'Doctor Who' Archive Gets Unified Availability At Home On BBC iPlayer
'Doctor Who' Archive Gets Unified Availability At Home On BBC iPlayer
Over 800 episodes, classic, revival, and spinoffs, will be there
Just in time for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, the entire back catalogue of the franchise’s history is headed to the BBC iPlayer. That’s over 800 episodes of classic Doctor Who and more joining everything from “Rose” onwards for the first time on the service. And yes that includes the 1996 movie starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.
It launches November 1, the anniversary month, and sees spinoffs The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood, Class, and the behind-the scenes series Doctor Who Confidential hop aboard as well. Viewers will be able to go back all the way to William Hartnell’s First Doctor, and by the end of the month through David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor to the debut moments of Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor as the three 60th anniversary specials air. Every episode arriving on iPlayer will have multiple accessibility options, including subtitles, audio description, and sign language. While the 97 missing episodes of 871 are still likely to be missing when this move happens, the spinoffs do more than enough to offset it. In fact Confidential does so entirely on its own with change.
Not only that, but the BBC will simultaneously launch an extensive online archive chronicling the show’s history at bbc.co.uk/doctorwho. It will have everything from interviews with cast to behind-the-scenes photos, freshly-resurfaced audio, and eventually 100,000 documents, including memos, correspondence, designs, and audience research, alongside orchestral scores of sheet music. Together, they tell the story of the legendary series through 60 archive gems for the anniversary occasion. The archive tells fans the stories such as the beginnings of Doctor Who, which in particular has audio from former Head of Drama Sydney Newman, alongside documents like his original handwritten notes. Over time, more curated stories and content will come to the archive, such as a special collection of photos that have been scanned at 8k resolution from an estimated total of 25,000 prints, negatives, slides and digital images, which will give unrivaled insight into the show. The selected audio clips will include radio programs, documentaries, interviews, and music.
Returning showrunner Russell T. Davies is elated, saying “I’d like to thank the BBC for all the hard work, to get this massive back catalogue under one roof, at long last. I'm so excited for new viewers - imagine being 8 years old, spending winter afternoons exploring the 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. And we’re determined this won't be a dusty museum - we have exciting plans to bring the back catalogue to life, with much more to be revealed!” Always ready to tease he is.
Dan McGolpin, Director of iPlayer and channels also chimed in with “Doctor Who has captivated countless millions of viewers on the BBC for 60 years and in celebration of this special moment we are bringing classic series to BBC iPlayer for the first time. Fans will be able to enjoy many of the Doctor’s earliest adventures with William Hartnell right through to the very latest series and the soon to be released and tremendously exciting new anniversary specials with David Tennant. We want everyone to be able to enjoy this breath-taking back catalogue, so we are making each episode on iPlayer as accessible as possible, with subtitles, audio description, and sign language all available for the first time.”
While the British are about to enter an era of great convenience, this contrasts greatly with United States viewers. The classic era is all on Britbox, while the first 13 modern series were picked up for what would be HBO Max (now just Max) in 2019 for its 2020 launch, along with The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood. That contract will seemingly remain as the mothership’s new episodes from the 60th anniversary specials onward (and any upcoming spinoffs) stream exclusively on Disney+, in fact for everywhere but the United Kingdom and Ireland. Class streams on Tubi. At least it’ll be all together for its home audience.
Source: Doctor Who