User:LauraBatham/Sandbox

#FindTheDoctor was an alternate reality game (ARG, for short) that began releasing content in late 2021 as a promotion for the forthcoming Series 13. The ultimate goal was to determine the password to a hidden page on the official Doctor Who website. Each clue revealed one or more letters that were highlighted in some way, and were sometimes accompanied by a hint towards finding the next clue. The highlighted letters formed the password, DC5EGYVANVETE, leading to a publicity shot of Jodie Whittaker and a webcast which revealed a teaser for the main villain for the upcoming season.

Clue content was a mixture of online and real-world items, though the real-world items had some online form of record.

Game announcement and first clue
On 26 July 2021, a teaser for Series 13 was released. At he end of this teaser, faintly written text was hidden in the black background accompanying the Doctor Who logo. This text read "/mystery", leading fans to a web page on the Doctor Who website, which announced the event and was where users were to input the eventual password. The announcement message also revealed the first clue, the letter  D  in the word "hidden" was highlighted, and stated that "it begins: 13:13.13", hinting that further clues would be revealed on 13 August at 1.13PM (13.13 in 24 hour time).

On mobile devices, the "/mystery"-page was also found to contain a hidden instance of the word "FRED", which was almost the nickname the Fourth Doctor gave Romanadvoratrelundar. Curiously, the "Inspect Element" password for the page was "X4G6H66TZ114Z33H19K6", which holds the exact amount of letters as the Time Lord’s full name. However, this did not seem to be related to the password.

A Message from Yaz
On 13 August, posted at precisely 13:13 BST, the next clue was released as part of the webcast A Message from Yaz. The video ended with the text "The next clue is coming soon", with the  C  coloured red. The text accompanying the video on the page also had "C" capitalised.

John Smith's Google Maps reviews
The third clue came on 16 August with a promotional image for upcoming series, which was posted exactly at the time 13:13 and showed the Doctor, Yaz, and Dan in front of a graffitied wall. One part of the graffiti featured a set of co-ordinates for Yaz's Park Hill flat in Sheffield. The number  5  in the co-ordinates was coloured green, giving it away as the next clue.

These coordinates led to a Google Maps Park Hill photo from 3 August (uploaded by a user called "John Smith" as part of John Smith's Google Maps reviews) which contained a TARDIS that had "FIND ME 14/07" graffitied on it. The  E  was uniquely coloured red, making it the next clue. The photo was dated 13 February 2018, presumably the creation date of the file before being edited and posted, as the file name was "3973 Doctor Who 0102 Ep4_working_1a" and location shooting was recorded on that date for Series 12.

User "John Smith" (heavily implied to be the Doctor in at least their thirteenth incarnation) also had 5-star reviews for many buildings, published on 16 August 2021, referencing events of the show as well as the recently opened Time Fracture experience'':


 * BT Tower, seen in The War Machines.
 * Buckingham Palace, seen in various episodes. Smith describes the building as bigger on the inside, calling it "[thier] kind of building".
 * Canary Wharf, "home of Torchwood".
 * Cardiff Bay, the location of the time rift. Smith describes the place as being a good place to recharge, citing its "incredible energy".
 * Louvre, seen in City of Death. Smith states that they like to "pop back" every now and then to check that the Mona Lisa is still a fake.
 * London Eye, used as a transmitter in Rose.
 * Tower of London, referenced in various episodes. Smith says that they still can't get the TARDIS to land there, and mentions that they might visit Liz X.
 * "UNIT HQ", promoting the Time Fracture interactive production at the location.
 * Villa Diodati, seen in The Haunting of Villa Diodati. Smith refers to a meeting with Mary Shelly, and confuses the villa with that of Laura Whitmore, a reference to Love Island.
 * Shakespeare's Globe, seen in The Shakespeare Code. Smith says the Globe is "filled with magic".
 * Pendle Hill, seen in The Witchfinders. Smith warns people not to get stuck in the mud.
 * Thames, referencing the Frost fair in Thin Ice.
 * St Paul's Cathedral. Smith recalls catching up with an "old friend" who had "quite the change of hearts".
 * Trafalgar Square. Smith calls it a "lovely forest", referencing In the Forest of the Night.
 * The Shard, seen in The Bells of Saint John. Smith calls it a lovely place for a drive.
 * Statue of Liberty, seen in The Angels Take Manhattan. Smith says that they swore they saw it move.
 * Alexandra Palace, seen in The Idiot's Lantern. Smith says it is a great place to watch the coronation.

The profile indicated that 4 more reviews were posted but they did not show up.

On 20 August, "John Smith" left a 5-star review for the Science Museum, stating to have forgotten something there.

La Boîte Bleue
Another letter was obtained by finding an Instagram, dated 14 July, from the Doctor Who account, which depicted the Thirteenth Doctor holding up a piece of morse code reading "Liverpool Gallery". The letter  G  was highlighted.

Indeed, at the Liverpool Gallery, a painting entitled La Boîte Bleue showed a landscape featuring the TARDIS and an anachronistic rocket and landing module in the 1860s. The painting was accompanied by a fictional description, with an expanded version appearing on the museum's website detailing the Museum's bafflement and its efforts to figure out the painting's secret. The letter  Y  in the word "mysterious" was capitalised.

The painting was listed as "No. WAG Dr 1963", a reference to Doctor Who 's premier date.

Unknown object—RHCTDM-OEI-OLOAW/0209
John Smith's 20 August review led fans to the Science Museum, where the rocket and lander module from the La Boîte Bleue painting was found. Also at the museum, on the mezzanine level of the main shop, was a display called Unknown object—RHCTDM-OEI-OLOAW/0209 - an anagram of "DOCTOR-WHO-EMAIL and "0209", representing the date "2 September". The display depicted the Thirteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver, with the letter  V  capitalised in its accompanying description. The object was described as being made of Sheffield steel as well as an unknown substance, and capable of detecting and interpreting signals, open doors and even light candles.

Mary Shelley biography
On 2 September, the "Doctor Who Newsletter" sent an email which contained a series of capitalised letters, forming the anagram BHIRLRIATIYBRMASRY, which, if rearranged, was BRITISH LIBRARY MARY. Mary Shelley's page on the British Library website had the letter  A  capitalised in the bolded word "reach". The words "librarian" and "Doctor" were also highlighted in bold.

An almost complete mystery
Using the "reach.librarian.doctor" word combinations on What3Words led to coordinates to the National History Museum. The Museum had a page titled "An almost complete mystery" which displayed an item called "EPDUPSXIPNBH-TFQU" - a caesar cipher of "DOCTORWHOMAG-SEPT" - which had  N  capitalised in the text description. The object pictured was described as being of metallic origin encased in yellow amber, and one the rulers used to measure it was missing the number 6.

Mystery complete
The September 2021 issue of Doctor Who Magazine, namely DWM 569, contained a QR code to a "/message" page on the Doctor Who website that released info on the 16 September towards the next clue. This QR code was released alongside the legal information, within which the text #findthedoctor was hidden.

The clue was released on "/message" via an unlisted video on the Doctor Who YouTube Channel at exactly 13:13 BST. When played in reverse, it revealed the letter  V  in musical Morse code.

Using that same video unreversed, and running the music through the music identification app Shazam, revealed the final three letters of the password:  E ,  T  and  E , which were capitalised in the words "mystery complete".

The music featured in this clue was created by Igor Dvorkin, Ellie Kidd and Duncan Pittock.

Prize
The highlighted clues in order formed the password DC5EGYVANVETE, which when entered into the /mystery page on the Doctor Who website revealed a new publicity photo of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, and the webcast, A Message from the Doctor. This webcast featured the Doctor replying to Yaz's earlier message, and also hinted at an as yet to be identified villain in the upcoming series.

Even though the game was originally meant to be completed on 16 September 2021, the last clue containing the letters ETE wasn’t discovered until a few days later. However, the final password was still completed that day, when fans, by chance, looked in the public source code for the web page "/mystery" which had changed the regex "X4G6H66TZ114Z33H19K6" into "DC5EGYVANVETE", revealing the password.

On 24 September, the BBC released a statement video from Jodie Whittaker, thanking all the fans for getting involved in the ARG, and revealing that there would be more Series 13 news on the way.