Doctor Who Confidential

Doctor Who Confidential is a documentary television programme that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of each Doctor Who episode. It began in 2005.

With a few exceptions, it screens on BBC Three following the transmission of Doctor Who on BBC One. Each episode of the first two series is approximately 30 minutes long; episodes of series 3 and 4 are approximately 45 minutes long, the equivalent length to the episode being featured. Full-hour installments were made to coincide with the 2009 specials. It is also webcast in a shortened 5 minute format on the BBC Doctor Who Website.

Different narrators have been used for the series, each of whom was at some point a guest star on Doctor Who proper. As of 2010, the narrators have included: Simon Pegg, Anthony Stewart Head, Mark Gatiss, Noel Clarke and Alex Price. David Tennant directed one of the installments himself, and was the effective narrator of the same episode.

Cut Down
Most episodes of Confidential are later re-edited into a version called Confidential Cut Down, chiefly for the purposes of inclusion on each series' DVD boxed sets. These versions have most licenced music removed, as well as clips and interviews featuring the first eight Doctors. These versions run approximately 10-15 minutes and are often used for the repeat broadcasts on BBC3. (The North American versions of the Series 1-4 box sets group the Confidential Cut Downs on one disc.)

Cut Down editions generally are not included on the single-disc "vanilla" releases issued in the UK and (in the case of Series 1) North America, with the exception of the DVD releases of Voyage of the Damned and The Next Doctor which both included their respective Confidentials.

Special episodes
One special episode of Confidential, "Music and Monsters", looked at the making of the November 2006 "Doctor Who: A Celebration" charity concert. It was the first, and for several years only, Confidential episode to be released in its entirety on DVD.

An installment of Confidential was produced to coincide with the 2008 Christmas special, The Next Doctor, followed by a second non-episode-based installment of Confidential on 3 January 2009, during which Matt Smith was announced as the Eleventh Doctor.

The Confidential installment produced for the 2009 Easter special, Planet of the Dead is significant as it was included at full-length on both the UK and North American DVD releases, including footage from several classic series episodes including the licensing-challenged 1996 TV movie and several snippets of licensed music -- elements that in the past have been removed from the "Cutdown" versions. It was also the first Confidential to be made available in the Blu-Ray format. The subsequent Complete Specials DVD/Blu-Ray box set included the full-length, unedited Confidential installments for the four 2009 specials, plus the one for The Next Doctor (which had been omitted from the standalone DVD release of that episode) which was up-converted to high-definition for Blu-Ray release.

Episodes not released to home video
The non-canonical mini-episode Tonight's the Night, which aired in May 2009, was accompanied by a Confidential-style behind-the-scenes segment, though it's not known if the regular Confidential team were involved in its creation. As of 2011, the behind-the-scenes material has never made it to home video.

The only "proper" installment of Confidential never released to home video in some format is the Eleventh Doctor episode that aired in January 2009 to introduce Matt Smith.

Broadcast usage outside of Britain
In the US, some PBS affiliates aired installments of Doctor Who Confidential in conjunction with their broadcasts of Series 3 and Series 4 episodes. Cut Down versions have also been available on the BBCA website, as well as the channel itself, since they obtain the North American broadcast rights during the 2009 Specials.