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May 24th, 2018 12 comments

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Twitch Launches Classic Doctor Who Viewing Event

Twitch Launches Seven-Week Classic Doctor Who Special Viewing Event

Over 500 classic episodes from the 1960s to the 1980s will air worldwide on Twitch from May 29 to July 2

Social video service Twitch has announced it is joining forces with BBC Studios for the first-ever digital broadcasting event of the Classic Doctor Who series. Over 500 episodes from 26 seasons dating from the show’s inception in 1963 until the 1980s will air worldwide over a seven-week period. Starting May 29, fans can tune in each week Monday to Friday at 11 am PDT to catch episodes on Twitch.tv/TwitchPresents.

Doctor Who is a British action adventure sci fi series produced by BBC Studios which follows the adventures of “The Doctor”, an alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels through time in a TARDIS, a spaceship shaped like a police telephone box. Accompanied by a number of friends, the Doctor combats a variety of foes, while working to save civilizations and help those in need. Instead of dying, the Doctor is able to “regenerate” into a new body, taking on a new personality with each regeneration. This has led to 13 different incarnations of the Doctor appearing in the series.

Nick Coulter, Director of Digital Sales and Business Development at BBC Studios says: “We are constantly looking at ways to reach new audiences and make it easier for fans to engage with our most popular shows. Doctor Who, in particular, has a great tradition of pioneering new technologies, from early VHS all the way through to the new digital services of today. Twitch is another great example of this, as a brilliant service with over 15 million active daily users, we are thrilled to be able to offer them the chance to indulge in the Classic Doctor Who series and celebrate its amazing 54 year legacy of excitement and innovation.”

Leveraging the real-time shared viewer experience that has defined Twitch, Doctor Who is the latest entry in over a dozen TV shows that have aired on the service. To elevate the social experience in chat, viewers who Subscribe to the TwitchPresents channel will gain access to 14 exclusive emotes themed after each of the first seven doctors.

For Doctor Who fans in the US, UK, and Canada, Twitch is hosting a giveaway each week of the event, including a grand prize trip to London Comic Con in Fall 2018. For details on the giveaway, visit: watch.twitch.tv

As part of the event, leading UK digital content creators The Yogscast are producing a series of shows that will introduce each Doctor. With a cast of Doctor Who screenwriters, experts, fans,

and even a former companion, the Yogscast’s Turps and resident Doctor Who expert and High Roller’s player Matt Toffollo will be discussing why modern audiences should be watching Doctor Who. Each 20-minute episode will provide a brief summary of the stories that are about to be shown, including the actors, monsters, famous phrases or production gaffes to look out for. With first-hand knowledge from former companion Katy Manning (who played Jo Grant the Third Doctor Companion) and writers Bob Baker and Paul Cornell, the shows will give insight into the series alongside the humor and irreverence viewers expect from the Yogscast.

“Doctor Who and its clever take on sci-fi exemplifies the type of adjacent content to gaming that has resonated with the Twitch community,” said Jane Weedon, Director of Business Development at Twitch. “By presenting this iconic BBC show in a new interactive format, it is a fun new way to bridge several generations of Doctor Who fans, while building a new generation of them.”

For more information on the Doctor Who episodes that will air on Twitch, visit the Twitch blog.


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12 comments

  • The Outcast

    May 31st, 2018 - 1:26pm

    Apparently someone is looking in to getting these pre-shows permanently stored somewhere. Which is good, because living in Australia, I’d have to get up at 2-4 am to watch them, and as much as I want to watch them, I’m not staying up that late.

  • The_Z4Z

    May 30th, 2018 - 7:09pm

    Does anyone know if the pre show are going to be repeated or re-uploaded? I’m not going to be available when the 7th Doctor pre show is on. Just my luck that he’s my favourite doctor! They haven’t been repeating it 20 mins before the start of every stream, just at the start of each era. I’m worried that I’ll never get to see it.

  • T.A

    May 29th, 2018 - 5:28pm

    I know if you have an Xbox you can get twitch.

  • whovian

    May 29th, 2018 - 3:58pm

    I’m in my mid 20’s and don’t have a clue, as far as I was aware, YouTube was the top thing

  • Pats86

    May 28th, 2018 - 8:48pm

    Same here, might have a look though.

  • 100,000BC

    May 28th, 2018 - 3:56pm

    Re the animated episodes, it could have to do with the studios which animated said stories – The Ice Warriors is (I think) the only one to have been done by Qurios, so perhaps they had a different contract to the other studios, meaning that the BBC are allowed to broadcast it? Or perhaps they’re using telesnaps (I don’t know which episodes have the most coherent telesnap recons but presumably some are more usable than others).

  • 100,000BC

    May 28th, 2018 - 3:34pm

    The only animated story being aired is The Ice Warriors, so the 60s serials and Shada will be missing for that reason. Five Doctors may be missing due to its unusual runtime (even K9&Co is 45 minutes, which equates to just 2 classic episodes, or 1 from season 22, so we can assume they are able to accommodate for that).
    Dalek stories and Planet of Fire are anyone’s guess, probably someone involved in the production blocking the rights or demanding a high fee for the episode’s broadcast.

  • Anonymous

    May 27th, 2018 - 12:30pm

    I think some of those are missing is because some episodes are animated.

  • Matthew Wolf

    May 27th, 2018 - 5:13am

    We can not focus on those, we still get a lot of good content.

  • Anonymous

    May 27th, 2018 - 1:07am

    I’m surprised it’s not on bbc I player.

  • The_Z4Z

    May 25th, 2018 - 7:18pm

    I’ve just checked through and the complete list of story’s missing is as follows:

    The Reign of Terror
    The Tenth Planet
    The Power of the Daleks
    The Underwater Menace
    The Moonbase
    The Invasion
    Day of the Daleks
    Shada
    The Five Doctors
    Resurrection of the Daleks
    Planet of Fire
    Revelation of the Daleks
    Remembrance of the Daleks

    Out of the 137 stories that have been released, we will only be getting 124 plus K9 and Company.

  • R1ch1e

    May 24th, 2018 - 7:11pm

    Ive never heard of Twitch. I feel so old!

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