Question about the episode length of BBC show

[edkwon]

Just wondering since the BBC channels are supposed to be advertisement free, except for breaks from station IDs.

For example Top gear is an hour long show, right? and my downloaded rips for TG come pretty close to 1 hr (about 55-56 min depending) but Doctor Who, another premier BBC program thats also 'hourlong' only comes out to about 45 min an ep, which is the typical length of an hour long program on a network w frequent commerical breaks.

I know Fifth Gear is on channel five which is ad breaks, hence its sub 50 min length per ep as well. So why are shows like TG a full hour why Doctor Who comes up short?

I think even other BBC shows like Torchwood and Life on Mars were a full hour per ep.

[teeb]

Originally Posted by edkwon

Just wondering since the BBC channels are supposed to be advertisement free, except for breaks from station IDs.

For example Top gear is an hour long show, right? and my downloaded rips for TG come pretty close to 1 hr (about 55-56 min depending) but Doctor Who, another premier BBC program thats also 'hourlong' only comes out to about 45 min an ep, which is the typical length of an hour long program on a network w frequent commerical breaks.

I know Fifth Gear is on channel five which is ad breaks, hence its sub 50 min length per ep as well. So why are shows like TG a full hour why Doctor Who comes up short?

I think even other BBC shows like Torchwood and Life on Mars were a full hour per ep.

Doctor Who has, since being reborn 4 years ago, always been 45 minutes long per episode. Just the way things are. Although a couple episodes go up to 50.

It makes it easier to sell abroad, but I guess it's just a matter of how much time they want to fill.

There's no strict rules that say "you have to use up an hour". Just an hour is the average time taken by drama programmes on the Beeb. Torchwood, by the by, runs to 50 minutes.

[edkwon]

Originally Posted by teeb

Doctor Who has, since being reborn 4 years ago, always been 45 minutes long per episode. Just the way things are. Although a couple episodes go up to 50.

It makes it easier to sell abroad, but I guess it's just a matter of how much time they want to fill.

There's no strict rules that say "you have to use up an hour". Just an hour is the average time taken by drama programmes on the Beeb. Torchwood, by the by, runs to 50 minutes.

That's pretty different from american tv, but thanks for the info.