Homechoice
HOMECHOICE was an online TV-on-demand / streaming pay service, providing internet access to programmes for playing on computers and mobile devices, and for televisions via set-top boxes. It was owned by Video Networks Limited.
Established in September 2000, it was initially available only in the central London area, but later expanded coverage outside the capital.
In later years, it provided live access to over 35 digital TV channels in the UK, including all the BBC channels, Gold, UKTV Drama, Watch, and the Sci-Fi Channel.
The platform hosted two "runs" of Doctor Who, the first in 2002-2003, and the other from 2005 to 2006.
The service was re-branded as TalkTalk in 2009. In 2015, the Horror Channel was available on that service.
DOCTOR WHO ON HOMECHOICE
Stories bought and broadcast
The first "package" was just three Tom Baker stories, his first 10 episodes. The second, acquired a year later, consisted of the first Christopher Eccleston series, and a selection of classic stories featuring the third through seventh Doctors.
Three stories, 10 episodes / Five stories, 20 episodes:
| 4A | Robot | 4 |
| 4C | The Ark in Space | 4 |
| 4B | The Sontaran Experiment | 2 |
| RRR | The Three Doctors | 4 |
| 4P | The Deadly Assassin | 4 |
| 6R | The Caves of Androzani | 4 |
| 6Y | Timelash | 4 |
| 7M | The Curse of Fenric | 4 |
| New Series - Series 1 | 1-13 |
The master tape for The Deadly Assassin part 3 was the BBC's edited copy, that with the freeze-frame of the drowning Doctor omitted. Timelash was in its edited four-part version.
The Eccleston episodes were cropped to a 4:3 ratio.
Transmission
The 'package' of the first three Tom Baker stories was available to access on the Sci-Fi Choice option, from Thursday, 4 April 2002 until at least 11 June 2003. (The episodes were no longer available by 18 June.)
Robot was incorrectly titled "Robots" in the menu lists.
The second 'package' - dubbed "Doctor Who through the Ages" - was available on the service's C1 channel, from October 2005 until at least September 2006.
During 2005 and 2006, the menu options enabled you to play an "identikit quiz".
(Re-branded as TalkTalk TV in 2009, the platform supported the Horror Channel, which screened Doctor Who from 2014 to 2016.)
Media
Homechoice produced a series of promos for the new service in late 2000 - and these featured David Tennant, five years before he became the Doctor:
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Doctor Who on HomeChoice trailer (2003) |
