BBC AMERICA PRESENTS FIRST EVER LIVE PRE-SHOW FROM YOUTUBE FOR DOCTOR WHO'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

BBC AMERICA CELEBRATES DOCTOR WHO’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY WITH THE FIRST EVER LIVE SIMULCAST FROM YOUTUBE SPACE LOS ANGELES

DOCTOR WHO 50^th LIVE PRE-SHOW CROSSES PLATFORMS TO CONNECT FANS IN THE U.S. AND AROUND THE WORLD 

New York – November 19, 2013 – Announced today, BBC AMERICA has partnered with Nerdist Industries to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who with the first ever live simulcast pre-show from the YouTube Space Los Angeles. Hosted by Veronica Belmont, the Doctor Who 50^th Live Pre-Show will air November 23, 2:30pm ET on BBC AMERICA and stream to audiences globally on BBC AMERICA’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/bbcamericatv) just prior to the premiere of Doctor Who’s 50^th anniversary special Doctor Who: The Day of The Doctor at 2:50pm ET.

Doctor Who 50^th Live Pre-Show will be an all-out celebration of 50 years of Doctor Who and its passionate fans. As the world awaits the global simulcast of the anniversary special, the pre-show will feature a live curation of fan-created content being shared on social media from celebrations around the globe, plus chats with special guests including YouTube star Phil DeFranco.

Perry Simon, General Manager, BBC AMERICA commented: “Doctor Who has an amazing social media following and is enormously popular, with millions of views on YouTube. Partnering with YouTube on an innovative pre-show will enable fans everywhere to join our celebration of this groundbreaking series’ 50^th anniversary.”

“We’re very excited to work with BBC AMERICA and Nerdist on this first ever simulcast from YouTube Space LA and are looking forward to welcoming Doctor Who fans and YouTube talents for a truly innovative pre-show experience connecting communities all across the world,” said Liam Collins, Head of YouTube Space LA. 

Veronica Belmont, co-host of the science fiction and fantasy YouTube video show, audio podcast, and book club The Sword and Laser, added: “I’m happy to report that the live pre-show went off without a hitch, and that fans everywhere thoroughly enjoyed The Day of the Doctor. At least, they did in the time stream I just came from."

Following the anniversary special, BBC AMERICA’s YouTube channel will host a YouTube-exclusive post-show at 4:00pm ET. In addition, BBC AMERICA and BBC AMERICA’s YouTube channel will simulcast a primetime pre-show at 7:00pm ET, which will look at the day’s events ahead of BBC AMERICA’s primetime broadcast of the anniversary special.

The Doctor Who 50th Live Pre-Show will culminate a week-long Doctor Who week on YouTube, featuring content from popular YouTube channels like Nerdist, EmergencyAwesome, Doctor Puppet, PBSideaChannel, How to Cook That, and Rugburn. 

Doctor Who 50^th Live Pre-Show is produced by Nerdist Industries for BBC AMERICA. Executive producers are Chris Hardwick and Seth Laderman of Nerdist Industries.

BBC AMERICA is the U.S. home of Doctor Who and has been celebrating the 50^th anniversary of its highest rated series throughout the year. Doctor Who Live Pre-Show is part of BBC AMERICA’s Doctor Who Takeover, a week of new programming and marathons. The anniversary of television’s longest-running sci-fi series is a global celebration, as Doctor Who will be simulcast for the first time in more than 75 countries. Written by Steven Moffat, Doctor Who: The Day of The Doctor stars the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, companion Jenna Coleman, with Billie Piper and John Hurt.