Could Netflix lose ‘Doctor Who,’ ‘Luther,’ other British shows?

Netflix is known as a haven for many things these days, from providing the occasional great movie to also giving you so many great binge-worthy TV programs.

To us, though, one of its greatest benefits has been as a source of tremendous British television content that you do not have a chance to see often in other places. We’re not just talking about “Doctor Who” (which is becoming more omnipresent), but great series like “Luther,” “Top Gear,” and one of our favorite comedies of all time in “Fawlty Towers.” The issue here is that the contract for many BBC series on the streaming service ends on January 31, and there is no word yet (per TheWrap) on if this is going to change. Personally, a world without copious Idris Elba on Netflix is a very sad world, indeed.

If we were to inject our own personal opinion in here, it would be that a deal could still get done to keep the shows around. After all, Netflix has deep pockets, and plenty of interested parties hoping to watch all of these BBC hits whenever they want. The only thing we wonder is that with them bringing on “Friends” and with them housing so many original series these days, aren’t there going to be casualties somewhere? We would have to believe so, especially with more and more networks pulling content for use in their own a-la-carte services like with what CBS is doing right now.

If you are invested in keeping the shows around, our advice is to hope, keep watching them, and also make sure Netflix knows how you feel about them. They’ve shown many times before that they listen to their consumers.

We’ll have more on this story soon, but for now, sign up to get some further TV updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Netflix.)