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From a marketing standpoint, the problem lies in balancing secrecy with publicity.
But you dont want people watching and thinking theyve seen it before.
What we attempt to protect are the endings of plots thats the important thing.
It always mystifies me when soaps give away plots in advance.
I read a billing forCoronation Street: Tracy disowns her mother.
And you watch it, and its the last scene!
You sit there going, Why did you tell me that?
Or is it actually a red herring, to distract us from a bigger, more shocking revelation?
Come Saturday, well find out…
This controlled release of information for publicity is part and parcel of making popular TV in todays news cycle.
They couldnt do a surprise regeneration nowadays if they wanted to.
Davies always appreciated the difference between publicity and leaks though.
But still, there were leaks that year.
But that sort of makes it worse.
That means someone didnt do it for money; they did it simply to spoil.
Even the characters have warned against spoilers, but the leaks have kept coming.
BBC Worldwide had another doozy in the following year.
Its heartening to know that more often than not, this has paid off.
It doesnt stop people on forums, but thats not the same as having spoilers emblazoned across the internet.
Now you might be thinking, what does all this matter?
Moffat said in a BBC statement thanking the proud owners of series 7 part 2 for their discretion.
Its a plot development in the mad old fantasy world ofDoctor Who, why is that important?
Its irritating, thats all.
Theres a good point there.
Davies and Moffat both had varying degrees of success in keeping a veil over certain parts of upcoming episodes.
