Before Jodie Whittaker smashes through the glass ceiling (literally) and makes her proper debut as the Thirteenth Doctor next month, BBC America’s hosting a mega-marathon of every single Doctor Who episode produced since the show came back in 2005 before season 11 arrives in October.
Titled “The 13 Days of Doctor Who,” the network will begin the binge-watch to end all binge-watches on September 25th. The complete set of seasons 1 through 10 will then be followed up by the global premiere of season 11’s opening episode, “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” which airs on Sunday, October 7th.
The modern incarnation of Doctor Who consists of, at our count, 143 episodes as it currently stands, so anyone attempting to keep up with BBC America’s marathon should be prepared for a seriously sore posterior by the end of it. Those 140-odd episodes include Christopher Eccleston’s sole season as the Ninth Doctor, David Tennant and Matt Smith’s four year tenures as the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, respectively, and Peter Capaldi’s three seasons as the most recent custodian of the franchise, the Twelfth. Presumably, Christmas specials will be included as well, along with special events like 50th anniversary extravaganza “The Day of the Doctor.”
If your schedule doesn’t permit you to take a couple of weeks off work and binge-watch a whole lot of Doctor Who, thankfully it doesn’t sound like a deep knowledge of past seasons will be necessary to enjoy the upcoming eleventh run. New showrunner Chris Chibnall’s been keen to press that this next era of the show will be all-inclusive and is as equally aimed at fresh audiences as it is long-in-the-tooth fans.
Still, there’s no harm in reacquainting yourself with the Doctors that have come before No. 13 ahead of the woman of the hour herself arriving on our screens when Doctor Who season 11 premieres on October 7th.