Public consciousness
BBC applied for the TARDIS trademark in what year?
Doctor Who
It has been suggested that the transmission of the first episode was delayed by ten minutes due to extended news coverage of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy the previous day; whereas in fact, it went out just eighty seconds late. Because it was believed that the coverage of the events of the assassination as well as a series of power blackouts across the country may have caused too many viewers to miss this introduction to a new series, the BBC broadcast it again on 30 November 1963, just before the broadcast of episode two. The programme soon became a national institution in the United Kingdom, with a large following among the general viewing audience. Many renowned actors asked for, or were offered and accepted, guest-starring roles in various stories. With popularity came controversy over the show's suitability for children. Morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse repeatedly complained to the BBC in the 1970s over what she saw as the show's frightening and gory content. John Nathan-Turner, who produced the series during the 1980s, was heard to say that he looked forward to Whitehouse's comments, as the show's ratings would increase soon after she had made them. The phrase "Hiding behind (or 'watching from behind') the sofa" became coined and entered British pop culture, signifying in humour the stereotypical early-series behaviour of children who wanted to avoid seeing frightening parts of a television programme while remaining in the room to watch the remainder of it. The phrase retains this association with Doctor Who, to the point that in 1991 the Museum of the Moving Image in London named their exhibition celebrating the programme "Behind the Sofa". The electronic theme music too was perceived as eerie, novel, and frightening, at the time. A 2012 article placed this childhood juxtapose of fear and thrill "at the center of many people's relationship with the show", and a 2011 online vote at Digital Spy deemed the series the "scariest TV show of all time". During Jon Pertwee's second series as the Doctor, in the serial "Terror of the Autons" (1971), images of murderous plastic dolls, daffodils killing unsuspecting victims, and blank-featured policemen marked the apex of the show's ability to frighten children. Other notable moments in that decade include a disembodied brain falling to the floor in "The Brain of Morbius" and the Doctor apparently being drowned by Chancellor Goth in "The Deadly Assassin" (both 1976). A BBC audience research survey conducted in 1972 found that, by their own definition of violence ("any act which may cause physical and/or psychological injury, hurt or death to persons, animals or property, whether intentional or accidental") "Doctor Who" was the most violent of the drama programmes the corporation produced at the time. The same report found that 3% of the surveyed audience regarded the show as "very unsuitable" for family viewing. Responding to the findings of the survey in "The Times" newspaper, journalist Philip Howard maintained that, "to compare the violence of "Dr Who", sired by a horse-laugh out of a nightmare, with the more realistic violence of other television series, where actors who look like human beings bleed paint that looks like blood, is like comparing Monopoly with the property market in London: both are fantasies, but one is meant to be taken seriously. "The image of the TARDIS has become firmly linked to the show in the public's consciousness; BBC scriptwriter Anthony Coburn, who lived in the resort of Herne Bay, Kent, was one of the people who conceived the idea of a police box as a time machine. In 1996, the BBC applied for a trade mark to use the TARDIS's blue police box design in merchandising associated with "Doctor Who". In 1998, the Metropolitan Police Authority filed an objection to the trade mark claim; but in 2002, the Patent Office ruled in favour of the BBC.</ref>The programme's broad appeal attracts audiences of children and families as well as science fiction fans. The 21st century revival of the programme has become the centrepiece of BBC One's Saturday schedule, and has, "defined the channel". Since its return, "Doctor Who" has consistently received high ratings, both in number of viewers and as measured by the Appreciation Index. In 2007, Caitlin Moran, television reviewer for "The Times", wrote that "Doctor Who" is, "quintessential to being British". Director Steven Spielberg has commented that, "the world would be a poorer place without "Doctor Who"". On 4 August 2013, a live programme titled "Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor" was broadcast on BBC One, during which the actor playing the Twelfth Doctor was revealed. The show was simultaneously broadcast in the US and Australia.