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Beginning with the launch of the first series of the 2005 revival of Doctor Who, the BBC began releasing tie-in websites to coincide with both Doctor Who and Torchwood, distinct from the primary Doctor Who website. These sites were also referred to as spin-off sites[1] and fictional sites by official sources.[2]
Nature
The websites can be sorted into three categories: websites that are based upon counterparts within the television series; websites that have no counterpart from the television series but their respective company or group is; and those that are wholly out-of-universe websites.
The tie-in websites often directly linked to a concurrent series and/or story arc of the then-ongoing television series, such as the Who is Doctor Who? website depicting Mickey Smith's life during series one of Doctor Who and the Bad Wolf website providing an out-of-universe look on the Bad Wolf story arc, providung many false theories and explanations.
Not unlike alternate reality games, the tie-in websites employed "unfiction", a type of fiction that attempts to convince its readers that it is actually reality;[3] this was so effective the real world United Nations began taking legal action against the U.N.I.T. tie-in website and its creators, ultimately resulting in the UNIT acronym being changed.[4][5][6][7] The tie-in websites also featured certain production jokes that spurred much fan speculation.[1]
Archiving and status
As the websites were launched in the mid-2000s, they commonly utilised software such as Adobe Flash and Windows Media Player and RealPlayer, which are all now defunct and/or incompatible with older content, which has resulted in much of the non-prose material to become lost media. Furthermore, the BBC failed to pursue retaining the website domains for the majority of the tie-in websites, allowing "domain snipers" to purchase the domain and either put them up for sale or to host potentially malicious content. This Wiki advises you only visit these websites through the Wayback Machine.
As of 23 January 2023[update], one of the only websites still hosted by the BBC is Who is Doctor Who?, however the BBC's ownership of the domain is set to expire on 29 June 2023.[8] The domain of the U.N.I.T. website is set to expire on 23 November 2023.[9]
Doctor Who
Series 1
Production on the websites that coincided with series one seem to go as far back as 29 June 2004, with the registering of the domain "www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk".[8] The domain "www.unit.org.uk" was registered on 23 November 2004,[9] incidentally the 51st anniversary of Doctor Who. Production wise, the website created to coincide with The Christmas Invasion was clearly created during the rest of the series one websites.
According to James Goss, the website editor[6] four fictional websites were created in 2005,[2] evidently not counting Bad Wolf, which contained no original fiction.
| Image | Wiki Link | External Link | Release Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who is Doctor Who? | whoisdoctorwho.co.uk via the Wayback Machine | 25 March 2005 | The site was launched alongside TV: Rose. Over the course of the next few weeks, it was updated in tandem with series one of Doctor Who, often narratively tying into the other websites. | |
| U.N.I.T. | unit.org.uk via the Wayback Machine | ?? April 2005 | This site was launched alongside Aliens of London. | |
| GEOCOMTEX | geocomtex.net via the Wayback Machine | 6 May 2005 | This site was launched alongside Dalek. | |
| Bad Wolf | badwolf.org.uk via the Wayback Machine | 5 June 2005 | A wholly out-of-universe website based around discussion of the Bad Wolf arc. | |
| British Rocket Group | guinevere.org.uk via the Wayback Machine | 18 December 2005 | This website was launched alongside The Christmas Invasion |
Series 2
In mid 2006, the BBC released a survey about Doctor Who, to which they received many positive responses regarding the spin-off sites with many "comments and suggestions" for the future of the sites. The official response to the survey announced that new websites were being developed.[1] One of the most positive responses about the Doctor Who website were the "games and those fictional sites", so it was decided that for 2006, the BBC would be combining the two. James Goss,[2] the website editor,[6] announced in Doctor Who Magazine that each week, readers would have a mission, being sent to "a vast online world of secret organisations, [...] hidden footage, and ice cream parlours", to help Mickey Smith. Goss billed Joseph Lidster as the writer and Rob Francis as the producer, who were working in association with the games company Sequence to develop series two's tie-in websites.[2]
| Image | Wiki Link | External Link | Release Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defending the Earth! | whoisdoctorwho.co.uk via the Wayback Machine | March 2006 | The relaunched Who is Doctor Who? website. | |
| Cybus | cybusindustries.net via the Wayback Machine | May 2006 | This website was launched alongside Rise of the Cybermen. |
Series 3
When series three began broadcasting, the BBC continued to release tie-in websites, but not to the same frequency.
| Image | Wiki Link | External Link | Release Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martha Jones' MySpace blog | myspace.com/marthajonesuk via the Wayback Machine | 23 March - 3 July 2007. | This tie-in website, unconventionally but not without precedent, utilised the real world blogging platform MySpace to host the prose story that depicted Martha Jones's perspective of series three. |
Series 4
No official tie-in websites were released for series four of Doctor Who, thus ending the era.
| Image | Wiki Link | External Link | Release Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | adiposeindustries.com via the Wayback Machine | N/A | It appears that the BBC registered a domain for Adipose Industries, however this seemed to have been abandoned. |
Torchwood
Series 2
Fan-made websites
The following websites are fan made and thus cannot be covered on this Wiki. They are listed here so no errors in their coverage can be made.
- Flydale North Constituency was a website released in 2005 styled to look like the personal website for Harriet Jones.
- Powell Estate Tenants and Residents Association website was a website styled to look like the official website for the Powell Estate.
- Cybus Industries was a website launched in 2022 as part of pastiche on Doctor Who and English/American politics. "Cybus Industries" was run by CEO Elon Magpie.[10] This parody was initally believed to be an official BBC marketing campaign,[11][additional sources needed] but this was proven false, especially as the Twitter account associated with the parody marked itself as such.[12]
Gallery
Defending the Earth!
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Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Website survey results on bbc.co.uk
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 DWM 367 - Production Notes
- ↑ The Mysterious World of Unfiction and Immersive Storytelling on The Emerald
- ↑ Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Terms of Use (original) on unit.org.uk via the Wayback Machine
- ↑ A History of the Universe in 100 Objects
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 James Goss on Twitter via the Wayback Machine
- ↑ DWM 360 - Production Notes
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 whoisdoctorwho.co.uk on Whois
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 unit.org.uk on Whois
- ↑ Doctor Who Fans Have Brought Cybus Industries To Life In Mock Campaign on The Gamer
- ↑ ‘Doctor Who’ Might Bring Back Cybus Industries, Here’s How on Fangirlish
- ↑ Cybus Industries (parody) on Twitter