Doctor Who Confidential

The following table dictates the season or series in question; singular specials are not included in episode counts. Not all networks listed aired every episode, a number of them only broadcast specific specials.

The first season was narrated by Simon Pegg (who played the Editor in "The Long Game") and produced and directed by Gillane Seaborne, airing at 7.45 pm. New episodes were broadcast on BBC Three immediately following the broadcast of Doctor Who, two documentary specials were made for broadcast on BBC One, incorporating material from the Confidential episodes. The first was broadcast on the evening of the first episode, "Rose", and was narrated by David Tennant, prior to his being named as the Tenth Doctor. The second was broadcast immediately prior to the final episode, "The Parting of the Ways", and was narrated by Pegg. These episodes were not given the Confidential title, and are therefore separate from the series proper. Thirdly, a special DVD-only episode of the series, containing behind-the-scenes information on "The Christmas Invasion", was also made by the production team for release on the set.

A second season of Doctor Who Confidential was commissioned to accompany the 2006 series. Mark Gatiss replaced Pegg as narrator. Episodes continued to be broadcast on BBC Three along with a documentary special that was made for broadcast on BBC One on the day of the 2006 Christmas Special.

Anthony Head (who played Mr Finch/Brother Lassar in "School Reunion") replaced Gatiss as narrator for this series, whilst David Tennant did the entirety of the series' eleventh episode himself. The episode running length was increased to 45 minutes. A 30-minute special was shown as part of the BBC's arts' season, it was narrated by Tom Baker. After the 2007 Christmas Special, an episode was broadcast on BBC Three, again narrated by Anthony Head.

Anthony Head narrated the series for the second year in a row.[3] Each episode had its own unique title sequence, with behind-the-scenes shots from that week's episode of Doctor Who. The 2008 Christmas special was the first to be accompanied by its own Confidential episode. The final episode reviewed all 10 previous incarnations of the Doctor, and exclusively revealed Matt Smith as the actor who would portray the then-upcoming Eleventh Doctor. A special episode of Confidential, going behind the scenes at the proms, was available by red button on 1 January 2009.[4]

The first Confidential edition attached to the 2009 specials, covering "Planet of the Dead", was narrated by Noel Clarke, although Anthony Head returned to narrate "Is There Life on Mars?". This special featured improved graphics in its opening and closing credits sequences. Head continued to narrate the Christmas and New Year specials.

Alex Price is the narrator for this series.[5]

A new series of Confidential started broadcasting on 23 April 2011 with a brand new title sequence. Russell Tovey continued to narrate the episodes. The final episode, which aired on 1 October 2011, incorporated a mini-episode, Death is the Only Answer, written by a group of schoolchildren who won a contest co-sponsored by Confidential.

In addition to being broadcast on BBC Three, each episode of Confidential was also made available for viewing on the Doctor Who Confidential website. Initially, repeat airings of the series were the full length episodes; however, beginning with Episode 6, BBC Three broadcast fifteen-minute versions, entitled Doctor Who Confidential: Cut Down, containing only the new series-related footage were released on the Series 1 DVD box set. There are no plans to release the full versions of the episodes in any format.

For series two, a special episode of the programme was produced for BBC's Doctor Who Night on 9 April 2006. Due to a wide range of schedule changes that either delayed or altered transmission of Doctor Who, the series aired at various times during its run. Unlike the first series, no episodes were webcast. These were also released on the DVD in edited-down format (once again subtitled Cut Down); the first episode of the season, "One Year On", was not released to DVD. A documentary special that was made for broadcast on BBC One on the day of "The Runaway Bride". The special was broadcast with the "Confidential" title (albeit with "Christmas Special" attached), opening theme, and unique titles (with images from "The Runaway Bride") and followed the creation of the Doctor Who: A Celebration concert.

The episode running length was increased to 45 minutes for the third series, with 30-minute and 15-minute versions also prepared for broadcast. The 15-minute versions were available for download from the official website. As per previous seasons, all regular episodes were edited down into shorter versions for inclusion on the DVD release; for the first time, however, a complete Confidential episode was included on the DVD release: the "Music & Monsters" special. One episode, covering the making of the Children in Need special "Time Crash" was posted on the Children in Need website after the scene's airing. A 30-minute special, created by the Confidential team, was shown as part of the BBC's arts' season, entitled "On Show - Designs on Doctor Who", was first broadcast on BBC Two Wales. After "Voyage of the Damned", an episode was broadcast on BBC Three.

The 2008–10 specials were the first Confidential editions to be broadcast on BBC HD as well as BBC Three. The series also made a move to a high definition format. The full episodes of Confidential relating to the 2008–10 specials are available for immediate broadcast through Amazon Prime Video in the United States with an Amazon Prime subscription. These are the only full episodes of Confidential legally available for video-on-demand streaming. A 30-minute "best moments" feature was included on the DVD release of the Cybermen Collection.

Episodes continued to be broadcast on BBC Three and BBC HD for series five and six. Similar to previous series, versions of the episodes entitled Cut Down were released on the DVD sets however, the full episode of Confidential relating to A Christmas Carol was released instead. Two specials were created between series five and six, on which was made specifically for broadcast on BBC America. A third special commemorating the death of Elisabeth Sladen was produced by the Confidential team as well and was aired on CBBC.

In 2012, seventh series executive producer Caroline Skinner announced that smaller behind-the-scenes featurettes would be released on the BBC's Doctor Who website to make up for Confidential's cancellation.[10] The majority of these featurettes last for less than 5 minutes.

On 20 August 2014, it was announced that a series of 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurettes would accompany the twelve episodes of the eighth series, under the title of Doctor Who Extra.[11] These featurettes were made available on the BBC's iPlayer and Red Button services.[11]

Doctor Who Unleashed was officially announced in September 2023, and is set to follow every new episode of Doctor Who, starting with the 60th anniversary specials in 30 minute episodes on BBC Three, to be hosted by Newsbeat presenter Steffan Powell.[12]