BBC Red Button

BBC Red Button (formerly BBCi and BBCText) is an "on-demand" service, standard to all digital television installations in the United Kingdom. It derives its name from the fact that viewers access it by pushing a literal red button on their remote control. This action then drops down a menu in a box over the programme one is watching, allowing a viewer to pick from a variety of different "channels". Some of these channels are text-based and generally remain displayed over the main programme one is watching. Some are video based and can be optionally viewed as a picture-in-picture display, or simply chosen as a regular, full-screen channel would be.

Video content has been arguably the most important to Doctor Who, in that several events have debuted on the service. Scream of the Shalka was a sort of "test case" for the platform, in that it was created by the then-BBCi to a standard that could have been broadcast via the Red Button of the day. Ultimately, however, it received a web-only debut. Similarly, the animation of episodes 1 and 4 of The Invasion was originally a project paid for by BBCi for what is now called the iPlayer, the web-based presence of Red Button.

The BBC Wales version of the programme has taken more advantage of the Red Button itself, generally offering original programming during the Christmas season. Attack of the Graske was the first major piece of Doctor Who programming available on Red Button. Its 4:3 aspect ratio reveals the age of the piece, as Red Button adopted a widescreen ratio after its parent networks did. In 2007, a Cardiff concert of music from Doctor Who was exclusively premiered on Red Button. 2008 brought Dreamland to the Button.

The Red Button has also been used as a market tool to braodcast clips from upcoming episodes, such as when on 24th March 2010 they showed the first scene from The Eleventh Hour