Classic Doctor Who Launches on BritBox on Boxing Day

The biggest Doctor Who Classic collection ever streamed in the UK comes to BritBox in the UK from Boxing Day.

From 26th December, 627 pieces of Doctor Who Classic content will be available on the service. This tally is comprised of a mix of episodes, spin-offs, documentaries, telesnaps and more and includes many rarely-seen treasures. Subscribers will be able to access this content via web, mobile, tablet, connected TVs and Chromecast.

BritBox is the digital video subscription service created by the BBC and ITV. The service aims to bring the very best in past, present and future British programming and award-winning content to viewers all in one place for £5.99 per month in HD. It launched in the United States in 2017 and the United Kingdom last November.

129 complete stories, which totals 558 episodes spanning the first eight Doctors from William Hartnell to Paul McGann, form the backbone of the collection.

The collection also includes four complete stories; The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase, The Ice Warriors and The Invasion, which feature a combination of original content and animation and total 22 episodes. The unaired story entitled Shada which was originally presented as six episodes (but has been uploaded as a 130 minute special), brings this total to 28.

A further two complete, solely animated stories - The Power Of The Daleks and The Macra Terror (presented in HD) - add 10 episodes.

Five orphaned episodes - The Crusade (2 parts), Galaxy 4, The Space Pirates and The Celestial Toymaker - bring the total up to 600. Doctor Who: The Movie, An Unearthly Child: The Pilot Episode and An Adventure In Space And Time will also be available on the service, in addition to The Underwater Menace, The Wheel In Space and The Web Of Fear which have been completed via telesnaps. Spin-off drama K-9 And Company, and documentaries More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS and Doctor Who: Doctors Revisited complete the collection.

BritBox will also be curating special Doctor Who Classic collections, including ‘New to Who’, featuring one key episode from each of the first seven Doctors as an introduction to the uninitiated. Further collections will be devoted to the most memorable monsters, with Cybermen, Daleks, The Master and Sontaran each getting the limelight. Regeneration episodes have also been collated.

Boxing Day also marks the start of a longer-term collaboration with the BBC, with a shared vision of making BritBox the ultimate home of Doctor Who Classic content in 2020 and beyond, and ensuring the widest collection of content available is presented in the best possible format and quality.

Reemah Sakaan, Group Director ITV SVOD, commented: Sally de St Croix, Franchise Director for Doctor Who at BBC Studios added