This winter, BritBox fans have been dreaming of a police box-blue Christmas, with Doctor Who Classic dominating the streaming service.

A joint venture between the BBC and ITV, the subscription platform brings together British TV box sets from recent years and decades past. Launching during the winter, it’s biggest box set – in all senses of the word – was without a doubt Doctor Who Classic.

627 pieces of Doctor Who Classic content touch down on the service on Boxing Day, comprising episodes, spin-offs, documentaries, telesnaps and more plus many rarely-seen treasures. 129 complete stories, which totals 558 episodes spanning the first eight Doctors from William Hartnell to Paul McGann, form the backbone of the collection.

Tracking subscriber habits from Christmas Eve through to Boxing Day, it quickly became apparent that the most streamed series was Doctor Who Classic. In the first 24 hours of its availability on the service, fans flocked to stream the collection, outstripping the popularity of other series by almost 20:1. 

Social media quickly became awash with appreciation for the offering, which marks the first time Doctor Who Classic has been available to stream in the UK outside of individual episodes and arcs released on iTunes.

Reemah Sakaan, group launch director for ITV SVOD, comments:
“We are so glad that subscribers are enjoying our fantastic Doctor Who Classic collection; the first of its kind available to stream in the UK. There has never been a better reason to miss a few nights’ sleep!”

The popularity of the collection highlights the strength of BritBox’s proposition, as long as it has exclusivity of the titles in its line-up – many of the series featured on the service are currently also available on BBC iPlayer or Netflix UK, until previously inked deals for the rights expire.

Never seen any pre-2005 Doctor Who? See our roadmap through the wealth of episodes with out A to Z guide to Classic Doctor Who.

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