A Comprehensive Guide to Doctor Who Repeats on the BBC, 1963-1989

Back in the day, of course, if you missed an episode of Doctor Who that was it. No VCRs, no catch-up services, nothing. You'd have to get a friend to re-enact it for you in the playground, wait for the Target book to come out, or hope the BBC repeated it at some point. Would you like a list of every time that last thing happened?

All broadcast on BBC One unless otherwise noted:

1963
An Unearthly Child (part 1 only), Saturday 30 November at 4.50pm (unscheduled repeat of the previous week's episode)

1968
The Evil of the Daleks, weekly on Saturdays from 8 - 22 June & 13 July - 3 August at 5.15pm

1971
Spearhead from Space, weekly on Fridays from 9 - 30 July at 6.20pm
The Daemons, Tuesday 28 December at 4.20pm (omnibus edition - 90 minutes in length)

1972
The Sea Devils, Wednesday 27 December at 3.05pm (omnibus edition - 90 minutes in length)

1973
Day of the Daleks, Monday 3 September at 7pm (omnibus edition - 60 minutes in length)
The Green Death, Thursday 27 December at 4pm (omnibus edition - 90 minutes in length)

1974
The Sea Devils, Monday 27 May circa 3.15pm (last-minute repeat of the 1972 omnibus due to live cricket coverage being cancelled by industrial action)
Planet of the Spiders, Friday 27 December at 2.45pm (omnibus edition - 105 minutes in length)

1975
The Ark in Space, Wednesday 20 August at 6.35pm (omnibus edition - 70 minutes in length)
Genesis of the Daleks, Saturday 27 December at 3pm (omnibus edition - 85 minutes in length)

1976
The Sontaran Experiment, Friday 9 July at 6.25pm (omnibus edition - 50 minutes in length)
Pyramids of Mars, Saturday 27 November at 5.50pm (omnibus edition - 60 minutes in length)
The Brain of Morbius, Saturday 4 December at 5.50pm (omnibus edition - 60 minutes in length)

(A 90-minute omnibus version of The Seeds of Doom was planned for December, and director Douglas Camfield's notes on the editing for this survive, but it did not go ahead)

1977
The Deadly Assassin, weekly on Thursdays from 4 - 25 August at 6.20pm
The Robots of Death, aired as two 50-minute episodes on Saturday 31 December 1977 and Sunday 1 January 1978 at 6.25pm / at 4.45pm

1978
The Invisible Enemy, weekly on Thursdays from 13 July - 3 August at 7pm
The Sun Makers, weekly on Thursdays from 10 - 31 August (part 1 6.20pm, parts 2-3 7.10pm, part 4 6.45pm)

1979
The Pirate Planet, weekly on Thursdays from 12 July - 2 August at 6.55pm
The Androids of Tara, weekly on Thursdays from 9 - 30 August at 6.55pm

1980
Destiny of the Daleks, stripped nightly from Tuesday 5 - Friday 8 August at 6.25pm (part 2 at 6.20pm)
City of Death, stripped nightly from Tuesday 12 - Friday 15 August at 6.25pm

1981
Full Circle, stripped nightly from Monday 3 - Thursday 6 August (timings were probably the same as the Keeper of Traken repeat below; for some reason BBC Genome doesn't have the listings for this week available, hence uncertainty. Thanks to Mark for letting me know in the comments.)

The Keeper of Traken, stripped nightly from Monday 10 - Thursday 13 August (parts 1 & 3 at 6.30pm, parts 2 & 4 at 6.20pm)

"The Five Faces of Doctor Who" (a BBC Two repeat season)
An Unearthly Child, stripped nightly from Monday 2 - Thursday 5 November at 5.40pm
The Krotons, stripped nightly from Monday 9 - Thursday 12 November at 5.40pm
Carnival of Monsters, stripped nightly from Monday 16 - Thursday 19 November at 5.40pm (part 2 at 5.35pm)
The Three Doctors, stripped nightly from Monday 23 - Thursday 26 November at 5.40pm (part 2 at 5.35pm)
Logopolis, stripped nightly from Monday 30 November - Thursday 3 December at 5.40pm (part 2 at 5.35pm)

1982
"Doctor Who and the Monsters" repeat season
The Curse of Peladon, aired as two 50-minute episodes on Mondays, 12 - 19 July at 7.20pm
Genesis of the Daleks, aired as two 45-minute episodes on Mondays, 26 July - 2 August at 7.25pm
Earthshock, aired as two 50-minute episodes on Mondays, 9 - 16 August at 7.20pm

1983
The Visitation, stripped nightly from Monday 15 - Thursday 18 August at 6.25pm (part 2 at 6.30pm)
Kinda, stripped nightly from Monday 22 - Thursday 25 August (parts 1 & 2 at 6.25pm, part 3 at 6.35pm, part 4 at 6.30pm)
Black Orchid, stripped nightly from Wednesday 31 August - Thursday 1 September (part 1 at 6.35pm, part 2 at 6.25pm)

1984
The King's Demons, weekly on Fridays from 6 - 13 July at 6.55pm
The Awakening, 20 July at 6.50pm (omnibus edition - 50 minutes in length)
The Five Doctors, four-part version stripped nightly from Tuesday 14 - Friday 17 August at 6.15pm

* * *

Whilst the show's decline in favour with the BBC saw the end of any repeats, if you'd like to know the details of any and all reruns between 1990 and 2005, you can find them here. (Possibly the dawn of the VHS market played a role in the lack of repeats until 1992 - the first Who home video release was Revenge of the Cybermen in October 1983, and they started really picking up steam in 1985, not long after that final repeat of The Five Doctors. It can hardly be a coincidence that the off-season repeats stopped when the show was put on hiatus in early 1985, though.)

Since the show returned, there has been the occasional outing for the classic series on BBC Four: in April 2008 The Daleks was repeated in tribute to Verity Lambert, and there was a repeat of An Unearthly Child in November 2013 for the 50th anniversary. In addition to the ad nauseum repeats of the new series on BBC Three for many years, there was an early-afternoon repeat run of the previous Christmas specials over Christmas 2010, and occasionally BBC Four will repeat a Tom Baker serial over the Christmas period, the most recent example being The Face of Evil stripped over two nights in 2015.