TARDIS "materialises" at Olympic Opening Ceremony

The eyes of the "universe" were focused upon London last night for the Opening Ceremony of the 30th Modern Olympic Games, with some 27 million viewers in the UK alone tuning in to watch a celebration of British iconography, including James Bond escorting the Queen to the Games and Mr Bean in Chariots of Fire. Doctor Who was also represented by the TARDIS materialisation sound effect complementing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody during the 1970s music section.

An additional segment to feature the theme tune itself had originally been planned but was dropped for timing reasons. However, a video montage did accompany the TARDIS within the Queen track during the technical rehearsal, though it appears to have been dropped for the live ceremony broadcast (available via BBC iPlayer until the 4th August, at about 1h01m10s). Doctor Who's brand manager Edward Russell clarified:

In Doctor Who lore, of course, the ceremony saw the Doctor himself light the Olympic Flame (Fear Her, 2006). In reality, the Olympic Cauldron (made up of 204 copper petals representing every country competing at the Games) was ignited by seven aspiring young athletes chosen by British Olympic champions.