Doctor Who Blog

And it was all going so well…

News is coming out that BBC America won’t air Doctor Who on Memorial Day Weekend. Which means it won’t air on Space either.

Which means that episodes 6 and 7, The Almost People and A Good Man Goes To War, will now air a week after UK broadcast.

The three words “well”, “this” and “sucks” come to mind…

15 Comments...

that really sucks!  especially cause (tying in with your previous entry) I believe the successful ratings may at least partially be due to the fact that fans have been able to literally watch the new episodes mere hours after they have premiered in the UK, versus waiting a week.  Some people just can’t wait - it will be interesting to see how the last few episodes of 6.1 fare in the ratings.

Posted by Ian  on  05/18  at  04:29 PM

That is really unfortunate! It’s another long weekend in Manitoba, and we’re forecasted rain again, that I really wouldn’t have been going out of my way to watch an episode (I don’t know about other parts of the country).

I suppose it’s too early to have a series return date for the autumn? We know that there’s going to be 6 episodes. My guess is that there’ll be a number of weeks between the end of the series and the Christmas special just to whet viewers’ appetites(e.g. if episode 8 aired October 8, episode 13 could air by November 12, and there’s still 6 weeks until Christmas).

The UK don’t have any bank holidays/long weekends in the autumn, yet both Canada and US have Thanksgiving weekends (and at different times!) which could potentially throw off schedules if the series returns at the wrong time. The only six-week period without any long weekend is between October 15 and November 19, coincidentally both Thanksgiving weekends, but I would not be surprised if the show isn’t scheduled between these dates - I suppose it really depends on the BBC and BBC America and Space will just have to go with their schedule. It would make sense for North America to schedule the second half of the series between those dates, but obviously if the BBC decide to air in another time period, there’s really nothing that they can do, and if we end up a week behind in the autumn, then we can’t do anything.

Dear BBC, please please schedule the show to air between October 15 and November 19 - I’m sure there’ll be lots of fans who will appreciate this scheduling! smile

Posted by Rachel  on  05/18  at  06:21 PM

And that really is such a pity, especially since SPACE has made sure that they ARE still airing this weekend during their Victoria Day Star Trek Marathon.  When I saw this was happening I assumed that the contracts with both SPACE and BBCAmerica had ensured no pre-emptions this year.  :(

Damn.  Very disappointing.

Posted by Julie  on  05/19  at  02:19 AM

Also note for Victoria Day weekend: Space is only showing episode 5 three times instead of the usual five.  It is not being shown Sunday morning or evening.

Posted by Bob  on  05/19  at  06:05 AM

And this is surprising how? The only surprise is finding out Space isn’t preempting the show this weekend for Victoria Day in favor of a Planet of the Apes marathon or something. There will always be these sorts of preemptions with holiday weekends.

The only bad part is the timing - and this is where having the split season backfires for us - because while a one week delay is NOTHING compared to what we’ve been used to for the last several decades, it will be next to impossible to avoid spoilers about the cliffhanger. I mean, is it physically possible for anyone to avoid spoilers about The Doctors’ Wife this week? I feel sorry for the folks in Australia and New Zealand who had to put up with a longer delay.

@ Rachel - the second half of the season will likely air in September-October because they’ve already announced that Part 2 of the season will be released on DVD/Blu-ray “in early November”.

Posted by Alex  on  05/19  at  09:05 AM

This is a Mistake of gargantuan proportions.

Posted by Dwight Williams  on  05/19  at  02:52 PM

Might BBCA and Space be planning to show episodes 6 and 7 back-to-back on June 4?

Posted by Bob  on  05/20  at  04:43 AM

Alex: Thanks for that information. Unfortunately for us, that doesn’t work well in our favour. Either the Labour Day weekend and/or Thanksgiving will throw us episode(s) behind again.

I suppose this is what it feels like to live in the UK and suffer North American pre-empts there. I know when I watched Friends (pre-2000) that we were always a season behind, but new episodes would air weekly without a break for us. I suppose now with so many shows airing there that aren’t 6-9 months behind that when there’s breaks at Thanksgiving and Christmas that UK viewers do suffer from breaks that they would never have had even 10 years ago. I’m not saying that they don’t go weeks without seeing a new episode of “Glee”; but they aren’t pre-empted because of a ‘holiday’.

I guess it just frustrates me that I know in the UK episodes aren’t pre-empted because of a holiday or a long weekend - it’s regular viewing perhaps with an extra movie on somewhere.

I guess I’ll just accept Space’s decision and just grudingly take their pre-emptions. It could be worse…

Posted by Rachel  on  05/21  at  08:30 AM

Rachel the decision was not Space’s. They can only show what BBC America shows in the US and BBC America are preempting. Space’s commitment is unassailable—they’re breaking for Who in the middle of a Trek movie marathon today!

Posted by Graeme  on  05/21  at  09:16 AM

Wonder if this is going to affect the itunes release as it’s BBC not BBC America on there.

Posted by andrew hickox  on  05/21  at  02:59 PM

I’m more worried about Episode 7 being a week behind!

Will this be the episode we find out who River Song is?

If so, the week delay means after years I will finally find out who River song is….by a Twitter update!

Posted by Kevin Jacobs  on  05/21  at  10:06 PM

I thought I’d be ok with this, it’s just one week, but no, it’s no good.  I mean, it used to be years before we saw episodes over here.  But now, the world is just too small.  I don’t want to hear about all the surprises when I’m looking at my phone. I’m going to have to turn off the internet - for two weeks! GAA! Help me, K’anpo Rimpoche!

Posted by stan m.d.  on  05/28  at  01:22 PM

Well, if anyone is interested, I couldn’t wait, so I’m making sure I’m going to buy the dvd when it comes out, and then send it back in time to myself once time travel is invented.  Now that I’ve got it, I watched it.  Can’t wait to discuss!

Posted by stan m.d.  on  06/01  at  11:40 AM

I think Doctor who has been really good recently, the writer they’ve got is doing a much better job than the old one.I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this post.Local Massachusetts Newspapers

Posted by sarahsam  on  10/25  at  04:37 PM

I though BBCA will show episodes 4 and 5 on May 28? No?

Posted by Tarot meanings  on  10/31  at  09:29 PM

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