BBC America

BBC America is a US digital cable and satellite television network, launched on 29 March 1998. It was formed out of what had previously been Lionheart Television International Inc, the programme distributor responsible for syndicating Doctor Who throughout the United States in the 1980s, of which the BBC was a minority shareholder.

The BBC had bought Lionheart outright by May 1986, making it their North American distribution division. It was subsequently rebranded as BBC America.

BBC America can also be seen in a number of Caribbean countries - including Bermuda, Barbados, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Grenada, Bonaire, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. In the Pacific, it can be seen in Guam, and the Northern Marianas.

Tom Baker stories

Russell Hunter and Pamela Salem miscredited on The Robots of Death

Only the first 16 Tom Baker stories - Robot to The Robots of Death - were acquired. These were cycled through several times in a random order between 1998 and 2001.

Each serial was broadcast in an hour timeslot as a compilation of two episodes with new composite credits (which sometimes contain spelling errors, see right).

Composite credits: The Seeds of Doom 5/6

Composite credits: The Deadly Assassin 3/4

Transmission

• 5 April 1998: Doctor Who begins - the first story to screen is The Ark in Space, followed by Robot, followed by The Ark in Space again!
• After each new serial screens, some of the earlier ones are repeated.
• 1998-2001: The serials are cycled through several times, in a completely random order.
• 22 June 2001: The final classic episodes air: The Seeds of Doom parts 5-6.

New Series

• 21 November 2006: The station starts airing the NEW SERIES, after they have played on the Sci-Fi Channel.
• 27 June 2009: BBC America picks up the first run rights to the NEW SERIES when the (rebranded) Syfy channel drops it after the first four series (Eccleston to Tennant). BBC America becomes the new permanent home to Doctor Who...
• 27 January 2013: The first of the eleven 'episodes' of the BBC America-produced series The Doctors Revisited airs. (BBC America effectively held the exclusive rights to the seven classic serials they screened, which is why some of the handful of US TV stations still screening classic Doctor Who during the 2010s and 2020s (such as Retro TV and Iowa Public Television) had to sometimes skip those particular stories.)

Online listing for "Doctor Who: The Lost Episode" (Shada), 19 July 2018

• 24 November 2013: The eleventh and final edition of The Doctors Revisited airs.
• 20 - 27 September 2015: The classic series returns in conjunction with the series 9 premiere, with a week-long run of popular episodes dubbed Breakfast with Baker.

Breakfast with Baker

Animated Reconstructions

BBC America co-funded the animated reconstructions of lost episodes that were released on DVD and Blu-ray. These were made with colour and/or widescreen variants specifically so they could be broadcast by the station.

• 19 July 2018: The 2017 DVD animated restoration version of Shada makes its broadcast television debut at 8pm. The station referred to it as "Doctor Who: The Lost Episode" in its online listings.
• 26 December 2019: The animated colour reconstruction of The Macra Terror screens.
• 7 - 8 October 2020: The animated colour reconstruction of The Faceless Ones airs on BBC America; three slightly edited episodes spliced together per night, starting at 8pm.
• 21 March 2021: The animated colour reconstruction of Fury from the Deep screens.
• 30 October 2021: The animated reconstruction of The Evil of the Daleks screens (starting at 8am!) during a marathon of Jodie Whittaker episodes.

In early 2022 BBC America pulled out of its special projects co-funding partnership with the BBC UK which put on hold all future animated reconstructions of lost stories.

Suspension of Rights

In late October 2022 it was announced that the exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the series had been acquired by Disney+. From November 2023, the entertainment giant's streaming service would be the only platform on which to view all future New Series episodes outside the UK.

The final set of episodes to air on BBC America was a marathon screening of all the Christmas specials on 25 and 26 December 2022.

After a two-year pause, BBC America recommenced screening Doctor Who on 25-26 December 2024, with a two-day marathon of David Tennant stories - a random selection in no particular order.

Then, from 1 January 2025, the station aired three stories (now in story order starting with David Tennant's first series) per night every Wednesday at 11pm (meaning the second and third story of each block aired Thursday morning..)

Airdates

Note: Our Airdates page only records the 2013 and 2015 screenings. More detailed airdates can be found on This Week in Doctor Who:

• AIRDATES ON BBC AMERICA from July 1998