Last week, the BBC voiced their concern over a Virgin Media advert starring Who star David Tennant, feeling that the commercial alluded to the show too much. In a joint statement, Virgin Media and BBC Worldwide have announced that the advert will be removed from the airwaves.

The advert for Virgin Media’s TiVo service upset the BBC, featuring Richard Branson using a prototype Virgin time machine, and Tennant paying particular attention to the Doctor Who related sections of the service. As the BBC is a public broadcaster and not able to air adverts or make commercial endorsements, they entered talks with Virgin to have the ad pulled.

Initially, the Doctor Who logo was removed from the advert, but the BBC pushed harder and the video was eventually pulled all together as “a gesture of good will.” In a joint press release, the companies addressed the issues.

“Virgin Media has listened to concerns raised by BBC Worldwide about perceived commercial endorsement by a BBC brand relating to the recent Virgin Media ad… As a gesture of goodwill, Virgin Media has agreed to withdraw the ad and BBC Worldwide is satisfied that the issue has been addressed.”

The advert will no longer air on British television, and has been removed from the Virgin youtube channel. David Tennant will continue to star in the advertisements, but alternative themes will be chosen instead. In case you missed the original video, there are still a couple floating around the internet. Check it out below!

Do you think the BBC were right to have the advert pulled, or were they overreacting?