The BBC have come under criticism from Doctor Who fans in South Korea in recent weeks after it was revealed that up to 50% of the tickets to the event, which is was originally scheduled to only seat around 200, were given to members of the TARDIS Crew Café (forum), criticism that has seemingly forced the BBC to upgrade the event in the country.
Speaking to DWW and echoing the thoughts of King Peng, Korean fan Jea Kyung Lee has reiterated that the original venue was too small to meet the demand from fans and that secret deals were struck between BBC representatives and Doctor Who forums in Korea, namely the TARDIS Crew Café, the biggest such forum in the country with nearly 25,000 members.
Lee alleges that the forum owners were in regular and direct private contact with representatives in the country and secured 100 tickets before any general release to the public. This coupled with allegations that business and media leaders were to be given priority from Peng had left a very worrying scenario for fans in the country where the show has become enormously popular.
On Monday BBC Worldwide announced a change in venue for the event, seemingly in the face of immense fan pressure in Asia. More than 1000 fans in Seoul will now have the chance to attend a fan event and watch Deep Breath in a new venue for the World Tour’s South Korean leg. The fan event will now take place on August 9 at the Grand Ballroom at 63 Building in Seoul.
Soojin Chung, GM, BBC Worldwide Korea said:
“Fans are at the heart of everything we do. We have listened to and taken our fans advice”, said “The new venue will allow many more fans to participate in the fan event and the contests we have planned will allow as many Doctor Who fans as possible to get their hands on tickets –whether they are in Seoul or not.”
Jyo Jin Kim of Texas Tech University explains the importance of the online community in South Korean fandom:
“The South Korean Doctor Who fandom has been largely built through online communities. Hundreds of online fan communities and thousands of blog postings related to Doctor Who have appeared on Korean portal sites such as NAVER and DAUM, which host fan-created Doctor Who cafés and blogs. A café is an online forum service where people can communicate and share their interests by posting pictures, music, and comments.”
Criticism from South Korean fans on social media surrounding the limited allocation of tickets and size of venue had threatened to overshadow much of the excitement of Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman visiting the country on August 9 prior to the launch of Series 8 and some claims may be made that the BBC had underestimated the popularity of the show in the country despite South Korea having named Doctor Who as their Most Popular Foreign Drama of the Year in 2009.
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