Doctor Who partner ‘Twitch’ launches seven-week Classic Who marathon
By Sam Callahan
According to a BBC Studios press release today, social tv-streaming website Twitch will team up with BBC Doctor Who to provide us with seven full weeks of Classic Doctor Who, starting May 29th at 11 am PDT.
Tune in at Twitch Monday through Friday to catch the Classic Doctor Who episodes.
Nick Coulter, Director of Digital Sales and Business Development at the BBC studios says, according to the BBC Press Release:
"“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.”"
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(For anyone who is a fan of W1A on Netflix, I sure hope you read the introduction to that quote in David Tennant’s voice. If you have no idea what I’m referring to, go to Netflix now and watch the first episode of W1A, a show about the development of programmes at BBC Studios in London.)
Coulter is onto something here. I remember when Classic and NuWho were taken off Netflix in the US and the uproar that followed on all the Doctor Who Facebook and Reddit forums in which I took part. It was chaos. Having access to 500 episodes from over 26 seasons of the Classic Doctor Who series that started in 1963 is a very exciting development for all fans, new and weathered.
Don’t stop celebrating here, either. (“But wait! There’s more!”). According to the press release, Twitch will be doing a weekly giveaway for fans in the US, UK, and Canada. The grand prize for which is a trip to London Comic Con this coming Fall 2018, which I’m sure you’ll have to fight me for in duel as per the rules of The Shadow Proclamation, article 1123.196.3-Acorn. Google it.
See details of sweepstakes here.
For those of you who may not be familiar with Twitch and what it does, it’s a TV-streaming service that allows you to watch TV communally. Basically, we all tune in at 11 am PDT to watch an episode together, and Twitch provides chat capabilities, and something they call “emotes,” of which the BBC announced:
"“To elevate the social experience in chat, viewers who Subscribe to the TwitchPresents channel will gain access to 14 exclusive emotes themed after each of the first seven doctors.”"
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This is fantastic news. There isn’t enough accessibility to the Classic series (basically, this and BritBox), and it’s a shame not all of us can reference them as easily and quickly and gif-ly as we may like. This is a fantastic opportunity, and I am stoked to have just signed up myself.
I hope to see you there May 29th at 11 am PDT!
