Doctor Who fans SLAM ‘shameful’ BBC and claim they have ‘contempt for viewers’ after HUGE change is announced ahead of new series

Doctor Who fans have slammed the BBC after a huge change to the sci-fi show was announced ahead of the highly-anticipated new series.

After it was revealed, Ncuti Gatwa‘s first full run in the TARDIS would hit screens on May 11, it has now been confirmed that the show will no longer air in its usual family-friendly Saturday night slot.

Instead, the show will now be released at midnight on BBC iPlayer, presumably to be streamed in the US in the afternoon and evening after the show has joined Disney+.

But fans have slammed the ‘shameful’ decision, claiming show bosses had ‘contempt’ for British viewers and ‘prioritised’ those across the Atlantic.

On X, formerly Twitter, one furiously wrote: ‘So the UK fans are now second class to the US. The US will be watching in the late afternoon/early evening, while UK fans will have to stay up late to avoid spoilers?! It is really poor’.

While another said: ‘I love coming back to the American audience, I love Disney taking over (This is a lie, I hate it)’.

And another commented: ‘I’m an American and I think it’s insane and disrespectful that the Doctor is being sent at midnight in the UK’.

While another asked: ‘You don’t want UK viewers??? Soon you will realize that it is a big mistake.

As another fan wrote: ‘As an American I hate this. Doctor Who is a British show and the UK should have the best timeslot. This at midnight is nonsense’.

A sixth said: ‘Midnight really? What happened to Doctor Who on a Saturday night? This is just playing catch-up with the American audience’.

Disney Plus now has international distribution rights to the show, while it remains exclusive to the BBC in the UK.

And last year’s showrunner Russell T. Davies has assured fans that Doctor Who still wanted the same show and nothing changed after it became a co-production.

Russell, 60, explained in an issue of Doctor Who magazine: ‘I know people are obviously worried about American producers having notes on things.’

‘Well, don’t. They give excellent notes.’

Russell added: ‘And I’m here to tell you that you haven’t seen a drama on British TV for 20 years that hasn’t had American notes. Everything is a co-production… it’s really, really normal.’

Tthe highly anticipated series releases its first two episodes on BBC iPlayer at midnight before arriving on BBC One later that day, ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final.

The new season of Doctor Who will see Ncuti Gatwa return as the Fifteenth Doctor alongside Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday after they made their debut on Christmas Day in The Church on Ruby Road.

Within the upcoming series, audiences will see the Doctor and Ruby travel through time and space on adventures to unknown lands, to the Regency era of England, to outer space and the sixties.

This season also sees the return of Michelle Greenidge as Carla Sunday, Angela Wynter as Cherry Sunday and Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood.

The eight-episode series will also feature a number of special guest stars including Jinkx Monsoon, Aneurin Barnard, Yasmin Finney, Jonathan Groff, Bonnie Langford, Jemma Redgrave, Lenny Rush and Indira Varma, with more to be announced soon.