That's how I feel too. I could happily watch any episode of the Tennant or Smith era every time they're shown, even though I know the scripts off by heart by now! But the CE era is a bit more distant so I'd like to revisit it with the beauty of hindsight.

I take the point that we could just buy the DVDs...but I'm a terrible one for buying DVDs and then not getting around to watching them! If something's on "live" TV, I'm much more likely to make the time to watch it, and I enjoy it more for some reason if I know lots of other people are watching it too!

I did half-wonder if there was any kind of a CE airbrushing thing going on. Or maybe it's just that the first series was less sophisticated than the Tennant era so they're a bit less proud of it? Which is a shame if that's the case; admittedly parts of series 1 were a bit cartoonish, but there were some corkingly good bits of drama in there, like Father's Day and the finale.

I must admit to being a bit peeved he only did the one series myself at the time, I enjoyed CE season personally and was quite sad when he left it. That said, I've thoroughly enjoyed DTs seasons and was gutted when he went. I have Season 1 on DVD but prefer to watch them on the tv as they come up to be honest,

I expect you are tight about the royalties actually as thinking about it, I think I've only seen season 1 on Watch not the BBC. I agree with others in this thread about seeing classic series though. I'd enjoy that. Personally I dont see why the BBC should worry about ratings as its not as if it affects their income. DVD sales yes, but income no, as we all have to pay for it regardless

I agree, we have series 2 and still watched it on BBC3!
When I watched the 1st series as it was broadcast I had no idea that CE was planning to leave. His performance as the Doctor was excellent and it didn't show that he was unhappy. With the benefit of hindsight people put forward allsorts of ideas that he was 'unhappy and it shows' which I don't think is true.

It's thought that he was unhappy with the way the show was being produced, the conditions for the crew and everything, and that he said he would only return for series 2 if the BBC could promise him that things would change. Obviously the BBC just let him leave instead.

And Tennant went on to be a massive success with the public and they marketed him for all they were worth for 3 years. Which is a shame as I prefer Eccleston any day and am very pleased now we've got Matt instead. Tennant was fine for a while and had some great moments but talk about overkill.

Oh yeah! IMHO Tennant was not a great Doctor. Too much gurning and grinning for my liking. When Matt Smith did the speech about 'nobody human has anything to say to me today' in TBB, he instantly undid all the damage DT did to the Doctor and I loved it. MS, best doctor and I grew up with Tom Baker.

If they can't afford to animate them for the DVD releases which actually make money, I doubt they can afford to animate them for repeats on a digital channel which would bring in nothing.

It's probably down to rights. When the Beeb makes a programme the contracts allow it to show X number of repeats over no more than five years, with those entitled to royalties getting a fixed fee each time.

Once the Beeb has used up the repeats it has to negotiate new fees with all those entitled to royalties and that can get a little expensive.

This is all rather reminiscent of UK Gold back in the nineties.

UK Gold to their credit showed Classic Who repeats almost every day for quite a few years during the nineties, but to their discredit they always tended to start from Spearhead From Space rather than An Unearthly Child.

I believe on one occassion, due to a massive outcry from Who fans, they did show the available Hartnell and Troughton stories, but with the utmost reluctance, and it was only the one occasion.

They started the b&w stories episodically in 1992 but, in 1998/99, they repeated them as omnibus versions.

They may have initially started the run with An Unearthly Child in 1992, but I didn't get access to UK Gold until about 1995, and I just remember the stories beginning with Spearhead, ending with Survival and then starting again with Spearhead, except on the one occasion only when the cycle started with An Unearthly Child.

It was a long time ago, and my memory may be playing tricks with me, but I do remember feeling frustrated by the relative lack of Hartnell and Troughton stories.

but I dont like it as it s too simple where as dt's is light , there are shades of darkness peeping in and the ninth dr was more caring with rose, I get the feeling he got sick of her moods ax

I love that sentence! hats off to you sir...