Jodie Whittaker's Doctor Who to be broadcast on Sundays

Jodie Whittaker's first series of Doctor Who is to move from its traditional Saturday night slot, the BBC has confirmed.

The 10-episode run will be broadcast on Sunday evenings, starting on 7 October.

An hour-long episode titled The Woman Who Fell To Earth will launch the series.

It's likely that the transmission day change to Sunday has been made in order ensure the series has a regular, earlier time slot.

Previous series have sometimes seen the show's transmission time varying from week to week, something that may now be avoided.

While Saturday nights are often seen as the showcase for some of TV's biggest shows, in recent years Sunday night programmes have often delivered some of the week's highest ratings.

'Brand new era'

The most watched programme of 2017 was BBC One's Blue Planet II, which was broadcast on a Sunday night. And in recent weeks Bodyguard has achieved the highest launch ratings for any new drama since 2006.

Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content said: "With Chris Chibnall at the helm and Jodie Whittaker's arrival as the new Doctor, we are heralding a brand new era for the show and so it feels only right to give it a new home on Sunday nights at the heart of BBC One's Autumn schedule."

Meanwhile, BBC Studios, which makes the time travel drama, has been criticised by many fans after entertainment website Cultbox was threatened with legal action for reporting the launch date a day before the BBC's announcement.

The site had referenced an official page for the BBC series on the iTunes store, which had published the launch date.

A cease and desist letter sent on behalf of the BBC said that they considered the now removed story on Cultbox contained "classified information", that it constituted "a breach of a trade secret".