Source of 'Doctor Who' leak exterminated

The person allegedly responsible for leaking the first episode of the new Doctor Who series onto the internet has been sacked, the BBC said today.

The 45-minute premiere episode, which is due to air on BBC One this Saturday, appeared unexpectedly on several download sites over a fortnight ago.

The BBC said that an investigation had begun into the leak, which it believed had emanated from its Canadian co-production partner CBC.

Now the suspect has been tracked down and had their employment contract terminated. "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," said BBC Worldwide in a statement issued today.

"The individual responsible for the leak has had their employment terminated by that company as a result. BBC Worldwide is considering further legal remedies and takes extremely seriously any unlawful copying or misuse of its copyright material."