BBC (in-universe)
The BBC (short for British Broadcasting Corporation), sometimes known as the Beeb, was an Earth television network. It was based in the United Kingdom and was founded in the 20th century.
History
On 14 July 1930, the BBC broadcast a television adaptation of The Man with the Flower in His Mouth by Luigi Pirandello. This was the first television drama to be produced in the United Kingdom. Provided that the broadcast was successful, the BBC considered producing an adaptation of Black Orchid by George Cranleigh. (PROSE: The Wheel of Ice)
On 2 June 1953, the BBC broadcast live coverage of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II from Alexandra Palace. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern)
The science fiction television series Nightshade, starring Edmund Trevithick as the title character, ran on the BBC from 1953 to 1958. It was rebroadcast on BBC2 in December 1968. (PROSE: Nightshade)
A BBC News bulletin on 15 October 1957 reported on the recent launch of Sputnik, Earth's first artificial satellite, by the Soviet Union. (AUDIO: Unregenerate!)
On a Saturday in November 1963, Ace briefly watched BBC television at Mike Smith's house. At 5:15, a new science fiction series was about to start airing, whose name started with Doc—. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
In 1966, BBC newsreader Kenneth Kendall reported on the War Machine crisis and announced when the first machine had been destroyed. (TV: The War Machines)
Circa the 1970s, BBC3 broadcast live, on the public affairs programme The Passing Parade, the opening of the Devil's Hump. (TV: The Dæmons)
In 1976, UNIT, members of the band Plasticine, the Seventh Doctor, Bernice Summerfield and Ace broke into the BBC in an attempt to stop a Vardan invasion. (PROSE: No Future)
In 1996, the Blue Peter garden was destroyed by a member (or members) of Faction Paradox, the effect of which was a far more intense psychological reaction than any direct assault on the people's psyche. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two)
While in 2001, Fitz Kreiner noted to himself that even the BBC logo had changed since the 1960s into a blocky square style. (PROSE: Escape Velocity)
By 2003, Jocelyn Stevens, still under the influence of BOSS, had become Director-General of the BBC, with an interest in interactive and digital broadcasting. (HOMEVID: Global Conspiracy?)
At some point, BBC Wales produced a documentary about Flight 405. (AUDIO: Flight 405)
In 2005, the BBC correspondents Francis Currie and Scott Christie were among the newscasters reporting on alien attacks and civil unrest in London. Right after the live broadcast of the Deputy PM Meena Cartwright, the BBC was knocked off the air when an ICIS-brainwashed suicide bomber attacked it during a live broadcast, killing Christie. Currie referred to the attack as a "double-whammy" propaganda move. (AUDIO: The Coup, The Longest Night)
In 2006, the BBC did a news report on the alien crash in the Thames. (TV: Aliens of London) On Christmas of that year, the BBC broadcasted Prime Minister Harriet Jones's address to Great Britain rather than the traditional greeting by the monarch (in this case, Elizabeth II). (TV: The Christmas Invasion)
In 2007, the BBC broadcasted a news story to warn people of the Cybermen. (TV: Army of Ghosts) The Cybermen took control of all the TV channels, including the BBC, to broadcast their message of world domination around the globe. (TV: Doomsday)
In 2007, a BBC News bulletin reported that the United States and United Kingdom governments were anticipating final victory in the Iraq War in the near future. (AUDIO: Unregenerate!)
In 2008, the Saxon Master broadcasted his message about contact with alien life through the BBC. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
In the 2000s, the channel also reported highly destructive cataclysms (TV: Revenge of the Slitheen, The Lost Boy) and emergencies such as the ATMOS disaster, (TV: The Poison Sky) the Earth's abduction, (TV: The Stolen Earth) and the Zodiac brainwashing. (TV: Secrets of the Stars)
In 2009, the BBC covered the 456 crisis. (TV: Children of Earth)
In 2012 the Eightfold Truth purchased the BBC centre and converted it into the headquarters of their cult. (AUDIO: The Eight Truths)
Clara Oswald liked to use the TARDIS to catch up on missed BBC television programmes. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
In 2015, the BBC broadcast a clip posted online of a man in London transforming into a Zygon.
BBC Radio 4 once interviewed Bishop, and the experience boosted his ego. (PROSE: Iris Wildthyme and the Unholy Ghost)
By the 2060s, the BBC had turned into the British Film and Television Corporation; following the Myloki war, its London headquarters were used as a covert base for SILHOET. (PROSE: The Indestructible Man)
Parallel universes
Beep the Meep travelled to a parallel universe, in which the Doctor's universe existed only as part of a BBC science fiction television series called Doctor Who, on 12 October 1979, and took control of the BBC Television Centre. The Eighth Doctor and his companion Izzy Sinclair defeated Beep with the help of the actor Tom Baker, who infuriated him with his endless rambling. Strangely, Baker both physically resembled the Fourth Doctor and played him on the television series. The Doctor learned the truth when he discovered the first issue of Doctor Who Weekly. (COMIC: TV Action!)
In another parallel universe, the BBC shut down after the sun died and the Earth began hurtling aimlessly through space. The Prime Minister, Margo Kinnear, made her final address before the end of broadcasting. (AUDIO: The Endless Night)
In a parallel reality designed to trap Panda, Mariella Frostrup from BBC Radio 4 tried to interview Panda. (PROSE: Framed)
On the Inferno Earth the BBC was renamed the Republican Broadcasting Corporation (RBC) in the 1940s, (PROSE: I, Alastair) although it reverted to its original name sometime after 1968. (PROSE: Still Lives) The corporation's radio channels mostly carried news and martial-style music while television was the primary instrument of propaganda, (PROSE: I, Alastair) often airing sensationalist documentaries and chat shows such as Occult Secrets of the Nazis and Chorley's People ridiculing groups the government disapproved of such as occultists and cross-dressers. On this Earth the corporation carried advertising. (PROSE: Still Lives)
In Pete's World, John Lumic managed to get the BBC disbanded, allowing Cybusnet™ to stand as the only world-scale information provider. (PROSE: Lumic)
References
The Sixth Doctor told Frobisher that he had been threatened by experts, including, among others, BBC producers. (COMIC: The Shape Shifter)
The Ninth Doctor once attempted to pass off as a representative of the BBC Transworld Service. (AUDIO: The Bleeding Heart)
Behind the scenes
In the real world, the British Broadcasting Corporation is the dominant television and radio broadcast entity in the United Kingdom and a global entertainment company. Currently, the BBC operates multiple TV networks and radio stations, many of which have broadcast Doctor Who-related content over the years.
Its main television channel is currently known as BBC One. It was on BBC One that Doctor Who aired from 1963 to 1989 and again since 2005. It was also the home network of Torchwood in the latter part of its run.
Other BBC channels
- BBC Two
- BBC Three - initial home network of Torchwood and Doctor Who Confidential.
- BBC Four - Has shown a number of repeats, including The Hand of Fear
- CBBC - Children's network; broadcaster of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
- BBC Radio
- BBC Radio 7 (now BBC Radio 4 Extra) - Original broadcaster of the first season of Big Finish's Eighth Doctor Adventures.
The BBC has also branched out into other media, including: BBC Audio, which has issued a number of soundtrack recordings from the series, as well as original audio dramas; BBC Video, which has issued episodes and documentaries to the home video market; and BBC Books, which has published original Doctor Who fiction since 1996.
BBC Worldwide is a branch of the BBC that oversees syndication of programmes such as Doctor Who, as well as overseas production ventures.
BBC Studios is a global business of scale, able to fund, create, distribute and commercialise premium content for the BBC both in the UK and internationally.
The BBC is also connected to several North American cable networks that air Who-franchise programming, including BBC America (United States) and BBC Kids (Canada), although these broadcasters are not considered to be directly part of the parent BBC.
