Doctor Who Joins the Disney XD Lineup Starting Next Month
The wibbley, wobbly, timey, wimey adventures of the time-travelling Time Lord from Gallifrey will soon make their debut on Disney XD. BBC and Disney XD officially announced today that Doctor Who will premiere on Disney XD starting in May. The interestingly bizarre programming acquisition for Disney XD will only include the seasons of Doctor Who starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. In short, only seasons two through four of the new Doctor Who show will be broadcast on Disney XD.
Doctor Who sounds like a surprising programming move by Disney XD, but the show is very popular among kids and families alike. The show will air in prime time with a 9:00 p.m. ET/PT time slot. The first episode of Doctor Who on Disney XD will be a special preview on May 9, which is the first episode of season two, “New Earth.” In “New Earth,” the Doctor and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) visit a new home for mankind far in the future. However, the duo find gruesome secrets inside a luxury hospital and an enemy long thought dead, the paper-thin Cassandra, who wants revenge. After that, Disney XD will continue to broadcast more episodes of the show starting Saturday, June 13 with “Adventures in Time and Space.” This will be the start of a week-long programming event that will showcase eight episodes airing daily from Saturday, June 13 to Saturday, June 20. In addition, the episodes will become available on the WATCH Disney XD app starting June 14.
Commenting on the programming news, Disney XD SVP of Programming and GM Marc Buhaj stated: “It has been a pleasure working with BBC and we are thrilled that their hallmark drama series ‘Doctor Who’ is joining the Disney XD programming line-up. This iconic series features the high-quality, high-stakes action and adventure storytelling that our viewers love. The show headlines one of the most charismatic lead characters in television in the form of the Doctor and showcases a compelling rogues’ gallery of villains from around the universe.”
BBC Worldwide North America EVP of Sales & Co-Productions, Matt Forde, hopes the move will introduce the David Tennant seasons of Doctor Who “to a new generation of viewers.”
The original British sci-fi TV series ran for 26 seasons from 1963 to 1989. It was later relaunched in 2005, where it is still running today. The show also recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary. Interestingly enough, for another Doctor Who connection with Disney, David Tennant is set to co-star in the Marvel and Netflix series AKA Jessica Jones in the role of the villainous Kilgrave. However, that show will not be aimed at kids and families. It is slated to debut on Netflix later this year.