Features

Classic Doctor Who comes to Horror Channel

By Christopher Allen

British Doctor Who fans will be treated to classic adventures in space and time when Horror Channel begins screening episodes featuring the first seven Doctors from Easter 2014.

The UK’s home of horror, fantasy and sci-fi has completed a deal with BBC Worldwide to broadcast 30 adventures from the first 26 years of Doctor Who, starring all of the Doctors from William Hartnell to Sylvester McCoy.

This specially curated season gives fans old and new a chance to get re-acquainted with favourite companions Jamie McCrimmon, Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith, rogue Time Lords such as the Master, Omega and the Rani and all those iconic monsters including Daleks, Cybermen, Sea Devils and Ice Warriors.

Launching on Friday 18 April, the season opens with the very first story An Unearthly Child, and leads into a special Who on Horror weekend - a classic marathon featuring one story from each Doctor. Highlights include trippy 60's adventure The Mind Robber, the action-packed Remembrance of the Daleks, and fan favourite The Caves of Androzani.

See a classic clip from Remembrance of the Daleks:

More on Features

You can also see the Doctor meet the Sisterhood of Karn for the first time, in Fourth Doctor adventure, The Brain of Morbius. The Sisterhood later helped the Eighth Doctor choose the outcome of his regeneration in The Night of the Doctor.

Following that, there will be weekday double-bills in daytime and evening slots, including The Curse of Fenric, The Daemons and The Talons of Weng Chiang. Many of the adventures emphasise the horror elements of the programme - from the birth of the battle-scarred Daleks, to encounters with giant spiders and maggots, and even battles with Mary Whitehouse over the violent content of the show.

Alina Florea, Director of Programming, said: “Doctor Who is an iconic series and we are proud and excited to welcome this giant of British television to our channel. The line-up will include some of the most revered from seven classic Doctors – stories that terrified, thrilled and captured the imagination of children and adults through the decades. Doctor Who joins a long line of well-loved classic series we have endeavoured to showcase on Horror Channel over the last few years.”

UK viewers can find Horror Channel on Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138.

More From Read and Watch

from the store

More from the store