1 Million Watch Dreamland

By Christian Cawley, December 16, 2009 - Doctor Who

The BBC’s interactive Red Button service – the home of many Doctor Who special features since 2005 – has become extremely popular over the last 12 months, with 11 million people utilising the service, according to the broadcaster.

Certainly in 2009 this can be partially attributed to Doctor Who – 1 million viewers used the Red Button service to watch the animated adventure Dreamland which starred David Tennant as the Doctor with Georgia Moffett and David Warner in guest roles. Previously trailers, an interactive game (Attack of the Graske) and the earlier animation The Infinite Quest have all appeared on the Red Button.

Red Button is also used to host BBC iPlayer on cable TV, and this looks set to be replicated on Freesat, with a beta trial currently in process ahead of a full rollout early next year.

BBC Red Button managing editor John Denton:

“It’s not just the amount of people using the service that has made this year so successful for this platform, BBC software engineers have extended Red Button technology to deliver BBC iPlayer to new audiences via Virgin Media and Freesat, allowing people to catch up with their favourite BBC programmes on their televisions in the living room.”

Curiously though Red Button has been removed from Freeview since October in order to make room for digital terrestrial HD service.

About the author

Christian Cawley

A long-term Doctor Who fan, Christian grew up watching the show and has early memories of the Graham Williams era. His favourite stories are Inferno, The Seeds of Doom and Human Nature (although The Empty Child, Blink and Utopia all come close). When he’s not bossing around the news team, Christian is a freelance writer specialising in mobile technology and domestic computing, and enjoys classic rock, cooking and spending time in the countryside with his wife and young children. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.