BBC investigation into Doctor Who leak allegedly complete

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A tweet from BBC entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba indicates the the investigation into the leak of the 53-second unfinished clip and two stills from the first episode of Doctor Who Series 11, The Woman Who Fell to Earth is complete.

It would seem that the person responsible for the theft of the leaked materials was identified. There is no word on whether the person will be prosecuted though Mzimba’s tweet seems to imply this is unlikely.

Here is the timeline of the history of the leak and subsequent investigation:

Approximately one week before the clip and the photos were widely leaked, a small number of individuals on an online platform, Discord, which is often used by gaming communities, had seen and discussed the short scene. The clip was also said to have turned up on Reddit.

On Monday, June 25, the leaked materials found their way into wider distribution on social media. This is when BBC Studios became aware of the leak.

On July 2, BBC News reported that a law firm representing BBC Studios filed a subpoena for information held by Tapatalk, an application which allows access to Internet forums on mobile devices, in an attempt to trace the leak.

On August 3, the same law firm filed a subpoena for information held by Microsoft OneDrive, for identifying information on a specific user who had uploaded a file onto their platform.

On August 16, yet another subpoena was issued to obtain personal information held by Twitter on two of its users, including address, internet protocol location, and date of birth.

Cultbox sources say both persons behind the Twitter accounts, once made aware of the subpoena via a news source, contacted BBC representatives and met with them to give them information in person.

Cultbox is a aware of a third person, known to the two owners of the Twitter accounts, who was likely pivotal in providing crucial information to BBC Studios to complete their investigation.

There is no word yet on the investigation into the leak of a photo of the TARDIS interior surreptitiously taken on set.