Flashback: 2004. Doctor Who begins filming for the first time in 14 years. There’s a new Doctor and a new costume…and the official Doctor Who site has nothing in terms of pictures or news.

A few weeks later they eventually give us something: Who Spy. Cryptic photos from the filming—a game, essentially, that turned out to be quite fun. But there weren’t any pictures of Christopher Eccleston in costume for the longest time (3 months, actually). There weren’t any news of upcoming episode. Nothing. Meanwhile, the first really good photo of Chris Eccleston in costume was on Outpost Gallifrey about a week after shooting began. The news about episode titles, writers and directors came to light in DWM. The official BBC Doctor Who website was left out of the loop.

This wasn’t the BBC website’s fault, I suspect. They only can disseminate what’s given them, and what was being given to them were daily photos of teacups and clapperboards. The BBC’s role in Doctor Who on the web wouldn’t come into ascendance until the TV series debuted.

Fast-forward to yesterday. News about important new writers, a fab guest star from the past and pictures of the Doctor in costume and it all came from the official Doctor Who website. It would seem the powers that be finally learned that there’s value in using the official Doctor Who website as a means of being out in front first with news to please fans rather than lagging far behind.

Though I do kind of hope Who Spy will come back…