Hello! Episodes should be added exactly as they first aired on the original network, in this case BBC Three. Both episodes will be available on Wed 10 Jul 2024 according to the official website.

@Davidal said:

Hello! Episodes should be added exactly as they first aired on the original network, in this case BBC Three. Both episodes will be available on Wed 10 Jul 2024 according to the official website.

Airdates for eps. 3-6 probably need to be locked until they are announced by Three.

Done! Feel free to re-open this report or create a new one once air dates for the rest of the episodes are announced.

Is this functionality only for when they air on live television? Because all episodes are already available for streaming on BBC iplayer since the release on 01-Jul-2024

I think this has to do with a rule called "digital preview", check this. We usually ignore digital previews for regular television series. On TMDB, the term "digital preview" for TV shows aired on regular TV means it was released digitally prior to the scheduled linear air date.

This feels strange to me, but it makes sense to have a blanket policy like this - though I think it might be a little outmoded by the fact that I think most people will watch it on streaming rather than on regular TV nowadays (I believe IMDB has the digital preview dates too).

Another point that isn't relevant to this project, but rather to ones that rely on this database for watch progress tracking, is that this policy makes it impossible to mark an episode as watched if seen in the digital preview if it officially "hasn't been released yet"… however that is more an issue for downstream projects rather than TMDB itself.

Thanks for the clarification!

I am not sure this qualifies as a digital preview: the rule says "usualy ignore" (not "always") and the examples given seem to relate to genuine previews where, each episode is released online before airing, especially pilots.

In this case the show was released released on 1 July 2024 on BBC iPlayer in the UK, Stan in Australia and ThreeNow in New Zealand, all digital platforms.

Wouldn't it make sense to treat it as a Netflix release? The BBC themselves says the show was adapted from the novel "for BBC Three and iPlayer".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0020bv6/a-good-girls-guide-to-murder?seriesId=m0020bv7 https://www.stan.com.au/watch/a-good-girls-guide-to-murder https://www.threenow.co.nz/shows/a-good-girl%2527s-guide-to-murder/1717557102898

If the series is broadcasted on regular TV (which is the case here on BBC Three), we always follow the dates of that regular TV release.

Understood. Under what circumstances would we reconsider this?

That rule made sense when broadcast was the norm and VOD was niche and mostly seen as catch up TV.

When VOD audience numbers outstrip broadcast and the BBC themselves aim to be a digital-first organisation, it may make sense to rethink the approach.

If the iplayer episode release was staggered, in the same weeks as they went to air, fair enough.

But when they decided to release the whole series Netflix-style in a single day, I'd say they clearly think VOD is the new regular.