by After almost 60 years, Doctor Who is leaving Aunty and moving in with the Mouse. The much-loved British science fiction show is no longer available to watch on the ABC for the first time since 1965, dropping from Australian free-to-air TV after the BBC signed a deal with Disney to distributed worldwide.
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Australia has a long and meaningful relationship with Doctor Who: Australian composer Ron Grainer wrote the original theme song, and a surly flight attendant from Brisbane served as one of the Doctor’s most memorable – and loudest – companions. (Janet Fielding, played by Tegan Jovanka, companion to the fourth and fifth Doctors.)
The ABC was one of the first networks to license Doctor Who, broadcasting the first episode in January 1965. Although the UK only received one episode a week, Australians could watch Doctor Who every weeknight because our laws allowing repetition. For more than five decades Australian parents have turned to the ABC and sat down with their children to watch the incredible horrors of the Gallifreyan battle. Those children grew up and showed it to their children, who showed it to their children. Just as the Doctor regenerated, so did the fans.
But now Doctor Who will only be available to Australian viewers on Disney+. There are three new specials, the first of which will start local time on Sunday, directed by Russell T Davies, the genius who created the Christopher Eccleston (ninth Doctor) and David Tennant (10th) eras of the show.
“I never intended to come back!” Davies said on Zoom, staring at me from a dingy living room. “Until the pandemic, when a fan named Emily Cooke had the idea to tweet some episodes. And she asked me, David and Catherine… believe me, taking David and Catherine to a computer to tweet? A great piece of work. The Eiger is easier to climb, reveal.”
But the three of them “loved” revisiting the old episodes, which they hadn’t seen in years. Russell says it was Tate herself who insisted they get back together for something new. “I thought, ‘It’s never going to happen.’ Then she texted me saying, ‘David says yes!’ And at that point I think … well, now it’s my job to tell the BBC!”
Davies exudes optimism and romanticism in his speech and writing. He looks very happy when I say so. “That’s a very beautiful thing to say,” he says, hand on heart. “I think that describes my writing, although sometimes I think otherwise. I mean, there’s no such thing as a love story that ends happily, because one of them dies first. Sometimes I think I write fiction to invent happy endings.”
“Even though Doctor Who is aimed at everyone, I think it’s a show – very powerful – that children can watch,” he says. “And really, there’s a lot of concern around the world about the mental state of children. They are seeing horrible things online. I think they are being told every day that the world is burning, flooding and ending. And if Doctor Who can be positive and optimistic, and give them escapism, very moral heroes for 45 minutes … well, I guess that’s not a bad thing.”
Those 45 minutes will now be broadcast, for Australians, on Disney+ but while some fans are up in arms, others are unconcerned. “Controversially,” says Rove McManus, host of ABC’s Doctor Who Whovians chat show, “I don’t see the show moving to Disney as a problem. I think it’s important, for the longevity of the show, to have it with someone who can put it out there in a modern way.”
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“I know there are people who are upset by the transition, and I totally get it,” he says. “But I also think that if you’re a fan of Doctor Who enough that you’re outraged by this, then you’re probably also enough of a fan that you’re already watching Marvel shows, shows Star Wars. Maybe if you’re mad, you already are on that particular streamer?”
“It was hard to get it all in one place,” says Jane Burke, a lifelong Who fan from Bendigo, Victoria. “Honestly, if it’s all on the same streamer and looks good – and if the new stuff is good, of course – I’m a happy camper!”
“I’m sorry Doctor Who is leaving its long-time home,” says Stephen “Bajo” O’Donnell, regular host of Whovians and former host of Good Game. “It will definitely be less available to some existing fans. But I’m excited for it to be exposed to a new audience, and hopefully in 4K! It will be nice to see him shine in this way for the first time for us Aussies.”
Davies sympathizes with any Australians upset by the move. “I know it’s hard in Australia!” he exclaims. “I know a lot of the lifelong fans who followed him on ABC feel it’s terrible that he’s changing channels, and I just had to take a deep breath and say … that’s it happens to the shows now. I’m just as stoked that I have to go and find Drag Race on a separate channel.”
But, I ask, can a US institution like Disney act as steward of such a fundamentally British show? “They wouldn’t come in as producers on this to change it,” he says. “They literally fell in love. He really enjoyed the performance … to see them fall in love with him, to see them discover how far he can go, how wild he can go. I think the only question we had was on a cultural level …”
He pauses for effect, “… that is they did not know what a pram was.”
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The new Doctor Who special, The Star Beast, will be available to stream on Disney+ in Australia from November 26
