Doctor Who’s classic series is now streaming for free – but only in the US!
Good news for fans of classic Doctor Who, episodes of the iconic science-fiction show ranging from William Hartnell’s debut to Sylvester McCoy’s last episode are streaming for absolutely free.
But… in the United States only.
Streaming service Pluto TV has a deal with the BBC to air over 200 episodes of the series for American fans, without you having to pay a penny.
Pluto TV works differently to other streaming services, functioning more like actual TV channels. That means it has scheduled content and ads, and you have to tune in at the specified time to see the episode you want. How retro!
The service has dedicated channels for different providers, genres and shows, with Classic Doctor Who having a channel all to itself.
Pluto TV, owned by media giant Viacom, has over 12 million active users in the US, which is very big. It’s available on a variety of devices, including Apple TV, PlayStation 4, Chromecast and Smart TVs (sometimes under the name WatchFree).
In the UK, it’s only really available on Roku and NOW TV devices at the moment, and doesn’t contain the Classic Who channel. It DOES have an entire channel just showing Yu-Gi-Oh! though, so that’s something.
Hopefully the UK launch of BritBox will allow fans to stream Classic Who, otherwise there always the excellently produced DVDs and Blu-rays.