Tardis Titans in the HD Zone
June 1, 2016 
4 Comments
Doctor Who fans can rejoice in the prospect of at last being able to see a NZ broadcast of the series in HD.
Sky’s The Zone is picking up the first seven seasons of the Russell T Davies’ reboot, covering the appearances of the ninth (Christopher Eccleston), tenth (David Tennant) and eleventh (Matt Smith) doctors but not the twelfth (Peter Capaldi), who took over the Tardis from season eight.
They will screen 7.30 weekdays from July 25 but only seasons 5-7, with Smith, will be in HD.
However, at least they will be a consolation prize until Prime premieres the latest season, even if that won’t be until December (the BBC plans to air an episode on Christmas Day).
Filming starts in July and reportedly it will be Steven Moffat’s last season as showrunner and possibly Capaldi’s, too.
A BBC source last year told the Daily Mail: “Peter has made it clear he is happy playing the Doctor for as long as the BBC – and viewers – want him … Peter is keen to complete three years playing the Doctor to round off his storylines. That will take us until the end of next year. After that, who knows?”
Earlier seasons of Doctor Who have streamed in near-HD quality on Lightbox but it no longer has the rights while Quickflix and Netflix have every season through to the eighth (the former also has the Christmas specials).
The Zone’s showcasing will be the first time the series has been broadcast here in HD.
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June 1, 2016 at 4:26 pm
Netflix has got eight seasons of Doctor Who but I’m not sure how many of them are in HD, I don’t think season one is 🙂
Thanks, Trevor. I’ve now corrected that oversight. Appears only S5-8 on Netflix are in HD.
No problem Philip, it’s a shame they don’t have all of the seasons in HD 🙂
The BBC didn’t start filming Doctor Who in HD until 2009, with the Easter special, Planet of the Dead. So that could explain why the earlier seasons aren’t being streamed or transmitted in HD. But given the BBC has since remastered the earlier seasons for a Blu-ray box set, it’s surprising The Zone hasn’t licensed these or the BBC hasn’t made them available for licensing.