Thousands of Doctor Who fans were left confounded on Friday evening when strange things began happening to the BBC show's official website and its official Twitter account simply vanished into thin air.
Before the Twitter account disappeared – leaving fans visiting it with the message: "@bbcdoctorwho: This account doesn’t exist. Try searching for another" – there was one final cryptic message: "++ Can you hear me?! ++".
But the mysteries did not finish there. The official Doctor Who Facebook account disappeared, along with its Instagram account, leaving fans desperately searching for clues as to what was going on.
Early this morning (Saturday), the Doctor Who website had lost all its information, with a simple one-page screen displaying the wording: "Oh my giddy Aunt! The stuff, it's gone wibbly (1313)". The number 13 tallies with the forthcoming 13th series of the popular programme, with fans speculating that this is all a publicity stunt leading up to an announcement, possibly on Wednesday (October 13).
According to the blogging account blogtorwho.com, the wise money is on dismissing conspiracy theories about hacking and cyber attacks. It says: "This appears to be a deliberate bit of stealth marketing ahead of Series 13. And it certainly seems to have worked, with #DoctorWho and #WhereIsDoctorWho trending across social media, and hundreds of posts speculating about exactly what was going on."
Series 13 will be broadcast soon, with Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor making her final appearance in the show. A recent publicity shot showed Whittaker standing with her companions, played by Mandip Gill and the comedian John Bishop.
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
