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Rough cut of 'Doctor Who' series 8 premiere leaks online

Rough cut of 'Doctor Who' series 8 premiere leaks online

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The BBC is struggling to keep its new Doctor under wraps. Series 8 of the legendary sci-fi series is returning to BBC on August 23rd with new star Peter Capaldi, but the premiere has leaked online just days after scripts for the first five episodes were posted on torrent sites. According to The Mary Sue, the episode isn't final — it's a rough draft and the video file is entirely in black and white. In addition, the frame is covered with watermarks and warnings.

In a statement released to RadioTimes, the BBC says that "This is part of BBC Worldwide's ongoing security investigation into leaked unfinished Doctor Who materials. This content is currently being removed and originates from the same Miami server we disabled last week, it is not a new issue." The scripts posted online five days ago were leaked from BBC offices in Miami, where they had been sent for translation. Somehow, the files were posted on a publicly accessible server that was indexed by search engines like Google. Currently, torrents for two different episodes in the upcoming season can be found online, but the second file has all the signs of a fake.

The broadcaster optimistically asked fans not to share spoilers, adding in its statement: "We'd like to thank the amazing Doctor Who fans who are continuing to keep fansites and social media spoiler-free but would remind anyone downloading and sharing this material that it is illegal to do so."