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Have you ever dreamt

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you had the power of magical flight?

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As a child I was exposed

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to two very beautiful [br]and extensive mythologies.

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I grew up immersed in the classical myths[br]of ancient Greece,

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and the dreamtime [br]of the Australian aboriginal people.

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So I developed an addiction

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for grand, interconnected narratives

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that involved magical flight[br]and time travel.

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I was inspired by these stories [br]of gods, heroes and spirits,

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facing and conquering[br]terrifying monsters,

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travelling across the landscape,[br]singing the world into existence.

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My childhood was one long road trip[br]through antiquity.

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So these stories were passed down[br]to me orally

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in the very sacred places[br]where the stories took place.

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Here I am having a family picnic[br]on Mount Olympus,

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where the Greek gods lived –[br]Well, they weren't actually real,

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but for me as a child,[br]they felt so close and so alive.

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So I learnt from a very young age[br]the importance

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of being able to elegantly[br]blur fiction with reality.

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Mythology is important.

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Every culture has their myths[br]to dream and live by.

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Every culture has this.

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So beyond entertainment and spectacle

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the function of myth[br]is to teach us to cope with loss.

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But what I loved most about myth[br]

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is that it prevented me [br]from thinking in a linear way,

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and an ideological shift[br]took place for me,

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from the contained and finite story

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with a very distinctive beginning,[br]middle and end

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to infinitely expanding story worlds,

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that force you to see[br]the inter-connectedness of everything.

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So with a childhood of being addicted[br]to these infinite worlds,

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you can imagine my delight[br]when jumping forward 25 years in time

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and I've landed at this job at the BBC,

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where I'm given responsibility[br]for commissioning transmedia

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for the BBC's most iconic show: [br]Dr Who.

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As a child when I watched Dr Who,[br]I found it really scary,

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I used to watch behind the sofa.

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And occasionally[br]I still have to avert my gaze;

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the monsters still terrify me.

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That's because [br]the essence of Dr Who

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has stayed constant[br]across its 48-year history.

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It's the longest running[br]science fiction series ever created

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and its longevity is due to the fact that[br]it's more than just sci-fi:

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it's an anthology show.

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It crosses all genres[br]from drama to horror to comedy

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and it's created to thrill [br]the child in all of us.

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And of course, who doesn't want [br]to take a magical time ride

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to save the world as indeed [br]the Doctor does in every episode.

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Who is the Doctor?

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He's a Time lord[br]who travels back and forth in time

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in a police box Time Machine,

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tiny on the outside, massive [br]on the inside, called the Tardis.

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The first time I visited[br]the Dr Who's setting in Wales,

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it was definitely a career highlight.

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There I was in the Tardis[br]with the Doctor's sonic screwdriver,

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amazing,

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such is the magical sway of the story.

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I knew I was on a set

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but at that moment, once again,[br]fiction and reality blurred

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and I thought to myself,

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"How fantastic would it be[br]to give all Dr Who fans

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this experience of not [br]just watching the show,

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but being able to step into this[br]deep mythological space for themselves.

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What if you could actually be the Doctor[br]and save the Universe?"

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So this is the motive [br]that led us to design

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the Dr Who adventure games.

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In 2010 the BBC created [br]17 episodes of Dr Who.

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13 TV episodes and 4 extra episodes[br]that were actually games,

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3 hours of extra game play[br]within each.

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This has been,[br]I think, a very unique moment

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in television and transmedia history

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to finally have this type of seamless[br]TV transmedia story world integration.

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One of my favourite moments

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was when I took [br]the game's designers to the Tardis

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to collaborate with the show's team.

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Charles, the game writer, asked,

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"What's that door over there?",

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and they replied,[br]"That's your door. Take it, use it

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do what you like with it,

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take the Doctor to places that [br]we can't take him on the telly".

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So, in that moment, after years [br]of working across the silos,

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traditional media organisations,

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desperately trying [br]to get people to understand

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how transmedia[br]couldn't reach their stories,

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In that moment we'd finally achieved,[br]what we thought was impossible,

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to get into the very DNA of a production[br]

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and create stories and characters [br]on par with the rest of the franchise.

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With these games we've managed[br]to future-proof the audience

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for the new generation of kids,

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but also to give the die-hard fans

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the ability to step into a Time Machine.

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I know I've been gushing in a very[br]Dr Who geeky manner right now

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about this show.[br]It's an occupational hazard!

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But, I think all the most amazing[br]and effective transmedia

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is born out of connecting[br]with your inner fan.

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Without the feverish passion of a fan,[br]you can't deliver the best experience.

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You've got to tap into[br]the collective unconscious,

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the muse, the universe, whatever [br]you want to call this unlimited energy

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that is the origin[br]of all grand narratives.

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I tried to get to [br]this non-verbal place.

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At the core of the story, where I'm not[br]thinking but feeling.

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It's like learning a new language.

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Once you start [br]dreaming in a language,

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you know you've finally mastered it.

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As story-tellers we need to we need to tap[br]into mythology

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to reach into this collective unconscious

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and tell the stories that matter,

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the stories that help people deal[br]with the secret pains of life,

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that no one is immune to

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the things we all have to face[br]at some point of love and loss,

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and love and loss,

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this never-ending dance of life.

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It's in the most recent[br]episode of Dr Who:

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the Doctor is lamenting[br]his impending death,

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for even Time lords[br]can't avoid this very real pain.

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We can use transmedia to try[br]ideas out in a game space

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before the real world

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to understand consequences,

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to connect with each other through[br]magic travels through time and space.

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Magical mythologies are an essential tool[br]

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to helping people through the cycle of life.

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It's the perfect way to ease people

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through beginnings,[br]endings and transitions

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in a way that leads[br]to actual change in their life.

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At the beginning of my life,

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my mother told me stories

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to help me cope [br]with the years ahead of me;

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of the Greek gods and how [br]they dealt with life's traumas.

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At the end of her life,

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I told her stories that helped her[br]confront her last days with courage.

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What if we could comfort, inspire and[br]encourage each other with transmedia?

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What if we could take[br]that Dr Who approach,

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that successful recipe[br]of 48 years of entertaining,

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and find a unique way

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to add a magical layer[br]onto our very real world stories?

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(Applause)