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BBC apologizes for leaking 'Doctor Who' scripts online

BBC apologizes for leaking 'Doctor Who' scripts online

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Five scripts posted to a publicly accessible web server

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Doctor Who fans are scrambling to download leaked scripts from the eighth season of the popular British sci-fi TV show after the BBC left copies on a publicly accessible web server. The mistake saw five scripts uploaded to the BBC’s Miami web site, and security expert Graham Cluley reports that the site could be indexed by search engines like Google. Cluley believes the scripts were sent to the BBC’s new Latin America headquarters for translation ahead of the show’s transmission in August.

The scripts include full details of the season opener "Deep Breath," which will see Peter Capaldi debut as the Twelfth Doctor. We’ve only seen Capaldi’s costume so far, so a full script leak will frustrate and excite fans in equal measure. "We deeply regret this and apologise to all the show's fans, the BBC and the cast and crew who have worked tirelessly making the series," reads a statement from a BBC Worldwide spokesperson. The BBC is pleading with fans not to distribute the scripts or share spoilers. Similar Doctor Who leaks have occurred in the past. In 2005 a comeback episode leaked on to torrent sites ahead of its transmission, and American fans were sent Blu-ray boxsets of last year’s series before the series finale.