The BBC is going to sell episodes of Dr Who and Red Dwarf that can be viewed on mobile phones.

Four shows will initially be made available, the classic 1983 Doctor Who special ‘The Five Doctors’ and three episodes of Red Dwarf including ‘Marooned’ and ‘Quarantine’ together with ‘Cassandra’, which was voted the best-ever episode by fans. The episodes will be sold for £16.99 on a 64Mb MMC card as a two-hour package, eliminating the need for any downloading.

"The bulk of the cost is the card itself, but that's falling fast and so will prices," said Stuart Furnival, head of retail at mobile entertainment firm Rok, which will be selling the cards.

"Already the price of the MMC cards has fallen 43 per cent in the last year due to volume production ramping up and we'll be passing on savings to our customers."

Furnival explained that at the moment the cards could only be viewed on Nokia phones, but as that was the largest market it made sense to concentrate their efforts. Talks are ongoing with other mobile manufacturers at the moment.

“BBC Worldwide is always looking for new opportunities, both in the UK and abroad, that allow consumers to enjoy their favourite TV content again and again, while delivering additional revenues to the BBC and to the talent behind the classic programming,” said Marc Humphrey, business development manager of BBC Worldwide.