BBC Choice

BBC Choice '35 Years of Doctor Who' onscreen ident

BBC Choice - the BBC's first exclusively digital channel, and the first to broadcast in a 16:9 widescreen format - was launched on 23 September 1998.

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Doctor Who in November 1998, BBC Choice's "The Take" aired a week of "fan favourites" featuring one episode of each of the eight Doctors, plus all of Genesis of the Daleks and the documentary "30 Years in the TARDIS".

Sylvester McCoy hosted the "35 Years of Doctor Who" event, with special links and introductions filmed inside a 'new' TARDIS control room, plus interviews with fans recorded at that year's Panopticon convention. The first and longest segment started at 7pm, the others at 9pm:

• 22 November 1998: The Pilot version of An Unearthly Child part 1, Genesis of the Daleks part 1, 30 Years in the TARDIS, the TV movie, Remembrance of the Daleks part 4
• 23 November 1998: The Tomb of the Cybermen part 4 (the first time it had aired on the BBC since it had been returned in 1992), Genesis of the Daleks part 2
• 24 November 1998: The Daemons part 5 (recolourised; followed by an interview with the Restoration Team's Steve Roberts and Ralph Montagu), Genesis of the Daleks part 3
• 25 November 1998: The Caves of Androzani part 4, Genesis of the Daleks part 4
• 26 November 1998: The Trial of a Time Lord part 14, Genesis of the Daleks part 5
• 27 November 1998: The Curse of Fenric part 4, Genesis of the Daleks part 6, plus an interview with Sophie Aldred.

BBC Scotland's feed screened Terror of the Zygons parts 1-3 only as additional content on 23, 24 and 25 November 1998. The same three episodes were subsequently repeated in Scotland only on 29-31 March 1999.

The 22 November schedule was repeated in full on 24 December 1998 at 7.30pm.

All six of the "35 Years of Doctor Who" segments were subsequently repeated on a daily basis from 25 to 30 July 1999, with Genesis of the Daleks also airing on its own at the same time, but weekly on Saturdays at 7.30pm, from 10 July to 14 August 1999.

BBC Choice promo trailer

BBC Choice Intros

BBC Choice McCoy and Aldred

Dino Nite trailer

15 October 1999: All six parts of Invasion of the Dinosaurs air (with the first three episodes - the first in black and white - at 9pm, with the final three at 11pm) as part of a "Dino Nite" special. The published listings stated that the episodes featured "previously unseen footage", which presumably means the slightly longer early edit of part 3 that the BBC held was used.

Dino Nite trailer

• Invasion of the Dinosaurs was repeated, with parts 1 and 2 on 31 October 1999, and the other four parts Monday to Thursday, 1 to 4 November.

The channel closed on 8 February 2003. It was succeeded by BBC Three (which later became the home to repeats of New Series Doctor Who, Doctor Who Confidential, and Torchwood).