The upcoming “Doctor Who” 50th Anniversary Special is already highly anticipated thanks to the return of David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler alongside the current Doctor, Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman’s Clara Oswald. BBC still hasn’t released the trailer for the special that was previewed at Comic-Con International, but there is some good news for Whovians.
BBC has announced that the “Doctor Who” 50th Anniversary Special will be simulcast around the world on November 23. That means that while “Doctor Who” airs on its traditional 8pm Saturday night timeslot on BBC One, fans on the East Coast of the United States can watch it on BBC America at 3pm, while the West Coast fans can catch it at Noon Pacific Time. In Australia, the special will air at 7am.
In a brief statement, BBC said “It’s always been our ambition to work with our broadcast partners so that international Doctor Who fans can enjoy the 50th Anniversary special at the same time as the UK.”
Presumably the simulcast was done in part to prevent piracy from cutting into the viewing numbers. It also seems likely that BBC America will run the Anniversary Special again later in the day or at night as part of its Supernatural Saturdays.
If the simulcast experiment is a success, BBC could potentially try it again for this year’s Christmas special, which will be Smith’s final adventure as the Doctor.
