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Returning: Doctor Who

Exclusive: TV Tonight can reveal the Airdate of the new season of Doctor Who.

Exclusive: TV Tonight can reveal the Airdate of the new season of Doctor Who.

“The Impossible Astronaut” will premiere at 7:30pm Saturday April 30 on ABC1 and continue on subsequent Saturdays.

It will also be available on iView.

The BBC has still not confirmed the time and date of the series for the UK other than to advise it will air at Easter. Many fans expect the series to air on Saturday April 23.

ABC1’s broadcast continues its recent strategy of bringing the series to screen in a prompt method. Proving it is not driven solely by ratings it will air a day prior to the return of ratings. With the Royal Wedding the day before and Logies / MasterChef the day after it is certainly shaping up as a big weekend of viewing.

An ABC spokesperson told TV Tonight, “ABC TV has scheduled the new series of Doctor Who to screen Saturdays at 7.30pm on ABC1, which we believe is the best slot to reach the family audience.

“ABC TV is not able to broadcast Doctor Who until after it screens in the UK. So, in anticipation that the BBC will launch the new series over Easter in the UK, we have scheduled the series to start the following weekend.”

Meanwhile, BBC America now has a different trailer to the one released by the BBC.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVAgyBOe84w[/youtube]

35 Responses

  1. I like Doctor Who on a Saturday night. If the BBC do intend to air on Saturday the 24th I would have liked it to have been on here the next day. The main thing is is that it will be on and not too far behind the UK.
    Agree though that as the BBC will be showing the first double episode over the one weekend that I hope we will have the same, it would suck being two weeks behind.
    Thankyou ABC for showing Doctor Who, and not too far behind the UK/ US/ Canada.
    I look forward to this series of Doctor Who, it really looks like it will be a ripper!

  2. @TonyMac … Not sure why you said that beacuse I agreed with your original post … anyway … as you said, only the “fans” will be bothered downloading if it is airing a week later. And of the many Who fans I know, all are planning to re-watch it on the Saturday night, because there is just something special about seeing it on TV! And Saturday night is where it belongs …

    The biggst point about downloading is that the million or so viewers that ABC may get on the night is not made up of “fans” but the everyday viewer who would never download anyway … I think the fasttracking really has nothing to do with fighting downloading … that is all smoke and mirrors … i think it is all motivated by “appearing to respond to viewers feedback” …

  3. Even if the ABC broadcast it simultaneously as it aired in the UK, people would still find something to complain about (“Oh, I’m asleep at 3:30 in the morning, can’t they delay it a few hours so that I don’t have to get up so early?!”). When it returned in 2005, it was originally on a Saturday night and it rated really well, so I don’t see what the problem is. I absolutely love the show, but I have no qualms whatsover about waiting six days to watch it. Thank you, ABC, for bringing it to us so quickly!

  4. @jack! we will see about that. Like I said, if they’re not interested in viewership then why even bother fasttracking the show? I doubt it’s just cos they’re nice. And as for watching it on tv even if they’ve seen it already…that aint how the world works anymore to people of a certain age…devoted or not.

  5. Whether we fans watch it “by other means” or not is of no interest to the ABC I would think … the majority of viewers (who are not the fans) will be happy to wait the few days to see it … and we “fans” will re-watch it on the night anyway …

  6. Saturday nights are usually boring … silly really, when so many people are at home and wanting something interesting to watch … now the ABC will be winners with Doctor Who and then Spooks … both brilliant shows and about time Saturday night had something New to watch!
    What an amazing trailer … what an amazing season it will be!

  7. This glorious move back to Saturday nights is obviously ratings based. It is much easier to push the ratings up over the million on a Saturday then Sunday. People have to make the choice to watch Who on a Sunday, not much choice on a Saturday.

    But are we getting it as a double ep, because several fans at Supanova suggested the BBC are showing the first two eps together. If this is true then we will end up two weeks adrift.

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