Christmas Special to air Boxing Day as part of holiday marathon (UPDATED)
The Doctor is coming to Canada for Christmas! Well, OK, for Boxing Day. Close enough!
Space has officially announced that A Christmas Carol, the 2010 Doctor Who Christmas Special, will have its Canadian debut on Dec. 26 at 9 PM ET. This is only one day after its broadcast in the UK and the United States, and discounting The End of Time (which wasn’t really a true Christmas special in the traditional sense), is the first holiday-themed episode to get a timely showing in Canada since The Christmas Invasion aired on Boxing Day 2005.
The 2010 special airs as part of a two-day-long Doctor Who Christmas Specials marathon that kicks off at 3 AM on Christmas Day when night owls and Santa can relive The Christmas Invasion and runs into Dec. 27.
The Who marathon is part of the annual 12 Days of Space-mas which this year includes showings of all six Star Wars films, a Batman marathon, and the New Year’s weekend features a 10-film Star Trek extravaganza.
BBC America has announced it will be airing the 2010 Doctor Who Proms concert special (which includes a live performance by Matt Smith as the Doctor, with Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill hosting) as part of its Christmas schedule. There has, as yet, been no word whether Space will air this show during the holidays, but I’d hazard a guess that it’s unlikely given there being no reference to it in today’s announcement.
Check out more details about 12 Days of Space-mas at Spacecast.com.
Although it’s a shame we have to wait a day longer to see it, this is still a lot better situation than we’ve had in the past, as those who had to wait years to see Voyage of the Damned broadcast on English-language Canadian TV can attest!
Update (Nov. 26): BBC Video is already taking preorders in the UK for the Blu-Ray/DVD release of A Christmas Carol. It’s too early to know whether a North American release will occur, but it is worth noting that, as I predicted, the 2010 Proms concerts is included as a bonus feature, making its inclusion in either a future standalone DVD/BD of the Christmas special and/or a season box set over here a near certainty.
Posted by Alex on Wednesday, November 24 at 9:09 am
4 Comments...
I was hoping Space would really surprise me and all us Doctor Who fans by getting the Special on the same day. Had a feeling that they wouldn’t but like I said I was hoping. Also I’m pretty sure they did their darndest. Or it didn’t work in their Space-mas scheduling. Whatever the case it’s Space-mas so I’ll forgive them for that
Also as Alex posted in the article, it’s one day later so it’s not too much of a wait.
As for the Proms, it’s be cool if Space partnered up with it’s other premium channel brethren Bravo. Would be a better fit on that channel because of the orchestral music and it’s somewhat artsy tone
Otherwise, hopefully we get it stashed as part of A CHRISTMAS CAROL’s special feature.
Posted by Gajo on 11/26 at 06:26 PM
Re: Gajo
It could have also been a ratings decision. Christmas isn’t really a heavy TV watching day. Most people are eating, or playing their new Xbox games, or if the weather cooperates are going out. So while this may not be the reason for holding it a day, it certainly makes sense. Personally if they were airing it Christmas Day I wouldn’t be able to watch it and I’d have to wait till I got back from my holidays to see the thing. This way it’s on Boxing Day and things have calmed down, so it works better for me. As for the Proms, as I noted in my addition to the original post, it’s been announced as a special feature with the US DVD and Blu-ray release in late January, so I’d consider it a guarantee to appear in the Region 1 edition of the Christmas special if they decide to release it on its own, as well as in the season 6 box set, just as the first Proms piggybacked with the different editions of The Next Doctor.
Posted by Alex on 11/26 at 09:43 PM
CORRECTION: My previous post should have read UK DVD and Blu-ray!
Posted by Alex on 11/26 at 09:43 PM
That’s the smart thkninig we could all benefit from.
Posted by Henrietta on 09/08 at 09:01 AM
Post a comment