Doctor Who is on a bit of a break at the moment, and has left things on quite the cliffhanger, so why not take the opportunity to go right back to the start? Well, not right back the start, but less than two years after the debut episode aired, with the franchise’s first movie.
1965’s Dr Who and the Daleks was the first story featuring the TARDIS traveller to be made in colour and widescreen. It’s also an alternate-universe-y type story, with Star Wars: A New Hope’s Peter Cushing as the titular protagonist, rather than William Hartnell.
It’s just found its way to a new streaming service in the UK, and perhaps not surprisingly given its non-canon status, that service isn’t BBC iPlayer.
Following an airing on Film4 over the weekend, the film is currently available on Channel 4’s streaming service. As is the case with movies, it’s only available for the next few weeks.
As the title implies, the plot of the film sees The Doctor dealing with the pepperpot-shaped terrors. There’s plenty of differences from the show, however, including that our hero isn’t a Time Lord.
He’s also not called The Doctor here, but it’s one of the few times that he’s actually called Dr Who.
It’s also worth noting that Channel 4’s upload is the 2022 remastered version, which was scanned at and released in 4K.
The future of Doctor Who was left up in the air following the conclusion of the most recent season, and it seemed like we wouldn’t hear whether things will carry on with or without Disney until the upcoming spin-off The War Between the Land and Sea aired.
However, it was announced last week that the BBC and Disney have decided to part ways, with Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf Studios confirmed for a 2026 Christmas special.
