The Whoniverse
Client
BBC
Overview
In November 2023, BBC iPlayer launched the Whoniverse to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who. This was more than a content launch. It was the creation of a digital home for one of the BBC’s most iconic and enduring brands.
For the first time, audiences could access the entire Doctor Who universe in one place. More than 800 episodes, across 22 connected brands, were brought together in a cohesive and navigable experience. This included classic adventures, modern episodes, spin-offs such as Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, behind-the-scenes documentaries and newly commissioned companion programming.
We had an increasing number of linked brands within iPlayer — with no way of connecting them to each other — creating friction and despondency for our users. The strategic ambition was twofold. First, to celebrate and cement the BBC as the home of all things Doctor Who in the UK. Second, to establish a blueprint for how the organisation could bring its biggest brands and fandoms to life on iPlayer, uniting editorial vision, user needs and accessibility at scale.
The Whoniverse also carried a strong public service mission. Every single episode was made available with subtitles, audio description and signed versions. This represented an unprecedented commitment to accessibility and set a new industry standard.
For me, the Whoniverse was an opportunity to work at the intersection of strategy, storytelling and product design. It required close collaboration with editorial, commercial and commissioning teams, as well as shaping how iPlayer could evolve to support the BBC’s long-term franchise ambitions.
*That’s me rocking a derby hat ;)
Responsibilities:
With previous experience pitching to external clients and a strong ability to tell stories, I was chosen as the design strategist to lead this project alongside our commissioning team.
As Design Lead working closely with content, my responsibilities included:
Shaping the strategic vision for how franchise content should live on iPlayer
Defining priorities that balanced editorial ambition with user needs
Bringing together data, research and audience insight to guide decisions
Aligning product, editorial, marketing and accessibility teams behind a clear framework
Creating, shaping and leading two defining presentations for showrunner Russell T Davies
Approach:
We began with a clear challenge. Fans had a strong appetite for rewatching, yet iPlayer offered no connected way of experiencing the breadth of Doctor Who. Despite their passion, audiences faced friction and fragmentation.
Research confirmed this behaviour. Eighty-nine percent of Doctor Who viewing came from the back catalogue, showing that fans wanted to return to the characters and moments they loved. The experience needed to be structured around them, not around the BBC’s internal silos.
To address this, we centred our sprint around the customer voice. We built a picture of audience motivations when engaging with franchise content. This helped us identify what was essential for launch and what could follow later.
A defining part of the process was storytelling. I created and led presentations for Russell T Davies and his team, ensuring that the Whoniverse vision was championed by the showrunner himself. His involvement as a brand ambassador was critical in aligning stakeholders and giving the experience authenticity for fans.
What we delivered:
The MVP was shaped around a high-impact priorities that could launch in time for the anniversary:
A clear and consistent entry point on the iPlayer homepage through a bespoke Whoniverse banner
A dedicated landing page that brought together all Doctor Who content in one place, from the main series to spin-offs such as Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Doctor Who Confidential
Accessibility at scale, with every single episode available with subtitles, audio description and signed versions. This was an industry first and a significant public service achievement
A supercharged iPlayer experience that offered fans a never-before-seen ecosystem of more than 750 episodes, spanning the full history of Doctor Who
For our Web experience we brought together disparate destinations into one: a Doctor Who hub
A Doctor Who archive of photos, documents, video and audio brought together for the first time on a public service platform, freely and permanently available
The work demanded alignment across editorial, engineering, marketing and accessibility. We had just six months to deliver, which meant collaboration, rapid iteration and constant communication were critical to success.
Reaction
The audience response was immediate and powerful:
Weekly reach grew from 0.4 million to 1.3 million
97 million total viewer hours across the BBC, with 76 million on iPlayer
A 6 percent uplift in click-through rates, showing audiences explored more broadly
Long term retention of 51 percent, compared with an iPlayer average of 37 percent
Doctor Who became the top drama for under 35s in 2023, reaching 2.5 million young viewers
The archive collection generated more than 400,000 visits, with 8 percent of visitors following the brand
The accessibility work was particularly celebrated. For the first time, every single episode — from the earliest classics to the latest specials — was available with subtitles, audio description and signed versions. This was recognised as a landmark move for inclusivity and set a new industry standard.
The project also received praise from some of the most important voices connected to the show. Phil Collinson, actor and producer, was full of enthusiasm in Doctor Who Magazine:
“At last, the back catalogue of Doctor Who on one site! The entire production team had a Zoom on which the iPlayer team unveiled their plans, and we were gasping. Mid-Zoom, I texted Russell to say ‘Imagine being 8 years old and seeing all this!’ Imagine, you can hop from Master to Missy to Master. From the first Dalek story to the last. Every design of Cyberman! Robots from Chumblies to K9 to Professor Kettlewell's creation and those blue-skinned ones on Karfel. What a feast! And the fact that so much work has been put into subtitling and audio description makes me so proud. Doctor Who is for everyone.”
Reflections
Our efforts successfully reminded audiences of the enduring appeal of Doctor Who. The main series proved to be the gateway into everything else, with companion content like Unleashed creating social buzz and drawing in new audiences. Ncuti Gatwa’s arrival generated huge excitement among both long-standing fans and first-time viewers. All of this pointed towards the need for a more singular focus on building momentum around Series 1, and aligning with the broader BBC marketing strategy to deepen audience love.
For me personally, the project sparked valuable reflection on where I want to take my career. I realised how much I enjoy being involved in the early planning and strategy — shaping the bigger picture, seeing it come to life, and working closely with talent-facing teams. Presenting the Whoniverse story to Russell T Davies and securing his support as a brand ambassador showed the impact of having talent voices integrated into the strategy from the start.
Being able to join that journey early, and help shape the experience alongside Editorial, Commercial and Commissioning, made a tangible difference to the outcome. It was one of the most rewarding projects I have worked on.
It also highlighted a wider opportunity for the BBC. There is real value in having a dedicated role focused on connecting these teams at the outset, so that UX and audience insight can shape the brief rather than only refine the delivery. With major brands like Line of Duty expected to return to the spotlight, I believe we could apply this approach again to create experiences that are just as impactful.