Doctor Who returns on BBC cult site

actor Sylvester McCoy as the sci-fi character, the BBC has commissioned

15 new 10-minute episodes for use exclusively on the broadcaster's

bbc.co.uk/cult service. The original pilot episode was downloaded 1.5

million times.

Martin Trickey, commissioning editor for entertainment online, said the

new series, which will be streamed over the web rather than downloadable

in an effort to reduce bootlegging, will act as a draw to its

increasingly popular cult TV service.

He said: "I think it's brought to light the whole cult web site. We want

this to bring more people to the cult site itself."

Trickey also said that hosting the new series exclusively online would

help the BBC re-invigorate the Doctor Who brand.

"The main reason we're doing it online is that we can take radio content

and enhance it with images and enable people to access it over a period

of time," he said. "It hits the right type of people as a lot of these

fans are online. We want to introduce Doctor Who to a brand new

generation."

Although Trickey could not give user figures for the cult site, he

claimed that the service was: "almost comparable with the EastEnders web

site".