In case you haven’t caught the news recently, the BBC show Doctor Who will be unavailable on Netflix beginning on February 1st. While there have been rumors of the beloved show leaving Netflix in the past (that were debunked), this time around it has been confirmed by Netflix that the show will be removed from its service. However, Doctor Who will only be unavailable for Netflix customers living in the United States; Whovians in both the United Kingdom and Canada will still be able to stream the beloved time-travel series without issue.
The departure includes seasons 1-8 of the rebooted series and the original Doctor Who series. In addition to its departure from Netflix U.S., Doctor Who will also unfortunately no longer be available on Hulu as well.
The departure of Doctor Who from both Netflix and Hulu has brought a great deal of dismay to American fans (known as “Whovians”) as they attempt to find new places in which to stream the series. Luckily, as of right now fans will still be able to access the show from Amazon Video, Google Play, iTunes, as well as other VOD platforms. Fans will also have access to stream the show from BBCAmerica.com, as well as on its sister channel AMC. However, fans will only be able to access seasons 7-9 on BBCAmerica, and on AMC they will have access to only season 9.
(Of course none of these options appeal to you, there is also always breaking down and attempting to catch Tennant’s seasons on Disney XD, which have been running on the channel since May of 2015).
BBC has also announced that they will be following in the footsteps of networks such as HBO or Starz and launching its own streaming service in the future, which will allow fans to not only watch Doctor Who but also catch content from the BBC that they otherwise would not have access to. Such a move will provide a whole new experience for viewers overseas while still being able to catch their favorites shows.
Netflix has also said on its official twitter account that it is willing to negotiate a new deal in the future that would bring the series back state side.
My advice in this trying time would be to keep an eye on other services as well as this potential new service surfacing from BBC. Good luck, my fellow American Whovians.