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Doctor Who Series 1 to 4 (Plus the 2009 Specials) to be Upscaled to HD for New Blu-ray Release

The BBC is upscaling all 60 episodes of Doctor Who Series 1 – 4, with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, to be released, with the 2009 specials, on Blu-ray.

The boxset will be released on 13th November 2023, shortly before the 60th anniversary of the show.

The set also includes existing bonus features and a new specially shot extra, A Look Back Through Time and Space with Russell T Davies and David Tennant.

These episodes will be spread across 18 discs:

  • Rose
  • The End of the World
  • The Unquiet Dead
  • Aliens of London/ World War Three
  • Dalek
  • The Long Game
  • Father’s Day
  • The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances
  • Boom Town
  • Bad Wolf/ The Parting of the Ways 
  • The Christmas Invasion
  • New Earth
  • Tooth and Claw
  • School Reunion
  • The Girl in the Fireplace
  • Rise of the Cybermen/ The Age of Steel
  • The Idiot’s Lantern
  • The Impossible Planet/ The Satan Pit
  • Love & Monsters
  • Fear Her
  • Army of Ghosts/ Doomsday
  • The Runaway Bride
  • Smith and Jones
  • The Shakespeare Code
  • Gridlock
  • Daleks in Manhattan/ Evolution of the Daleks
  • The Lazarus Experiment
  • 42
  • Human Nature/ The Family of Blood
  • Blink
  • Utopia/ The Sound of Drums/ Last of the Time Lords
  • Time Crash
  • Voyage of the Damned
  • Partners in Crime
  • The Fires of Pompeii
  • Planet of the Ood
  • The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky
  • The Doctor’s Daughter
  • The Unicorn and the Wasp
  • Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead
  • Midnight
  • Turn Left
  • The Stolen Earth/ Journey’s End
  • The Next Doctor
  • Planet of the Dead
  • The Waters of Mars
  • The End of Time

That’s officially a lot.

So what does “upscaled” actually mean? Planet of the Dead was the first Doctor Who serial actually filmed in HD, so anything before it needs technology that infers extra detail based on the information surrounding each cell. It makes it look better quality, higher definition, without having been shot in the way to facilitate true HD.

Here’s the synopsis:

Series 1

Christopher Eccleston plays the Ninth Doctor, an alien and a loner (it’s difficult keeping up with friends when your day job involves flitting through time and space) who meets Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), a shop-girl from the present day. From the moment she meets the Doctor, they click. They understand and complement each other. As they travel together through time, encountering new adversaries, the Doctor shows her things beyond imagination. The trip of a lifetime begins!

Series 2

The complete second series introduces David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, with Billie Piper returning as Rose. The Doctor and Rose travel across the Universe, facing dangers and thrills at every turn. Whether that’s in Victorian Scotland facing a Werewolf, or on an impossible planet orbiting a black hole.

Series 3

The third series of Doctor Who is full of new adventures, new laughs, new heartbreak and some terrifying new monsters. From the moment the Doctor walks into the life of medical student Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), he changes it forever. But whatever you do, don’t blink!

Series 4

David Tennant is back in his role as the Doctor in the fourth series of the hit sci-fi show! Award-winning comedienne Catherine Tate returns as the Doctor’s new companion, Donna Noble in this epic series that culminates in the Doctor’s friends coming together to stop the Daleks!

The Complete Specials

Five specials complete the Tenth Doctor’s journey as he meets new friends, familiar faces and comes face-to-face with an old enemy in a year of special adventures.

This Complete Specials includes all the Doctor Who Specials from 2009 – The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, The End of Time – Part One and The End of Time – Part Two.

This boxset features eighteen discs containing sixty episodes of timeless adventures, remembered forever!

The Doctor Who Series 1-4 Blu-ray is released on 13th November 2023.

Philip Bates

Editor and co-founder of the Doctor Who Companion. When he’s not watching television, reading books ‘n’ Marvel comics, listening to The Killers, and obsessing over script ideas, Philip Bates pretends to be a freelance writer. He enjoys collecting everything. Writer of The Black Archive: The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang, The Silver Archive: The Stone Tape, and 100 Objects of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who Series 1 to 4 (Plus the 2009 Specials) to be Upscaled to HD for New Blu-ray Release

by Philip Bates time to read: 3 min
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