Back in late February, we told you about a video Amazon posted to their Twitter showcasing some of the new and upcoming programs that would be available on their Prime streaming service beginning in March. One of them was Doctor Who, which was big news given that the show had just disappeared from all streaming services at the end of January. That video was quickly taken down, though, and it seems to be because they weren’t ready to officially announce it. Now they are: Beginning March 27, Doctor Who will be exclusively streamed on Amazon Prime.
The press release from BBC Worldwide North America states that Amazon Prime will be the only U.S. streaming service to get to show the British sci-fi favorite, meaning folks who used to watch it on Netflix or Hulu and don’t have Prime will have to subscribe. However, they are offering free 30-day trials for new members if you want to test it out.
So what will you be getting? Beginning on the 27th, Prime subscribers will get the complete series 1-8 including all of the Christmas specials. That’s Christopher Eccleston up through the first year of Peter Capaldi. Series 9 and “The Husbands of River Song” will become available later in the fall. Remember, the next brand new episode of Doctor Who will be the 2016 Christmas special, so this will offer fans plenty of time to catch up or jump on board before that happens.
What this deal does not have at all, it seems, are any of the classic series episodes. Prior to the show being pulled from all platforms, Hulu had a huge selection of classic series stories to choose from—about 80% of existing episodes—and even the two newest once-missing serials discovered in 2013. It seems there’s still no way currently to stream the older episodes unless you purchase them. I will point you toward a write-up I did earlier in the year about what you can do to watch them.
The Amazon deal is described as “multi-year,” so if you want your Doctor Who streamed to your devices, you will need to subscribe if you don’t already. Whether this agreement will eventually extend to the classic series is unknown, but we hope it does, given how the DVD range is all but out of print.
What’s your take on this? Are you looking forward to Doctor Who streaming on Amazon Prime? Let us know in the comments below!
—
Image: BBC
Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor, a film and TV critic, and the resident Whovian for Nerdist.com. Follow him on Twitter!
