Doctor Who, Media Convergence & Transmedia Storytelling – Conclusion

The Doctor Who 50^th anniversary extended episode (The Day of the Doctor, Hurran, 2013) was viewed by over ten million viewers, which was the “fifth highest viewing figures since the show was revived by the BBC in 2005” (The Guardian, 2013, para. 2), but a decade later the series would struggle to match those numbers.

The Star Beast (Talalay, 2023), Wild Blue Yonder (Kingsley, 2023) and The Giggle (Button, 2023) averaged 4.84 million viewers overnight (TV Zone, 2024), though Jim Waterson highlights from the Ofcom report that “TV broadcast in a given week has declined from 83% in 2021 to 79% in 2022 . . . [the figure] even lower among 16- to 24-year-olds, with just 54% of young people watching any live television” (2023, para. 3), so it is difficult to compare 2013 to 2023, especially considering the post-COVID streaming boom (Lai, 2021).

Examples such as the video game tie-ins are a clear attempt to generate revenue for the series, but they also form a sense of ownership for fans, such as owning the physical trading cards for the Magic: The Gathering (Garfield, 1993) game.

Successful transmedia storylines were created through that of Time Lord Victorious and the earlier examples of The Sarah Jane Adventures (Davies et. al., 2007-2011) and Torchwood. The BBC have explored newer areas, such as the A Dalek Awakens escape room experience, or Daleks! YouTube animated series (Doctor Who, 2020) “[allowing] passive audiences to simply sit back and enjoy the parent show in blissful isolation, while at the same time [giving] active, migratory and participatory audiences opportunities to engage in a rich, and extended multimedia experience” (Perryman, 2008, p. 37).

The BBC has demonstrated a willingness to produce forms of media other than the traditional television series and novels and must do so to keep Doctor Who relevant. However, transmedia storytelling is not the first and only step to generate revenue, rather the other media these texts can encourage audiences towards.

Matt Hills writes that Torchwood operated “within the BBC’s institutional agendas and aims . . . channelling Torchwood’s fans towards Radio 4 . . . thereby boosting the younger audience and the demographic reach for the BBC’s upscale radio station” (2012, p. 414). This indicates the BBC planned to use Torchwood as a tool to raise audience figures with their pre-existing products and services.

Hills notes that the “use of transmedia material cannot be readily monetised by the BBC” as it would question their stance as a public service broadcaster (p. 414). This is supported by the Time Lord Victorious story, with each text directing an audience towards a different service, for example, after purchasing an audiobook on Audible, the platform may recommend more BBC-produced audiobooks for you to purchase.

The BBC’s partnership with Disney demonstrates their desire to evolve Doctor Who into a global sensation, providing two platforms (iPlayer and Disney Plus) to view the complete history of the Doctor on television and the official website to find new outlets such as animated shorts, books, comics, and games.

Russell T. Davies has expressed his desire to transform Doctor Who by “[shifting it] up a gear” (Davies, 2021, as quoted in Chilton, 2021, para. 5), and by giving it the same attention Disney gave to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars Universe.

With the production capabilities of Disney, it is certainly possible the “Whoniverse” will evolve into something resembling the structure of these franchises. These creative teams can work closely together to ensure a close continuity and avoid past examples of lack of communication between authors allowing them to surpass their previous achievements of producing “[their] most successful attempt at turning a transmedia strategy into a successful and sustainable reality” (Thompson, 2007, as quoted in Perryman, 2008, p. 22).