Jul 5 2008 by Nathan Bevan, South Wales Echo
THE Daleks may have taken over the Earth, leaving David Tennant’s Doctor facing an uncertain fate, but that’s not why anxious sci-fi fans jammed phone lines across the country last Saturday.
Instead, the on-screen appearance of the Time Lord’s very own mobile number in the penultimate episode of the current run of Doctor Who, which is filmed in and around Cardiff, resulted in a flood of calls from Who-heads desperate for a one-to-one chat with their favourite Gallifreyan.
The number 07700 900461 flashed up as mankind desperately tried to make contact with the TARDIS and alert The Doctor to the evil invasion plans of Dalek leader Davros.
But although Martha, Sarah Jane and the Torchwood gang managed to get him on the phone, inquisitive fans were disappointed to find their calls going unanswered.
“Grrr – I phoned the Doctor’s phone number but there was just an annoying network message,” grumbled one poster on the show’s internet forum page.
“What’s the point in showing a phone number if you're not gonna use it?!”
However, some more inquisitive fans – 2,500 of them to be precise – managed to get to the bottom of the mystery.
And, no, they didn’t use a sonic screwdriver.
They simply logged onto the website of telecoms watchdog Ofcom and, after teleporting into the Telephone Numbers For Drama Purposes section, realised that the Doctor’s number wasn’t real after all, but, in fact, made up for telly.
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