Eccleston and Piper Launch Doctor Who

By James Wray Mar 9, 2005, 23:13 GMT

Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper today attended the launch of the new "Doctor Who" series from the BBC.

The press launch was in Wales and comes just days after the first episode, "Rose", leaked onto the Internet.

Speaking at the launch Eccleston, who play the Doctor, said it was an easy decision to take the part, "It's a fantastic series and I am proud to be a part of it," he told the press.

Meantime thousands of fans have been watching the leaked first episode, downloading it via various peer-to-peer clients.

The leak comes not long after a report showed UK Internet users were some of the most prolific downloaders of TV series. Many logging on to grab the latest episodes of US programmes yet to be screened in the UK.

It will be interesting to see if channels start to offer their series for download commercially. If they do not do this soon then they could end up playing catch-up much like the music business is doing today.

Despite the problems with even broadband connections often being too slow and the numerous file formats causing some users troubles when playing the files, downloading TV programmes is sure to continue to rise.

The new series will star on BBC One on March 26, no details of when it will air in the US have been released.

You can find out more about the new "Doctor Who" at the official Web site.