360 degree Heroes

BBC has created landmark content to accompany their Heroes website and the TV series, in the same way creators of 24 introduced new characters and plotlines for mobile.

The Heroes Interactive introduces lawyer Bridget Bailey whose emails to Mohinder drop relevant clues to help users in an online game. Bridget is only available to UK audiences at present, although she is fast making her way across the Atlantic.

“Such has been its popularity that users in the UK are emailing their peers in the US (who are unable to access the games) and the investigation has now become a global collaboration. Fan sites such as 9th Wonders are alive with discussion, fan-fiction stories and there’s even talk that Bridget Bailey might make the transition from the internet to our television screens.” (BBC press release, accessed 13 September 2007)

Not being a BBC property, the concept required careful planning with the NBC creators.

“The character of Bridget Bailey was developed specifically for the site, and we had to run the storylines past the scriptwriters in the US so that we didn’t interfere with any of the existing or future mythology of the show,” explained BBC Drama senior content producer, Sarah Clay. (BBC press release, accessed 13 September 2007)

“As well as consulting with the script writers over potential conflicts, games, storyboards and concepts had to get sign-off from NBC Universal.” (BBC press release, accessed 13 September 2007)

BBC is to bring online more content tied to the show, including a radio show and mobile content.

A concept such as this will help to “deepen the viewers’ engagement with the programme,” Clay said.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.