The leaked version of "Rose"

[Lissa]

"Rose" surfaced online a few days before broadcast and plenty of people watched the downloaded version. Did you? Did you try to find it but couldn't? Or was the mere idea of downloading it beneath contempt?

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Thankfully, I didn't know about it - which isn't one of your options for selection. However, if I had known about it then I wouldn't have wanted to view it so that's the option that I've selected!

[SiHart]

No I didn't watch it. I didn't download it. I waited.

At the time I was really angry and upset that people couldn't wait. We'd waited 16 bloody years for the show to come back as a series, and here was a chance for us all to enjoy it together. But some people just couldn't wait.

I still don't understand why people wanted to download it. It still rankles a bit with me now. I know I caused some upset on PS at the time, because I was so disappointed that not everyone was going to wait for the show on TV.

I was probably being a bit silly, but that's the way I am.

Si xx

[Martin Penny]

I didn't really see the point, and, at the time, I just wasn't that excited about Doctor Who returning.

Of course, if the first episode of Season 6 leaked tommorrow, I'd snap it up in an instant!

[Rob McCow]

Of course, if the first episode of Season 6 leaked tommorrow, I'd snap it up in an instant!

But why? It'll be on TV soon enough!

Which, incidentally, is how I felt about people downloading Rose.

[Lissa]

I wouldn't have known where to look in 2005. If it happened now, knowing a few places, I probably would've downloaded it. But only to watch the first few minutes. Just enough to know.

[Si Hunt]

I waited, and I was cross too, like Si.

I probably wouldn't have been as cross if someone had said after the event "I'm afraid I couldn't wait and watched it a day early." But the problem is when people who watch it inevitably appear on-line and have to let you know that they've seen it and you haven't.

It's not even the threat of spoilers.It's just that they've seen it, and they know that they've seen it and you haven't and they will have to say something like "I won't give anything away but (wink!) you won't be dissapointed". Immediately expectations were changed. Oh don't you see, you already have given something away just by saying that!

It creates a sort of aura of superiority, intentionally or not. And you can't help but wonder if that's why they've done it.

Si.

[SiHart]

That's exactly how I felt Si.

Si xx

[Anthony Williams]

I'll admit that I saw it before it was broadcast, but kept my mouth shut about the fact well... until now. I didn't want to boast or have that smug attitude!

Ant x

[Lissa]

Would the same feelings be there if someone on PS won a DWM competition to go to an advance screening of an episode?

[Rob McCow]

I think the DWM competition thing would be fair play. It was the makers of the show's intentions that some people should be allowed to view the episode early, rather than a choice on behalf of the viewer to (illegally) get hold of a copy.

It's like spoilers appearing on the BBC Website or the Radio Times. They're usually carefully chosen to be exciting without revealing too much; they're official. Whereas hearsay and photos-of-filming go against the show-maker's wishes. Sort of.

[Dino]

Tried to.
Couldn't find it.

I wasn't connected to any Doctor Who fandom or forums. I was on my own!
Can I add to the conspiracy that it was leaked by someone at the BBC?
I've heard reports (and please back me up if you know more!) that there was a memo circulating around the BBC at the time wishing the show failed?

So I'm glad the BBC is making the show, but I feel it's an uneasy friendship with a snake? It's going to turn on us one day.

[Si Hunt]

?

Si.

[Stuart Wallis]

This is the first I've heard of a leak. Not that I could understand why someone would want to circulate it and spoil everyone's fun like that in the first place. Well done Ant for keeping quiet all this time - I knew there was a good reason for your going to America!

[Anthony Williams]

Well done Ant for keeping quiet all this time - I knew there was a good reason for your going to America!

The BBC were onto me!

On a serious note, I never asked for a copy of it. A friend sent it to me in the post, and I thought "well, why not?"

Ant x

[brandynigma]

I was sent a copy as well- although at the time, Australia had to wait three months for the series, so I feel I was justified.

I rather liked the Mark Ayres version of the theme; it showed just how well Delia's original still holds up today.

Although it did beggar the question from me - unanswered for me to this day - what became of the burning sofa?

[duncan]

I had heard about it but I didn't search for it as I really wanted to wait for it to be on TV. Which is at total odds to when the TV Movie was released on VHS about a week before it was shown on TV. I was heading into W H Smith as soon as it opened on the day of release.

[Andrew Curnow]

I didn't bother looking for it, and like Si I actually couldn't understand why anybody would. More than probably any other episode of Doctor Who, it was obvious that "Rose" was going to be A Big Event - irrespective of the story, it was a brand-new, much-publicised, expensive-looking, modern, relaunch of the show on BBC1 Saturday teatime. The waiting, the expectation, and the shared sense of watching it all together was a huge part of it - watching it a couple of weeks early would just have spoiled it totally for me.

[MacNimon]

I didn't have much interest in downloading it either. As I remember, it was an 'unfinished' cut which would have been slightly different to the broadcast one - this didn't appeal to me. I felt that after waiting 16 years or so, what was another week or two?

[Jonno]

No, I had no desire to do so for two reasons. Primarily because it is a TV show and it was the first time I'd seen an eipisode in widescreen with surround sound. I would have had, and still have, no interest in watching it on my PC monitor with two small speakers. I don't mind watching 10 minutes or so of video streaming on the PC, but it's much more comfortable and satisfying to watch something lengthy on the TV.

It's like the IPlayer now (which of course we didn't have back then) - I'm lucky that Virgin Media have it on my TV and I make much use of it to catch things when I want to watch them, not at the whim of the schedulers. I think I've only ever watched a couple of things with it on my PC when they weren't for some reason on the catch up service - handy, but nowhere near as satisfying as watching on the box.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I downloaded it and I'm rather glad I did, because I got to see it the first time without the Graham Norton intrusion. I'm not sure what most people thought when Rose goes down into a basement full of mannequins and hears a round of applause. It made the scene look like she was just stumbling into a surprise party or something, I'm sure it must have been confusing. So I managed to avoid that. I still watched the broadcast with a couple of friends and didn't say anything about already having seen it so I don't see what harm it did.

And if it WAS a rough cut then I never noticed anything different in it, apart from the music.

[Si Hunt]

Hmmm. So you didn't mind watching it with the wrong music, but a 4 second snatch of interference from a different channel would have spoiled the viewing.

When the "Norton incident" happened I just thought it was a sound error, and a few seconds later it had stopped and I forgot all about it. I think that's what most people thought really, revisionism excepted.

Si.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

It's interesting. These days with NZ being so far behind on showing, there's that temptation between downloading to watch or waiting for it to be on NZ TV. It's always better to watch it on TV for some reason - more atmosphere - I can't put my finger on it, but it's best watched live, not on video, or SKY+. How daft is that?

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Hmmm. So you didn't mind watching it with the wrong music, but a 4 second snatch of interference from a different channel would have spoiled the viewing.

When the "Norton incident" happened I just thought it was a sound error, and a few seconds later it had stopped and I forgot all about it. I think that's what most people thought really, revisionism excepted.

Si.

Well, to be fair, a different arrangement of the theme music hardly impacts on the drama does it. Whereas the burst of applause as Rose enters the basement very much does. And I clearly remember being a bit confused by it for a second or two, even though I'd seen it a coupe of days before. It was only when Graham Norton's voice came in a few seconds later I knew what was happening.

[SiHart]

I just thought it was Wilson watching TV down in the basement.

Si xx