What’s Christmas without the Doctor? BBC America is making sure those across the pond will not have to find out as they are airing a weekend full of ‘Doctor Who’ episodes culminating with the premiere of the Christmas episode ‘The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe!’
The marathon will begin at 12 midnight Saturday ET/PT with ‘The End of Time, Part 2. For those of you not familiar with this episode, it’s the one where the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) says goodbye and regenerates into the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) – yes, I know, this is not a very Christmassy episode and I’ll probably find myself crying my eyes out leaving my gifts with tear stained wrapping paper around them. Previous ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas episodes will then air (though not in chronological order) and specials will be interspersed among them.
One of the specials included in the marathon is called ‘Doctor Who at the Proms’ which features music from the show performed by a full orchestra. The Proms was expressly designed to introduce young children to concert-going and the ‘Doctor Who’ Proms has been a favorite for Whovians young and old since it began. This episode, filmed last year at the Royal Albert Hall, is hosted by Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and Matt Smith and will feature many of Murray Gold’s musical scores used in the 5th season of the series as well as some classical pieces. This is definitely one that you’ll want to watch in surround sound to get the full effect of the orchestra (especially when they play the ‘Doctor Who Theme’ and ‘I Am the Doctor’).
On Saturday night, ‘The Nerdist: Year in Review’ will air, which features a filmed segment with David Tennant (the 10th Doctor) and a special ‘Graham Norton Season 10 Christmas Special’ with Matt Smith as one of the guests. There will also be a Doctor Who ‘Best of Christmas Specials’ where celebrity Whovians talk about their favorite Christmas episodes.
On Sunday (Christmas Day!!!) the station will air all season 6 episodes in order starting with ‘The Impossible Astronaut’ at 8am ET/PT and ending with the premiere of ‘The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe’ at 9pm ET/PT. From the looks at the time allotted for the episode, it looks like BBC America will be airing the episode uncut! The marathon will end on Boxing Day (Monday, December 26) at 6am ET/PT.
Although I am very excited to spend Christmas with the Doctor, the thing I would have like to have seen is all the Christmas episodes airing uncut. The episodes are normally 60 minutes long but since BBC America airs commercials, the episodes are shortened by 20 minutes. At least ‘The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe’ will air uncut along with the ‘The End of Time, Parts 1 & 2.’
If you want to plan out your viewing schedule, here’s the lineup for the weekend (all times ET/PT):
Saturday, December 24th
12 midnight: The End of Time, Part 2
1am: The Next Doctor
2am: Voyage of the Damned
3am: The Next Doctor
4am: Voyage of the Damned
5am: Christmas Invasion
6am: The Next Doctor
7am: The End of Time, Part 1
8:30am: The End of Time, Part 2
10am: Doctor Who at the Proms
12 noon: A Christmas Carol
1pm: Best of the Companions
2pm: Best of the Monsters
3pm: Best of the Doctor
4pm: The End of Time, Part 1
5:30pm: The End of Time, Part 2
7pm: A Christmas Carol
8pm: Best of the Christmas Specials
9pm: The Nerdist: Year in Review
10pm: The Graham Norton Show
Sunday, December 25
12:30am: Best of the Christmas
1:30am: The Nerdist: Year in Review
2:30am: Graham Norton Show
4am: Best of the Christmas Specials
5am: A Christmas Carol
6am: Christmas Invasion
7am: The Runaway Bride
8am: The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon
10am: The Curse of the Black Spot
11am: The Doctor’s Wife
12pm: The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People
2pm: A Good Man Goes To War
3pm: Let’s Kill Hitler
4pm: Night Terrors
5pm: The Girl Who Waited
6pm: The God Complex
7pm: Closing Time
8pm: The Wedding of River Song
9pm: The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe
10:20pm: Best of the Christmas Specials
11:20pm: The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe
Monday, December 26
12:40am: The Nerdist: Year in Review
1:40am: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe
3am: Best of Christmas Specials
4am: A Christmas Carol
5am: Christmas Invasion
