Doctor Who starring you! The BBC launches awesome new Facebook app

The BBC has launched a new Facebook app, allowing you to play the next Doctor Who, inserting your name and mugshot into the opening credits.

HTML5 video technology is used and accounts for the very slick results.

The app is fronted on the main Facebook page and ties in to the fiftieth anniversary of the Doctor and the celebratory episode airing on November 23.

By Ben Davis November 1st 2013 11:39

As a result of having to ‘like’ the Facebook page in order to become the Doctor, the page now has over 3.5m fans and is hoovering up user data as even non-fans like myself want to see how they might look as the saviour of our universe.

Doctor Who has been an incredible success for the Beeb and back before the relaunch of the series in 2003 it was difficult to see how a programme often regarded as naff could have managed it.

The success of the rebrand can be partly attributed to the marketing of the show, and the digital footprint of Doctor Who today is impressive.

Its website is rich with content and the Doctor is, of course, very active on social. Ahead of, and during, the reveal of Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor (I still have Zoe Ball’s get-excited-now bark of ‘Peter Capaldi’ ringing in my ears) Twitter and Facebook went crazy. Here’s a great article on the success of the launch and the avoidance of spoilers.

The YouTube trailer for the anniversary special has had 2.5m views in only a week, and the signs point to impressive ‘noise’ on the night. I’ve embedded it below, for your enjoyment.

The #savetheday hashtag is also starting to pick up social mentions ahead of the airing, which is also being broadcast in cinemas in the UK and US.

Go take a look at the Facebook app and add some suitable Doctor Who nostalgia/trivia in our comments below.

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