BBC Store
BBC STORE was a UK-only video-on-demand service, launched on 5 November 2015. It enabled customers to purchase via the store website "digital DVD" copies of a vast selection of programming out of the BBC's archive. Purchased shows could be played through the BBC iPlayer website or on other devices via a special app.
But after only 18 months of operation, the BBC announced in May 2017 that it was discontinuing the service as it found it could not compete with other streaming services dominating the market, such as Netflix.
The Store offered either a full refund on already-purchased programmes, or gave existing customers the ability to continue to view them via the app until 1 November 2017, at which point the site was shut off and its content was no longer accessible.
DOCTOR WHO ON BBC STORE
While all the seasons of the new series were released at launch (at that point it was up to Series 9, Peter Capaldi's second year), most but not all the Classic serials were also on offer. The selection featured all the classic Doctors with the exception of Paul McGann. Only some of the Daleks stories were available.
While Hartnell, Troughton and Colin Baker were represented by only a sample of their stories (the list of Troughton stories included animation and tele-snap reconstructions - marked # below), the other Doctors had the majority of their adventures on the Store, but with the following exclusions:
- Third Doctor: All stories - except for Day of the Daleks, Planet of the Daleks and Death to the Daleks
- Fourth Doctor: All stories - except for Terror of the Zygons, The Android Invasion, The Seeds of Doom, Destiny of the Daleks, and City of Death
- Fifth Doctor: All stories - except for Enlightenment, The Five Doctors, and Resurrection of the Daleks
- Seventh Doctor: All stories - except for Paradise Towers and Remembrance of the Daleks
A couple of further titles were added later, including An Unearthly Child and some of the absent Dalek serials.
Also offered were "Season Bundles". When the service was launched, the complete Classic runs that were available were seasons 7, 8 (Pertwee), 12, 14, 15, 16, 18 (Baker), 19 (Davison) and 26 (McCoy) - i.e. most of the seasons that didn't include at least one of the 'banned' Dalek stories.
A selection of Classic serials and New Series episodes were grouped together and sold as a themed package, such as:
- "A Beginners Guide" (a bundle of nine popular stories from both classic and new ranges: The Tomb of the Cybermen, Spearhead from Space, Genesis of the Daleks, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Earthshock, Rose, Blink, The Day of the Doctor and Mummy on the Orient Express)
- "The Daleks" (including The Daleks, Death to the Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks)
- "Monster Mash" (such as The Curse of Peladon, Carnival of Monsters, The Brain of Morbius)
- "The UNIT Files"
- "The Robot Collection" (nine stories / 28 episodes including The War Machines, The Robots of Death, The King's Demons)
- "Beginnings and Ends" (regeneration stories, including Spearhead from Space, Planet of the Spiders, Robot, Logopolis, Castrovalva, The Caves of Androzani)
- "The Cybermen Collection"
- "The Master and Missy"
BBC Store was the first online provider to make the newly-animated version of The Power of the Daleks available, with each episode released weekly on the date of its 50th anniversary, from 5 November to 10 December 2016.
To celebrate Tom Baker's birthday on 20 January 2017, the Store offered discounts off his "Season Bundles".
As noted above, the BBC Store was shut off on 1 November 2017…
