BBC Wants Virgin Ads with David Tennant Axed

There’s a new commercial for TiVo floating around with past Doctor Who actor David Tennant, but if it was up to the BBC this ad would cease to exist.

After several references to the popular BBC show Doctor Who in the new Virgin ads, BBC bosses aren’t pleased and are demanding the Virgin TiVo ads be stricken from airing. According to the BBC, the commercial goes against the TV ad rule by making references to the BBC owned show, and they’re convinced that Virgin is trying to make money off of the show while advertising the TiVo service.

The Virgin TiVo advert shows Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson going back in time in a similar contraption to the Tardis machine that Doctor Who uses to time travel in. While the commercial runs, actor David Tennant is also seen explaining the services of TiVo and selects his Doctor Who shows to tape, which features the show’s name and emblem in said commercial.

The tag line in the Virgin TiVo advert is “Follow the Doctor and his sidekick as they go on more time-travelling adventures.” While Tennant is demonstrating the services, Virgin boss Branson is seen carrying out various repairs to the time traveling machine, and in a comical twist the boss returns as a younger version of himself.

The BBC’s guidelines state:

The BBC’s guidelines state: “We should ensure that the BBC brand is not used to endorse outside companies or organisations. “We can achieve this by ensuring commercial advertising, promotion and press releases by outside companies do not give the impression of BBC endorsement, and advertising does not “pass off” BBC programmes.”

Do you think the Virgin TiVo ads are in conflict of this? See for yourself.