Record profit for Doctor Who maker Bad Wolf

Profit at Bad Wolf, the production company behind the likes of Doctor Who, has surged to a new record, it has been revealed.

The Wales-based business has reported a pre-tax profit of £10.5m for the year to 31 March, 2024, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House.

The new total is up from the £7m it achieved in the prior 12 months.

The last time Bad Wolf reported a pre-tax profit over £10m was in 2020.

However, its turnover declined from £117.3m to £94.2m over the same period.

The company’s UK turnover fell from £91m to £70m and from £26.2m to £24.1m in the USA.

The amount it generated from its projects in production also declined from £95.7m to £72.2m but its turnover from project fees and recoveries edged up from £19.4m to £20.7m. Corporate income fell from £2m to £1.2m.

Bad Wolf was founded by Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter in 2015 and is majority owned by Sony Pictures Television.

As well as Doctor Who, the business has made A Discovery of Witches and His Dark Materials.

It is currently working on Coming Undone for Netflix, Dope Girls for Sony Pictures Television and The War Between the Land and the Sea for BBC Studios and Disney+.

The accounts come after City AM reported in February 2024 that Bad Wolf was to spend at least £60m in Wales after securing a new government deal.

At the time Creative Wales, the Welsh Government agency charged with supporting and growing the country’s creative industries, said the deal to provide the company with £4m in funds will enable Bad Wolf to “consolidate its position and continue to grow in Wales”.

The business, which has also made I Hate Suzie and The Winter King, is to maintain its principal base at Wolf Studios Wales in Cardiff while the deal will ensure that at least four Bad Wolf productions are shot and produced in Wales in the period up to March 2027.

The Welsh Government added that the agreement commits Bad Wolf to spending at least £60m in the country over a four-year period as well as provide a minimum of 42 “meaningful” paid trainee placements on high-end productions.