It’s a sweltering Saturday afternoon, and a steady stream of people is starting to trickle into the cinema: families, young couples, guests stocking up on popcorn. Prosecco is bought, and there is a sense of tentative excitement in the air. As people queue up for tickets, conversations spring up between those in line: who is your favourite Doctor? What do you think of the season so far? It’s cinema, but not as you know it.
The Castle Cinema in Hackney, east London, is the latest venue to add live TV episodes to its scheduling, starting with last Saturday’s Doctor Who finale, “The Reality War”. Teacher Blair, 44, is attending with his partner Kheya and son Brodie; like everyone I speak to, it’s their first time seeing a live TV episode in the cinema. “We watch Doctor Who as a family every single week,” he says. “I don’t know if I would come and see it [here] on a weekly basis, but as a finale concept, I think that’s really cool.” Kheya adds: “We wanted to see it on the big screen. We really like the soundtrack – we went to see the music performed at the Royal Albert Hall last year.” (Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor is “amazing”, they agree, and while they like Varada Sethu as companion Belinda, “the dynamic between the Doctor and the companion in general feels a bit dated”.)
