NEWS A Canadian television worker has reportedly lost their job after being identified as the source of a leaked episode of the new Dr Who series, which appeared on the internet weeks before its first terrestrial screening last Saturday night.
According to the BBC the culprit was identified by the Canadian Broadcasting Company, an international partner of the Beeb, although it is not clear whether the alleged pirate worked for that company or another organisation. The BBC would only confirm it was a "third party".
No further details have been provided regarding the identity of the dismissed Canadian. As such the news may do little to stem the conspiracy theories which suggested the leak was a publicity stunt orchestrated by the BBC.
Either way, the leaked episode screened on Saturday night to an audience of around 10 million viewers after word of the leak created a buzz around the show's return.
A statement from BBC Wordwide said: "After a thorough investigation by BBC Worldwide's Canadian broadcast partner, the source of the leak of episode one of the new Doctor Who series has been traced to a third party company in Canada which had an early preview copy for legitimate purposes.
"The individual responsible for the leak has had their employment terminated by that company as a result."
BBC Worldwide added that it is now considering further legal action.
TV piracy, driven by the boom in se of BitTorrent software in particular is becoming a major concern for television studios with shows such as 24 and Star Trek among those most commonly cracked and distributed online.
Comments
There are 11 comments. Join the discussion
1. Ruprecht
Am I the only one who did not get caught up in the nostalgia and think that it was crap?!?...I switched off after 10 minutes.
Truly bizzare...Billy Piper and a wheelie bin out acting everyone else.
(Ed note. Surely the wheelie bin was more than 10 minutes in?)
2. Paul Ecchi
Yup, ed is correct, you cannot have switched off after 10 min if you knew about the wheelie bin.
3. Simon
Yes Ruprecht, I think you possibly are the only one !
4. Anthony Hunt
BitTorrent is the only way you'll get StarTrek as it's been cancelled.
And since I have a TV license, it's perfectly legal for me to download Dr. Who - I PAID FOR IT!!!!
5. anonymous
To Ruprecht: Yes it looks like you are the only person to not like Dr Who.
6. anonymous
Actually Ruprecht wasn't the only one, to switch off, this was pure rubbish.
7. Chris Evans
Billie Piper's a bit of alright though ;)
8. Nick W
Yes Doctor Who was good and yes Billie is very tasty.
Whoever wrote the line "...Star Trek (is) among those most commonly cracked and distributed online" wants shooting. I don't care how good his video recorder or TV card is, he isn't "cracking" anything.
9. Steve metzler
I was all ready to rubbish it, but low and behold it captured just enough of the original style to remind me of the "good old days" while hopping around the new London. I was more surprised at billy's performance, just the right blend of acting and not acting to make her the right for the part.
10. Ruprecht
Just for the record I switched on part way in (don't think I missed much Ed but I'm sure you'll let me know) and watched for 10 minutes before getting bored and going down the pub with the missus.
BTW Simon, I like Dr Who just not this one I couldn't stand Silvester McCoy either, more like Dr Who-the-****-cast-that-****?!?!. Both the Bakers were rather good though.
11. anonymous
Anthony Hunt you are very wrong indeed.
Having worked for the BBC and inparticular with the folk who spend their time tracking down illegal distributers of content trust me when I say that you don't have the rights to this content, even if you did 'pay for it'. The fact that CBC and BBC Worldwide are involved in this article leads me to think that little of the funding for this series came from licence fees anyway.