Over 500 classic Doctor Who episodes will stream worldwide on Switch – an online video platform with a built-in chatroom – from May 29th to July 23rd. BBC Studios has teamed up with Switch to put together this online broadcast, which is being described as ‘the first-ever digital broadcasting event of the Classic Doctor Who era’.
26 classic series of Doctor Who, spanning from the show’s inception in 1963 to its cancellation in the 1980s, will be streaming on weekdays at Twitch.tv/TwitchPresents. The event will kick off at 11am Pacific Daylight Time on May 29th, 2018.
Additionally, a series of new 20-minute videos are being produced by The Yogscast, in which Doctor Who experts and fans – as well as Who writers like Paul Cornell and Bob Baker, and actors like Katy Manning – will chat about the classic Doctors and their adventures.
Nick Coulter of BBC Studios had this to say about the event:
“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.”
And Jane Weedon from Twitch said this:
“Doctor Who and its clever take on sci-fi exemplifies the type of adjacent content to gaming that has resonated with the Twitch community. 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.”
We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.