Meanwhile ... BBC News reports that an entire (but possibly not entirely post-produced) episode of the newly revived Doctor Who series has turned up online as a bittorrent file. Moreover, the rather miffed BBC is investigating, leading to some blushing Canadians:

A show spokesperson said the leak was a "significant breach of copyright". "We would urge viewers not to spoil their enjoyment and to wait for the finished version, which airs at the end of the month," a statement said. [...] "The source of it appears to be connected to our co-production partner," the BBC statement said. The partner is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). A CBC spokesperson said: "We are looking into it. That's all I can say at this point because we don't know exactly what happened. It certainly wasn't done intentionally."

While I completely empathise with the show's producers who have been cheated of their big launch, now that the "damage" has been done, the best thing the BBC could do is follow the lead of the SciFi channel and Battlestar producers and put the first episode up online officially as soon after the official premiere as is possible. The worst thing the BBC could do (and they've show no signs of doing so yet) is prosecute fans who've downloaded the episode as that would erradicate the hardcore fanbase before they've even had a chance to embrace the new show. It's time to try and run with your fans and use all the tools of online distribution, not run against the digital winds.

In the words of Commander Adama: "So say we all ..."