After a long friendship, spanning more than 50 years, the universe has called the Doctor in a different direction and Doctor Who will no longer appear on the ABC beyond the current season.

The BBC has today announced a new partnership with Disney+ to continue the series.

ABC audiences can currently enjoy past seasons of Doctor Who, including the recent Centenary Special, on ABC iview.

We are incredibly grateful to the generations of Whovians who have enjoyed Doctor Who with us on the ABC.

Everyone at the ABC wishes the Doctor well on their adventures and we hope the Time Lord will visit us again at some stage in the future.

ABC1 is set to join more than 75 countries around the globe to simultaneously broadcast the highly anticipated Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special on Sunday November 24 AEDT (exact time TBC) and repeated at 7.30pm AEDT.

In a first for the world’s longest running and most successful sci-fi series, the feature-length special titled The Day of the Doctor, will be broadcast simultaneously to millions of viewers worldwide in a global television event.

From Cairns to Costa Rica, Perth to Poland, and Adelaide to Angola, Australian viewers will join over 75 countries across six continents as they enjoy the anniversary special at the same time as the UK broadcast.

Brendan Dahill, Controller ABC1 says: “ABC1 is thrilled to be part of this momentous global television event, celebrating 50 years of everyone’s favourite Time Lord.”

Steven Moffat, Showrunner for Doctor Who and Executive Producer of the 50th Anniversary episode said: “The Doctor has always been a time traveller - now he's travelling time zones. On the 50th anniversary, it won't be the bad guys conquering the Earth - everywhere it will be The Day of the Doctor!”

In addition to Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman, the one-off special stars former Time Lord David Tennant as well as Billie Piper, and John Hurt.