Just released to the Doctor Who youtube channel, with the announcement (excerpted):
Are you ready for this? 😉 Watch Doctor Who from the 11th May on BBC iPlayer in the UK and stream on Disney+ where available. Find out more here: https://bbc.in/4a5c1vA
I guess this is what RTD was teasing the other day on Instagram…
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Radio Times adds that
The BBC has now confirmed that the new season, which will see Ncuti Gatwa at the helm as the Fifteenth Doctor, will begin on 11th May, with not one, but two episodes being released at midnight on BBC iPlayer.
The episodes will then arrive on BBC One later that day, before the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final.
That will continue for the rest of the season, with viewers being able to choose when they tune in for the Fifteenth Doctor’s adventures, with the episodes also dropping on Disney Plus around the world at the same time.
Showrunner Russell T Davies said: "At last, it’s my great delight to unleash a whole new season of the Doctor and Ruby’s adventures together.
Previously giving hints about what season 14 could entail at the premiere of The Star Beast, Davies waved away rumours of possible villainous comebacks.
He said: “It’s very new. Ncuti’s new and Millie is new, and it was new to us with Disney and the whole new era, as it were. So I didn’t want to look… there are no Daleks, there are no Cybermen, I didn’t want to look back too much.”
Happy we’re finally getting a black Doctor, but what’s everyone’s bets on how they handle pre-1970 time travel? I see three options:
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They bravely display the massive discrimination and racism the average black man faced during those times, as well as explore the often unrecognized impact black culture had during those times.
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They completely ignore history and pretend that the world has just always been super cool with diversity. Everyone they meet treats the Doctor just like they do everyone else. (My money is on this considering how they’ve previously dealt with things like women’s rights)
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They just never go to pre-1970.
Or they go to a lot of other planets where it’s not an issue they have to deal with. Remember he has all of time and space
Ryan and Yaz weren’t exactly treated well by white people when they went back and met Rosa Parks, so…
I know …and how exactly did they handwave women’s rights away in Witchfinders? Or Byron trying to get it on with the Doctor in Villa Deodati? Just because it isn’t forefronted all the time doesn’t mean the writers are blind to the implications of casting.
You can scratch option 3 since at least one episode of the upcoming season features The Beatles. Probably the one that has the Doctor in an afro and snappy suit.
We will have to wait until May to see if your other bets check out. I have some trust that RTD might deliver, especially after his work in the last 10 years.
Or he uses a perception filter so they don’t notice his skin color, like The Master did when he was posing as a Nazi commander.
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So, in the UK which is the shows primary audience and we fund the show by paying the license fee get to watch it on iPlayer at midnight.
Then the American’s get the nice 7pm time slot? Thanks Disney
No, episodes premiere early on iPlayer but will be broadcast on BBC in the evening. Though the BBC aren’t clear on the exact time I really don’t see how you make those conclusions.
Yes? The episode will premiere on iPlayer at midnight for the UK. At which point it will be ~7pm in America. It will then air on BBC One hours later, presumably at the usual UK time slot.
So if I want to watch it as it goes live I’ll have to stay up till midnight and for the duration of the episode. Whereas in America, it’ll be a normal time for them.
And yes I can wait till later in the day to watch the episode but then I’ll be missing that feeling of watching it with everyone else and not to mention it’ll have to be the first thing I do for the day if I want to avoid spoilers
I mean… The nature of iPlayer media is that you can watch it at your leisure, so that is entirely a pressure you put on yourself.
For the same reason I don’t see how the British license fee puts any obligation on the BBC to publish streaming media at a time that is more convenient for license payers — nor how this is somehow a nefarious Disney scheme.
Plenty of US shows go live on streamers at midnight for one of the coasts, seems like they’re just treating Doctor Who the same but for the UK?
