Reopening of "Consensus for Classic Episodes as ELs"

As seen in archive 37, we had previously agreed that we could use the videos from the channel "Doctor Who: Classic | FULL EPISODES" as ELs. However, I have found out after linking them that they may perhaps fall under Wikipedia:ELNO point 7: Sites that are inaccessible to a substantial number of users, such as sites that work only with a specific browser or in a specific country. Any thoughts @Pokelego999 and @User:UniProbe62, since both of you were part of the consensus last time? Yes I am a nerd -XCBRO172 (How could you tell?) 07:41, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

Was unaware of this stipulation until now. If it falls under the guideline perhaps removing them may be for the best, especially since I forgot that channel indeed is America-locked. This is admittedly not my area of expertise though, so if others have reasons to keep it let me know. Magneton Considerer: Pokelego999 (Talk) (Contribs) 03:21, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

Perhaps some may be kept in some form, because I do know the main youtube channel also has some of the serials in full. I however do not know whether the videos are also region locked. Yes I am a nerd -XCBRO172 (How could you tell?) 03:53, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

Turns out: no. Yes I am a nerd -XCBRO172 (How could you tell?) 03:56, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

Ehhhh maybe? For people who are in the US, it is extremely helpful, and I personally would argue that, since there isn't a more-accessible alternative, it would be okay to keep it for those that can take advantage of it. On that note, however, if there are full serials on the main channel that are accessible worldwide, obviously those would be infinitely preferred to something that is region-locked. Apart from that though, I don't really see any harm caused by including a region-exclusive link as opposed to including nothing at all.

(Also, sorry for getting to this a bit late, I'm not good at Wikipedia notifications.) UniProbe62 (☎) 03:36, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

No problem on the response timing. Unfortunately, the only one available worldwide seems to be "Mission to the Unknown", which is linked next to prose. I would argue however that the best option may be to remove it altogether (in spite of the work I put in to adding them all). Doctor Who is British and English Wikipedia has a substantial number of non-american users (especially indian users), which, if they would be/are interested in the articles, would have inaccessible content for a large portion of theoretical users. If we would add more links for users in other regions (such as iPlayer), it would just create clutter. Yes I am a nerd -XCBRO172 (How could you tell?) 04:14, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

Was just thinking about this discussion and it seems we have come to a standstill. It seems there are 2(ish) options atp, and I now don't know which I prefer.

1. Remove the ELs for failing WP:ELNO

1b. Remove the ELs for failing WP:ELNO and integrate them into prose

2. WP:IAR: The ELs should be kept in spite of failing WP:ELNO, because linking a place to watch may be helpful.

2b. Add iPlayer links because we might as well if we are serving the serials for Americans.

I don't know how to go forward on this anymore, so lets see if we can reach a consensus. Yes I am a nerd -XCBRO172 (How could you tell?) 09:56, 9 August 2026 (UTC)

I'm fine with any option except 1b; I don't think YouTube uploads are worth mentioning in prose unless mentioned by reliable sources. If we're concerned about clutter, one possible solution could be to combine the two links in one bullet:

• The Daleks on BBC iPlayer (UK only) and YouTube (US only)

I'm mostly apathetic, though, so happy to leave this to others. (FWIW, this ping didn't work—notifications aren't sent without a new signature.) – Rhain ☔ ^he
_him 00:02, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

Doing a bit of research, I can find a bit from Bleeding Cool, a somewhat trivial mention in general and the 2 rediscovered DMP episodes in specific, Gizmodo (also about DMP) and Nerdist Yes I am a nerd -XCBRO172 (How could you tell?) 04:46, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

The DMP articles are great but only apply to that serial, and the Nerdist article is good but not universal—it doesn't cite that The Daleks is on YouTube, for instance, or when it was uploaded. Mentioning iPlayer makes sense (it's a British show, most serials were added at once, and several sources discussed it) but adding individual American-exclusive YouTube dates to prose feels a bit indiscriminate. External links, at least, are a different story. – Rhain ☔ ^he
_him 05:00, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

@Pokelego999 @UniProbe62 @SkywalkerEccleston @Thebiguglyalien and @Glimmer721. Pinging for final consensus, since all of you have some level of interest in this. Yes I am a nerd -XCBRO172 (How could you tell?) 01:23, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

@XCBRO172 I would say no. For example, compare the Classic Who YouTube channel to BBC iPlayer, which also has many episodes and is also region-locked. Most people would agree not to use BBC iPlayer as an EL. SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 01:29, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

I think I would agree now, having seen the "The Daleks on BBC iPlayer (UK only) and YouTube (US only)" formatting proposal. Every single part of it just feels... wrong, especially for example putting in an official iPlayer link like that. We don't do that when it comes to other shows, why would we suddenly do that here? (It just feels... advertise-y, in a way. Very abnormal for Wikipedia.) And, knowing that in practice the YouTube link is logically identical to an iPlayer link (they're both a commercial video on a video streaming service that is (monetarily and accessibly speaking) free to people in one region, but locked to everyone else), I think I have to (admittedly reluctantly) reverse my previous position and say I think they should be removed. Apart from edge cases like for example the university recreation of Mission to the Unknown, I don't see why we should start including links to official, commercial sources to watch a television show, when we haven't ever done that before. While it may not fail the "Is it social media" test, it absolutely fails the "Is it advertising" test (at least to me). Even if it's technically not a "paid" thing* it's still a commercial source that's monetized, which I don't think is something that is (or should) be included on Wikipedia (although that is a fascinating open point of debate). For now though at least, I think they should be removed until further notice.

*[Also insert rant about iPlayer technically being a paid service if you count the licence fee but in practice just coming off as free anyway here] UniProbe62 (☎) 06:08, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

Concurred here with Eccleston and UniProbe. I just don't feel like it'd be in line with how we handle it on other parts of the site, and bar Mission to the Unknown, are best off removed. If other worldwide copies become available we can add them to the article then. Magneton Considerer: Pokelego999 (Talk) (Contribs) 18:12, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

Portal at MfD

Regarding this edit, the entry for Portal:Doctor Who says "undated" and has a red "discussion" link. I suspect that the bot can't handle the true situation: in fact it concerns Portal:Doctor Who/Current events. Since 17 June 2026 this has been under discussion at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Slovakia/Slovakia news together with a bunch of similar portal subpages. The Doctor Who portal subpage was only tagged by Metropolitan90 (talk · contribs) yesterday. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 08:09, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

• Hi, just for clarity for everyone else reading this, Portal:Doctor Who as a whole has not been nominated for deletion, just Portal:Doctor Who/Current events. This was one of over 100 "news"/"current events" portal subpages which have been nominated at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Slovakia/Slovakia news because they had not been updated for years. In fact, many of those "news"/"current events" subpages are not even being displayed on the main pages of their portal anymore. However, the nominator had not tagged most of those subpages with the {{mfd}} tag at the time of the nomination, so I went through and added the tags to the nominated pages. Portal:Doctor Who/Current events appears to be unusual among the nominated pages in that it is actually in use on Portal:Doctor Who. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 14:54, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

BBCCDW template - external links on serial articles

I've noticed that the external links at the end of "classic" serial articles are suffering widely from WP:LINKROT, mainly because the BBC Classic Series Episode Guide has been deprecated for a long time. None of the articles appears to link to the current BBC iPlayer Doctor Who (1963–1996) episodes. I do feel it's time to update the Template:BBCCDW template. I have started a discussion at Template talk:BBCCDW to gather opinion. Cnbrb (talk) 11:24, 1 July 2026 (UTC)

Discussion at Template talk:Infobox Doctor Who doctor § First/last appearance and tenure

 You are invited to join the discussion at Template talk:Infobox Doctor Who doctor § First/last appearance and tenure. Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:13, 3 August 2026 (UTC)

Untitled CBeebies animated spin-off

This is a notice that there is a draft for the CBeebies animated spin-off at Draft:Untitled Doctor Who spin-off until such a time that it is ready for inclusion in the mainspace. All are welcome to come help nurture the article's development there. -- Alex _talk 07:51, 20 August 2026 (UTC)

The idea of starting a draft crossed my mind after making this edit today—then I thought to myself, "I'm sure Alex has it handled." Barely an hour later, I was proven right. Many thanks! – Rhain ☔ ^he
_him 11:11, 20 August 2026 (UTC)

Haha, no worries! I just used the paragraph from the Whoniverse article, had to make sure we didn't have some hidden draft already. -- Alex _talk 05:15, 25 August 2026 (UTC)