Some bad news for Doctor Who fans: The modern incarnation that started with Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor is leaving Netflix (in the UK) on December 31, 2020. However, there are still places to stream it – even for free (sort of).
Despite being a BBC series, ten seasons of the modern Doctor Who are currently available on Netflix in the UK – from the 2005 Eccleston years, through David Tennant and Matt Smith, up to Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor.
The episodes with the most recent Thirteenth Doctor – Jodie Whittaker – never got on Netflix UK to begin with.
The removal of Doctor Who from Netflix isn’t very surprising, as more and more BBC (as well as ITV) programmes are being removed and transferred either to BBC iPlayer or to BritBox.
And indeed, BritBox would have been a likely candidate for the modern Doctor Who episodes, since 600+ episodes of the Classic Doctor Who, the biggest collection of classic Doctor episodes, dating from 1963 to 1989 – are available on the pay-TV service.
BritBox UK (which is different from the US version) is a subscription service owned by ITV and the BBC, which brings a variety of past and current British TV programmes, as well as classic British films.
However, we asked BritBox and were told there are no plans to bring the modern Doctor Who episodes to the service in the near future.
Where Can I Watch Modern Doctor Who?
Once the episodes are gone from Netflix UK next month (and assuming they don’t come back – which sometimes happens on Netflix), you will still be able to stream them in a few places:
Doctor Who on BBC iPlayer
All the episodes of the Doctor Who revival – from Series 1 to the latest Series 12 – are currently available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
BBC iPlayer is available on a large number of streaming devices, from the Amazon Fire TV to Roku, Chromecast, and most Smart TVs sold in the UK.
While there’s no extra cost involved for streaming Doctor Who, keep in mind that you do need a TV Licence if you’re going to watch anything on BBC iPlayer.
Therefore, people who were only subscribed to Netflix, without paying the TV Licence, would now either have to pay – or find other places to watch the Doctor (see ahead).
Also note that each series of Doctor Who has a different watch window on BBC iPlayer, though those dates can change in the future:
- Series 1-10 are currently available on BBC iPlayer until October 2021.
- Series 11 is currently available until May 2021.
- Series 12 is currently available until February 2021.
Doctor Who’s upcoming Christmas Special, which will feature the return of John Barrowman’s Captain Jack, will also be available on BBC iPlayer, on January 1, 2021.
Doctor Who On Pay-to-Own VOD Services
If you don’t want to rely on streaming services that keep changing their offerings, you can buy Doctor Who episodes and own them forever (well, as long as the store doesn’t decide otherwise) from: