DVD releases Since the late 1990s , many " Doctor Who " episodes have been released to the DVD format , primarily by BBC Video . Overview . History . " Doctor Who " , like many other television programs , has seen many of its episodes released to DVD since the late 1990s . The first story to be released in this format was a remastered and re - edited version of " The Five Doctors " . Since then , BBC Video , later in conjunction with 2 | entertain , has released many classic - series stories in the format , often with commentary , documentaries and other features . Some serials , such as " The Ark in Space " , have included the option to view with upgraded special effects , while some releases such as " The Curse of Fenric " have included extended versions with previously unbroadcast material . Serials from all seven original Doctors have been released to DVD in both the UK and North America , while the 1996 telefilm has also been released in that format . Except for the two season - long story arcs , " The Trial of a Time Lord " and " The Key to Time " , BBC Video / 2 | entertain has chosen to release individual serials , rather than complete seasons , from the classic series , although several themed releases , or multi - story arcs , have been issued as well . It ' s also common for shorter two - episode stories to be paired with a longer stories following or preceding it ( though some , like " The Sontaran Experiment " , have also been released on their own ) . Occasionally , releases have occurred to correspond with events in the 2005 - present revival series , such as the release of " The Invasion of Time " , featuring the Sontaran s , which occurred around the time the Sontarans made their return appearance to " Doctor Who " in the " The Sontaran Stratagem " / " The Poison Sky " two - parter . A special release , " Lost in Time " , collected " orphaned " episodes from the 1960s , the remainder of the stories in question having been wiped . Another release of an incomplete story , " The Invasion " , saw the two missing episodes of that story reconstructed using animation and off - air audio recordings ; a second story with missing episodes , " The Reign of Terror " , was released in January 2013 in the UK and February 2013 in North America . Unlike other TV series that have seen home video release in a sequential fashion , this has not happened with the 1963 - 89 series of " Doctor Who " , creating a seemingly randomised order of releases . Discounting Paul McGann ' s TV movie , it was not until 2009 and the release of " The Twin Dilemma " to DVD that it was possible to watch a complete classic - series Doctor ' s era — the Sixth Doctor ' s , in this case — on DVD without interruption . All stories which exist in their entirety in the BBC archives have now been released on DVD . This story - by - story release format has resulted in BBC Video releasing massive amounts of supplementary material for the series . Each release includes at least one and sometimes more behind - the - scenes featurettes , commentaries , and related material such as promotional clips from " Blue Peter " , deleted scenes , outtakes , and even BBC continuity announcements , where archived . As a result , " Doctor Who " stands as the most - documented TV series ever released in a home - video format . The BBC Wales - produced series has been released differently , with 2 | Entertain choosing to initially issue " vanilla " ( special feature - lite ) single - disc releases of three or four episodes ( with the exception of Series 2 : Volume 1 which has two episodes ) , followed by a full - season box set ( with extras ) later ; these releases occur sequentially . Included in each box set are specially edited versions of " Doctor Who Confidential " , as well as , when applicable , charity mini - episodes such as " Time Crash " . David Tennant has been closely involved in the production of the box sets featuring his episodes , sometimes recording extensive video diaries for each . The spin - off animated adventure " The Infinite Quest " has also seen DVD release on both sides of the Atlantic . In 2009 and into 2010 , BBC Video released the 2009 Specials , including the 2008 Christmas special , " The Next Doctor " , individually . These discs are not " vanilla " as they include features such as " Doctor Who Confidential " and the 2008 Proms concert . A box set collecting all the specials , including " The Next Doctor " , was released in January 2010 with the North American release in February . UK and US DVD release of the second animated serial " Dreamland " followed . All official " Doctor Who " spin - offs have also been issued to DVD : " K9 and Company " : " A Girl ' s Best Friend " , " Torchwood " and " The Sarah Jane Adventures " . The unofficial spinoff " K9 " has also been released on DVD . The behind - the - scenes series " Torchwood Declassified " and " Doctor Who Confidential " have also been released , usually as bonus features in box sets for the applicable seasons , although most episodes of " Confidential " , due to music and footage rights and space restrictions , are usually only available on DVD in a shorter version dubbed " Doctor Who Confidential Cutdown " ( there have been a few exceptions ) . No episodes of " Totally Doctor Who " have been released to DVD with the exception of " The Infinite Quest " , which originally aired as a segment of the programme . There has also been limited DVD release of some of the independent spin - off productions made during the 1990s , such as " Summoned by Shadows " . To date the only BBC release of such material has been " Devious " , starring Jon Pertwee , a fan - made film that was included as a bonus feature on the 2009 DVD release of " The War Games " . In 2009 , a magazine called " Doctor Who DVD Files " was launched in the UK featuring photos and stories built around an enclosed DVD featuring two episodes from the revived series . Although the arrival of the Blu - Ray high - definition format ( see below ) in the second half of the 2000s threatened to render the standard - definition DVD format obsolete , much as CDs supplanted vinyl in the early 1990s , the DVD format has proven to be extremely resilient and popular , especially with releases of older films and TV series that , due to technical restrictions in their original production , cannot be affordably issued at present in a high - definition format . " Doctor Who " , which from 1963 to 1989 was primarily produced on standard - definition videotape , would require extensive remastering to be viable for high - definition release . VidFIRE remastering . The advancement of technology has allowed recent DVD releases of 1960s - era " Doctor Who " to be rendered closer to what viewers originally saw on television . After their original broadcast on the UK , the episodes were furnished to international broadcasters as filmed copies . It is in this form that many of the episodes survived and were recovered following the BBC ' s decision to wipe most original videotape copies of the stories . Only from the start of the Jon Pertwee era were episodes retained and circulated in their video / film hybrid format ; specifically , that interiors were usually rendered on videotape , and exteriors on film , a format used by the series until 1985 . Even then , some recovered episodes from Pertwee ' s era were only available on all - film copies . " Spearhead from Space " , Pertwee ' s first story , was the only serial of the entire 1963 - 89 series to be completely produced on film . Beginning with an Easter egg in the DVD release of " The Tomb of the Cybermen " , and continuing in full use with " The Aztecs " and other Hartnell and Troughton - era stories , a process called " VidFIRE " was applied . This digitally reprocessed filmed copies of videotaped footage , deinterlacing the image and creating a simulation of what the original videotape footage looked like . As a result the seemingly higher frame rate ( actually , a higher shutter speed , but with only half an image taken at twice the speed of film ) of many early broadcasts has now been restored , although in some cases this has served to emphasise the low - budget nature of the production more than the transferred - to - film versions of the episodes . For example , it is much easier to notice the ragged nature of certain scenery backdrops in the restored VidFIRE version of " The Space Museum " than the filmed version . VidFIRE was introduced after the DVD release of several Hartnell and Troughton stories , such as the aforementioned " Tomb of the Cybermen " . These stories have subsequently been re - released with full restoration using the VidFIRE process . Blu - ray . A new optical disc format , Blu - ray Disc , emerged in 2006 . Developed by Japanese consumer electronics corporation Sony and the winner of a two - year format war with Toshiba ' s HD - DVD format , Blu - ray was created to be a successor to DVD , allowing for high definition content and better digital audiovisual compression thanks to its significantly higher data capacity . Due to the limited gains of mastering older video sources for Blu - ray release , BBC Worldwide has not ( as of 2015 ) stated any plan for regular release of twentieth century Doctor Who on Blu - ray . However , Series 1 did receive a Blu - ray steelbook release despite being shot in standard definition , and the Blu - ray release of the TV movie simply upscaled the 480i broadcast copy rather than re - scanning the 35mm negatives . The higher storage capacity of the Blu - ray format could also allow whole seasons of the classic series to be released on a single disc each , though the BBC has not currently announced any plans to take advantage of this possibility . Series 1 of " Torchwood " was the first franchise release to be issued in the format ; subsequently , all Torchwood releases have been released on Blu - ray . The first " Doctor Who " release on Blu - ray occurred in the summer of 2009 with " Planet of the Dead " , which was also the first " Doctor Who " episode to be filmed and mastered in high - definition ; since then it has become standard for both DVD and Blu - ray editions to be issued of new - series releases . In January 2010 BBC Video released a box set of the 2009 Specials season in both DVD and Blu - ray . This release included the 2008 Christmas special , " The Next Doctor " , which had been produced in standard definition and previously issued only on DVD ; it became the first " Doctor Who " episode to undergo professional upscaling . " Spearhead from Space " , the only story from the classic series of " Doctor Who " to be shot entirely on film , was released on Blu - ray in July 2013 . It has not been announced when or if non - HD seasons of " The Sarah Jane Adventures " will be released in the Blu - ray format , although up - conversion makes this feasible . Nor has any timeline been offered for potential classic series releases on Blu - ray : the 1996 TV movie , having been shot completely on 35mm film , has source material worthy of Ultra HD Blu - Ray release . Much depends upon the quality of the source material - given the scarcity of original film segments from Doctor Who in the archives , there would not be any great benefit from releasing much footage on Blu - ray Disc . Due to the fact that Blu - ray players will also play standard DVD , albeit with varying degrees of picture and sound quality depending both on the source material and method of upscaling , the older format is expected to remain the standard for pre - high definition era releases , including classic - series " Doctor Who " . Region differences . " Doctor Who " DVDs tend to debut in the UK market , with releases later coming in the North American markets and the Australian markets . ( There has been the rare exception , such as Series 1 of " The Sarah Jane Adventures " being released in Region 1 first , and The Key to Time : Special Edition which was released in North America in March 2009 , with Region 2 release occurring in the fall of 2009 - though it should be noted the Region 1 edition is a repackaging of a Region 2 release previously issued in limited release in 2007 . ) There are generally only minimal differences between a Region 2 and Region 1 release of any particular " Doctor Who " adventure ; The most obvious difference is mainly in the packaging of the particular adventure . Releases of the " old " series ( i , e . Season 1 through Season 26 , starring the first seven Doctors ) Region 2 discs have a distinctive packaging format which is mostly shared with Region 4 releases but is quite dissimilar to Region 1 packaging . A few minor bonus features have been omitted between releases . For example , a bonus feature in the " The Trial of a Time - Lord " set featuring TV presenter Anne Robinson was omitted from the Region 1 version , reportedly due to licensing issues over a piece of music . This also resulted in a John Barrowman commentary , included in one of the Region 2 " Doctor Who " - BBC Wales DVD sets , being omitted when the set arrived in Region 1 ( due to him breaking into song at one point ) . A rare case of a major difference between regions is occurred with the DVD release of " The Chase " . The original version of the story includes a clip of The Beatles performing " Ticket to Ride " . The Region 2 release includes this sequence but it was later announced that release of the story outside Region 2 would be edited to remove the sequence . Another major difference occurred in September 2010 when the Region 1 release of TV : " Planet of Fire " was issued " sans " the story ' s making - of documentary " The Flames of Sarn " due to , according to the DVD packaging , " insurmountable rights issues " . This is to date the only major supplement to be lost to Region 1 consumers . The general breakdown of the major DVD regions is as follows : " Doctor Who " DVDs are often considered to be released by " region " but are more often released in various " markets " . " Doctor Who " DVDs have been released primarily into the United Kingdom ( Region 2 ) , North American ( Region 1 ) and Australian ( Region 4 ) markets . Other markets that exist within the Region 2 and Region 4 spectrums have also seen releases of DVDs ; these releases are usually the same though may be translated and with different marketing choices to the UK , North American and Australian releases . List of releases . Other releases . " to be added "