Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary didn’t provide fans with too much new content, at least not on television. We had three brand-new specials with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. We had a new Christmas special that truly kicked off Ncuti Gatwa’s new era as the Fifteenth Doctor. And before all of that, we had a little scene with the Fourteenth Doctor and a younger Davros. But outside of that, there was very little that was new.
However, perhaps rather fittingly for an anniversary year, a wealth of older content was given to fans in a fresh way. For example, most of the Classic Series, as well as the New Series and even the three spin-offs The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and Class were brought together on BBC iPlayer, giving fans the largest collection of Doctor Who in one place. Only fans in the UK could access it, of course, but it was still quite impressive, and most of the content on iPlayer is available to watch in the US on other streaming services.
However, there is one extremely special series that's still exclusive to iPlayer: Tales of the TARDIS. Essentially a fresh way of introducing Classic Who to newer fans, Tales of the TARDIS features seven much-loved stories, newly edited and with brand new opening and closing scenes.
Friends reunited
Naturally, it’s the new scenes that have the most draw, especially for fans of the earlier Doctors. With one exception, each of the stories features Classic Series characters being reunited with old friends, many years after saying goodbye to them.
Where they’re reunited also answers the question of “how”: on board a “remembered” TARDIS where former travelers can meet each other in dreams and tell stories. It’s a simple but lovely little idea, and perfect for a series where the new scenes are only a few minutes long.
Interestingly, while most of the episodes were released before Season One (2024), the series was created as a direct result of it. After the creation of the memory TARDIS set in Empire of Death, Russell T Davies thought it was worth reusing the set for this unique series.
UK exclusive (for now)
As mentioned, Tales of the TARDIS is only available in the UK. It’s not streaming on Disney+ because no Disney money was used to fund it. Perhaps the series could appear in North America via the streaming service BritBox. It’s certainly possible, particularly as it includes a few specials, including The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.
The only issue could be the seventh episode, which doesn’t feature characters from the Classic Series, at least in the new scenes. Instead, the story opens and closes with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday. Set during the events of Empire of Death, the Doctor tells Ruby the story of the first time he met Sutekh.
Naturally, the classic story featured in this episode is Pyramids of Mars. It’s honestly a shame that this particular episode wasn’t released on Disney+, as it feels like the perfect way of not only showing new fans exactly why Sutekh is so important, but also just how brilliant the Classic Series could be.
Physical release
However, while the Pyramids of Mars episode hasn’t been released on any streaming service outside of iPlayer, it is the only episode of Tales of the TARDIS that’s been released on physical media, as a part of the Season One box set on DVD and Blu-ray. Right now, this box set is only available in the UK, but considering that the 60th-anniversary specials are soon to be released in North America, I’m cautiously hopeful that we’ll eventually get to see a physical release for Season One, too. I’m also hopeful that the North American release will at least include the same special features. If it does, it would provide US and Canadian Whovians our first real glimpse of the series.
This leads to another, perhaps smaller hope - a physical release for the whole of Tales of the TARDIS. As a fan of the Classic Series who has seen the original stories multiple times, it wouldn’t exactly be an essential release. To be honest, it’s pretty easy to find the new scenes on YouTube (albeit completely unofficially).
But I can't help but feel it would be better to watch those new scenes in the context that they’re meant to be viewed in. More importantly, Tales of the TARDIS sounds like such a great way of introducing Classic Who to new fans, and as such, should be more widely available. Until it is, of course, I’m more than happy to continue rewatching the entire series in order.