Yes, indeed. There has been much in the way of vitriol directed towards Mr Eccleston. Or as he has been dubbed by some, Quittopher Eccles-gone (ouch!).

As detailed here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4410943.stm) The BBC clearly need to shoot whoever was on duty in the press office on the night of the 29th as that person would seem to be wholly responsible for the whole thing.

Though I laugh at the notion of the BBC making 'gentleman's agreements' with actors, it seems they had come to some understanding with Eccles regarding his tenure.

Thus, the departure announcement (if you can call it that) came at a totally inappropriate time when The Sun came across the story and rang the press office on Tuesday night. The errors began, arguably, when the production team did not propel The Sun onto the pavement with a punt up the posterior the moment they set foot on the set.

Be that as it may, the main blunder came when said journo's rang the BBC press office on Tuesday night, and were greeted by someone who had clearly not been briefed to give a 'no-comment' to anyone inquiring about when Eccles was leaving the series. The person in question will of course now have been liquidated as a routine precaution, leaving Auntie to filter the truth out of the issue and fuse the remainder into the press story linked earlier.

Personally, I think typecasting is always a worry but that will not have been the main reason. Reports from filming and interviews before the premiere seem to confirm a number of things:

That Eccles was occasionally unhappy with the daily toil, but had faith in RTD's vision.

Realising this vision took 9 months of fourteen hour days to produce and Eccles has commented that this leaves no room for a life. He had to shoot, then spend any time not shooting learning his lines.

In many interviews including his appearance on Mastermind, Eccles has evaded the issue of returning on all but one very early occasion and made comments to the effect that it was a gruelling schedule and that so far as longevity is concerned, he has done the long haul.

The most telling element is the supposition, made by Jonathan Ross and others, that merchandise will now have to be scrapped and re-launched in light of the news. The point being that no such alterations have been made and that of all parties concerned only the BBC have expressed any exasperation whatsoever at the news of Eccles departure. We can assume others knew well in advance.

It does not appear to have affected ratings, which were around 7.9m, down from 10.5m from last week's launch ep. Factoring in also the death of The Pope on the night of broadcast and the inevitable drop-off after the first episode - the departure 'scandal' seems to have not bothered audiences.

Regardless of the figures, episode 2 took the largest single share of Saturday night's audience and beat popular continuing programmes such as Casualty. The novelty appears not to have worn off and people seem to realise that an actor leaving after only one episode has aired does not mean that the other 12 he has made will not be shown.

Well now we have a second series and an Xmas special coming up. Eccleston is supposedly confirmed for the Xmas special, but whispers have told of recent re-shoots for the end of the final episode, episode 13, which has always been titled 'The Parting of the Ways'. Make of that what you will. . . for my money - a lead-in to how they want the Xmas special to start now that they know it is definitely going to be the regeneration story.

David Tennant's supposed ascendancy from Casanova aside, whom to be Who next?

Hi Alex! I was hoping to hear from you :).

Yes, as the days have gone by, it seems to be clear that Eccles' departure has been known to those invovled for quite some time now. And I've calmed down about it. Having watched "The End of The World", I'm just enjoying what we have, and wondering where it will go next.

The title of 13 has intrigued me somewhat - I had thought that Rose would somehow leave the Doctor for a short time, leaving things on a series cliff-hanger (and giving space for a few single-Doctor stories in the book world - although there is a gap in "Rose" which could be used for this purpose anyway), but closing on a regeneration would be a great way to finish the first season. Although that would probably mean that Tennant is not just rumoured and being courted, but actively in on the whole affair. Perhaps that was the plan all along? Keep Eccles' departure underwraps for the whole 13 weeks, before surprising everybody at the end...