Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary special is set to break a world record.
Per the Radio Times, the television special will be broadcast at exactly the same time around the world when it airs in November. This decision was made in an effort to avoid spoilers being leaked to any part of the world before the program is available there.
If the special airs at 7 PM in the UK, for example, it will be available at 2 PM in New York, 11 AM in Los Angeles and 6 AM in Australia.
As the episode has been sold to 200 countries and is expected to reach an audience in excess of 100 million, the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special will be the largest global drama simulcast in history.
BBC Worldwide addressed the decision in a statement last week: “It’s always been our ambition to work with our broadcast partners so that international Doctor Who fans can enjoy the 50th Anniversary special at the same time as the UK. We’ll have more details soon about our very exciting global plans for November.”
The highly anticipated special, which unites Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor with David Tennant’s Tenth, is still four months away, but many more details are expected to emerge before it reaches television screens worldwide.