data interpretation, and advanced coding and development. Both are definitely competitors when it comes to use cases.
The difference between the two competing models will be how they perform.
Claude Fable 5 vs GPT 5.5: Leaderboards and benchmarks
On the popular Arena leaderboard, Fable 5 far and away leads all of the other AI models.
Claude Fable 5 currently sits at the top of the Arena leaderboard with Claude Opus 4.7 Thinking and Claude Opus 4.8 Thinking taking the second and third spots. The top three are all Anthropic’s models, with OpenAI’s GPT 5.5 coming in fourth.
Fable 5 also leads in Artificial Analysis, Simple Bench, and practically every other leaderboard that has ranked the AI model.
Credit: Anthropic
According to Anthropic’s own comparison chart, when it launched Fable 5, the AI model simply blows GPT 5.5 away across multiple benchmarks, from agentic coding and knowledge work to cybersecurity.
While it may be accurate that other models can also identify these alleged vulnerabilities, perhaps the U.S. government calculated that Claude Fable 5 was just too dangerously good at it based on the data.
Claude Fable 5 vs GPT 5.5: Availability and pricing
Before Anthropic pulled Fable 5 due to the U.S. government’s order, Fable 5 was available to paid subscribers on Pro, Max, Team, and seat-based Enterprise plans at no additional cost until June 22. Anthropic planned to remove Fable 5 from these plans on June 23 and temporarily move to a usage-based paid add-on model until demand for Fable 5 dissipated.
Fable 5 was priced on its Claude API and consumption-based Enterprise plans at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens.
Fable 5 is no longer available for any of Anthropic’s users.
OpenAI has made GPT 5.5 available to OpenAI Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users in ChatGPT and Codex. Usage-based API pricing for GPT 5.5 starts at $5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output tokens.
GPT 5.5 is currently available for OpenAI’s users.
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