They've already done one for 3

Where?

Have a look online, I've definitely seen one on Amazon.

One story from 3 -- Spearhead from Space -- was released on Blu-ray because it was made on film (and could therefore be remastered in HD). No other classic story has been released on Blu-ray because they all were made on videotape.

well all of series 1-4 were SD and they released them on BluRay, by upscaling I imagine, so they could release all the classics on BluRay too! They just wouldn't be fully HD quallity, but they could get loads on one disk that way, for example a DVD Will do about 3hours of SD quality and a BluRay will do about 16.5 hours of SD quality! Its just a storage medium at the end of the day! Just think with that whole series and extras could fit on one BluRay disk! in SD quality though.
Also in theory the Paul McGann movie could potentially be redone in HD, if they every decide to as that was filmed on 35mm.

This is what Steve Roberts of the restoration team said on the matter of the movie on blu ray

Well the best we could get is that the SD version gets the 2:3 pulldown reversed so that its 24fps progressive and then that could be upscaled and put on BluRay!
I know thats not really HD but it would yield better results on playback!

Wouldn't Blu-Ray just highlight the cheaper production values? I can understand the reasoning for doing it for the newer series, even the TVM, but I don't think a Blu-Ray release would dramatically improve things.

maybe it wouldnt improve things a great deal but you could put 16.5 hours of SD material at MPEG 2 encoding like a DVD on a BluRay disk and 3 times as much if you do that in AVC encoding like HD on a Bluray or on TV!
Just think 50 hours of old episodes on one Bluray disk! That would save the BBC a lot of money on disks!

They couldn't milk the episodes though, could they?

They could charge more though say £30 per disk as it would be about 4 series worth on 1 disk!
It would be cheap to make too as they would only need to recompile the 4 series worth to AVC format and create a BluRay master.

They could get Jon Pertwee's 5 series' on 2 Disks, Tom Bakers 7 series' On 2 Disks, Peter Davidson's 3 series' on 1 Disk, Colin Baker's 2 series' on 1 disk, Sylvester McCoy's 3 series' on one Disk.
Like I said before the TV movie could be upscaled and put back to 24fps for BluRay realise.
I havent done the first 2 Doctors on this as their series are not complete so it might not work too well, but a 'Classics' boxset in BluRay could be done by putting all 26 series onto say 10 BluRay disks, including Spearhead from Space in HD and the upscaled TV movie!
Then sell the whole thing at £150 like the 1-7 New Who boxset!
I think it would sell as well as the New Who 1-7 boxset!

But people won't pay £30 for a disc. It sounds like you're getting more for your money if it's a 5-disc set for £30 than a one-disc one, even if they have the same amount of episodes.

Absolutely. Regardless of the contents, a one-disc release of 4 or 5 series would look incredibly sloppy and cheap - and rather confusing as well.

Also, not many people would want to buy a blu-ray that has made no effort to upscale at all. You mut remember that blu-ray is not yet the market leader and blu-ray owners are still, generally speaking, people who have an active interest in this stuff. It wouldn't wash with the majority of blu-ray users, I don't think.

And if they did it properly with 6-7 discs, one per series plus special features, the cost would be astronomical. So that won't happen either.

Nice idea in theory but couldn't see it working in practice.

EDIT: By "you", I mean the OP, obviously!

I think releasing the classics on blu ray is pretty much pointless beyond cramming more episodes on one disc.

However, as restoration technology advances I do not find it hard to imagine that eventually software will be able to take old TV material like the classics and fill in the gaps to such an extent it will be indistinguishable from actual HD shot content.

I would have no problem double dipping for that.

But I still think that HD would show up low production values. The sort of films that get put out on blu-Ray (apart from now when it seems to be the norm) are either ones where the cinematography, special effects, or aesthetics are particularly striking or it's just so much of a classic that people would buy the blu-Ray version even if there was only minimal improvement.

I would say Doctor Who falls into the latter category of being classic, the die-heard fans would see it that way bout others wouldnt!

Well I am a "die-hard" fan and I can't see any possible reason to pay to see Season 24, for example, in HD. If something looks that cheap in SD, I'm not sure there's anything good waiting for you in HD.

Some will look better Im sure, maybe not season 24, but who knows there may be some others that have several film sections, that would look good in HD?
That would help things, then the studio sections would just need an upscale to complete it!
Any all studio episodes that, are part of season, that have some episodes with outside bits on film, would need upscaling, so that the whole season could be realised on BluRay.

I mean classic classic

I did get you not the 'classic' as in the classic series but in 'its a classic! but the classic series are kind of both to who fans!

So was Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation was shot on 35mm film and then edited on videotape. The vast majority of Doctor Who was shot on videotape, although some of the location scenes were shot on 16mm film. Even if the original negatives for those segments still exist, the switch from videotape to film would be even more jarring in HD. The most you would get would be a few scenes in HD.

As has already been stated, Spearhead from Space was the only classic serial to be shot entirely on 16mm film. Which is also why it is the only classic serial which could fully benefit from HD.

The 35mm film elements for the TV Movie may still exist. However, as Steve Roberts explained, reconstructing it from scratch and adding new special effects would not be economically viable.

Have you seen Sharknado? I own that on blu-ray. If that can make it onto blu-ray, then anything can.

That's because blu-ray is the industry standard for home releases now and by releasing a DVD and a blu-ray at the same time, you are maximising the chance of blu-ray owners opting for it as opposed to DVD. Re-releasing a back catalogue is a different matter altogether, as many will already own it, as is the case with Doctor Who.