There's something on my back...

December 20, 2008 9:25 PM

I'm in NYC. Is there any way I can watch the Doctor Who Christmas special on Christmas, at the same time the Brits are watching it? Perhaps a satellite TV receiver at a British pub in New York, or something? I realize I can just wait 24 hours and torrent it, but it's a shame that I can't just watch it in "real" time if I want to.
posted by bingo to media & arts (15 comments total)

I know New York is the city that never sleeps and all, but would a British pub really be open at noon on Christmas day?
posted by kosmonaut at 10:20 PM on December 20, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

You could try watching it using Zattoo, via a UK-based proxy.
posted by jonesor at 2:23 AM on December 21, 2008

you need a UK IP address - via a proxy server - so you can access the BBC iplayer. the show, just as every other show where british actors horribly overact, will be on there while the broadcast is still running.

sadly I don't know a proxy for you and hotspot shield doesn't work as it only gives you US ip addresses (and they tend to be too slow to allow for online tv viewing sans hiccups).
posted by krautland at 3:37 AM on December 21, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Seconding krautland on iplayer. You will very likely be able to download it just a few minutes after it broadcasts, by the way - last year's was winging its way around the internet within about an hour of the episode airing. After last year's Dr Who Jesus debacle, I wonder what the viewership for this year's episode will be?
posted by Grrlscout at 4:49 AM on December 21, 2008

Not sure about iplayer, in the past I've had to wait until the next day before Doctor Who episodes have been up there. Don't know if that was a one off technical problem though (but, oh, the wait almost killed me...)
posted by Helga-woo at 5:01 AM on December 21, 2008

Can you use usenet? Dr Who is always available around 40 mins after it airs here, so add 10mins for downloading/unrarring and you could be watching it by 2.45pm or so. Otherwise I would try the Zattoo or iplayer options, but test them first.
posted by goo at 5:15 AM on December 21, 2008

Sent you MeFi Mail
posted by gkhewitt at 6:30 AM on December 21, 2008

I know New York is the city that never sleeps and all, but would a British pub really be open at noon on Christmas day?

Plenty of American bars will be. Is it really so unusual for pubs to be open on Christmas in the UK?
posted by bingo at 7:16 AM on December 21, 2008

http://myp2p.eu/channel.php portends to have live feeds of various BBC channels. Can't say for sure one of them is the right one, but you can poke around a bit a probably figure it out. If you decide to forego live, and do the torrent route, there are a few UK-focused torrent sites that will likely have it up within the hour (and probably quicker than that).
posted by inigo2 at 7:48 AM on December 21, 2008

The keyword you want to poke around for is slingbox.
posted by dhartung at 12:07 PM on December 21, 2008

Plenty of American bars will be. Is it really so unusual for pubs to be open on Christmas in the UK?


It's fairly standard for pubs in the UK to be open on Christmas Day.

To answer your original question, you could try http://www.tvcatchup.com
posted by Infinite Jest at 12:40 PM on December 21, 2008

Seconding the iPlayer suggestion. Some more information about accessing it from outside the UK.

"I realize I can just wait 24 hours and torrent it"

You usually only have to wait a few hours for torrents to go live and the insanely popular programmes (of which Doctor Who is one) are up within the hour after it's broadcast.

Why this is still an issue in 2008 I do not know. Hopefully there will be an international TV station in the future, and we'll all have equal access without feeling like a bunch of criminals.
posted by saturnine at 2:50 PM on December 21, 2008

kosmonaut, the Bull and Bush here in Orlando is open from noon to 17:00 on Christmas Day.
posted by vsync at 5:27 PM on December 21, 2008

Other suggestions are better but if you are interested in watching w/ a friend in the UK have them stream it and view it remotely w/ teamviewer.com.

Hmm as I write this I am so-so on how well it would work, but another option nonetheless.
posted by gnash at 9:23 PM on December 22, 2008

Worked out okay. As noted, it was up on rapidshare shortly thereafter, and I downloaded it in about 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, it wasn't that great. Hard to follow last year's special, but still. Enough with the cybermen already.
posted by bingo at 8:42 AM on December 26, 2008