from what I remember it, Whittaker's run was when the BBC and Disney were negotiating, and nobody was saying anything for a year or two (yet, the blackout blinked on-and-off more after that).

now we know exactly how much influence Disney had over the Beebs in writing and production before they had a deal (which dragged further on for other reasons)-- apparently, they, basically, were able to soft-produce a whole Doctor (Whittaker) before finally signing a deal for another Doctor (Gatwa) after she dropped out, once Disney was certain that the BBC would do anything and everything Disney demanded, regardless if Disney had ruined Doctor Who with idiotic casting and production decisions

which they did

same problems with Star Wars

now Star Wars just got rebooted, and, hopefully, Doctor Who is undergoing the same thing