The sixth episode of this upcoming season of Doctor Who may be thwarted by the BBC’s other behemoth of primetime television: Eurovision. And, because time does sometimes get quite wimey in the real life, it’s when the series is airing its own Eurovision send-up—an episode aptly titled “The Interstellar Song Contest,” guest-starring real-life Eurovision host Ryan Clark.
The BBC One’s scheduled set of release dates for new Doctor Who episodes could see an interruption not just because of Eurovision, but because of another major TV event in the form of the FA Cup Final. Doctor Who is supposed to air between the two, but the schedule only works if the soccer game ends when it’s supposed to, which as sports fans know is hardly a given.
According to RadioTimes.com, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies is taking things in stride. “The most exciting week of all is the Eurovision week, because that afternoon is the FA Cup Final live on BBC One,” he said. “At 8 o’clock at night is Eurovision live across Europe. We’re in the middle. If the football has lots of goals and things, going into extra time and penalties, we get crushed in the middle.”
So yes, the Doctor is between quite a rock and a hard place there. “It’s like we cannot move—the football can’t move, Eurovision can’t move. So we genuinely don’t know if we’ll be transmitted that day.”
Either way, “it’ll be on the iPlayer,” Davies continued, but fans will have to keep an eye on the game to see whether or not BBC One will be able to run the episode. “They said to us, ‘Do you want to move it?’ and I said, ‘That’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever heard. Let’s find out if we’re transmitting. Let’s feel alive.’ So that Saturday is going to be fun.”
American Doctor Who fans, who watch the series along with the non-UK rest of the world on Disney+, need not worry about any conflicts, of course. Doctor Who returns to Disney+ around the world, and the BBC in the UK, April 12.
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