Freema axed?

Official statement from the BBC:
“It is absolute rubbish that Freema Agyeman has been axed or sacked from Doctor Who. However we do not comment on future storylines.”
On a day where Freema should be celebrated in the press for her lovely first appearance on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, it instead has been horribly ruined by the cruelty of a tabloid desperate for attention by any means. While we are not an official voice for Freema, we would like to at least express our outrage against The Sun’s nonsense.

Having failed to cash in on their attempts to damage her established co-star, David Tennant, by trying to ignite and ride on rumours of his impending departure from Doctor Who, “The Sun” has turned their eye to a far easier target, an actress who has just barely gotten her momentum going in mainstream media and therefore can less easily defend herself.

Freema had been their darling until recently and they could not print enough nice things to say about her. But she seems to have outlived her usefulness to them since every other paper was also praising her and their voice was being drowned out. So “The Sun” has changed their tactics, now forming their words into a knife and trying to plunge it into her career for no apparent reason but for their own depraved gossip and readership numbers.

Rest assured, there is an ever growing list of logical reasons why what they say is hopelessly incorrect and full of falsehoods, including a recent statement* by Russell T. Davies that he hasn’t even written the Christmas Special yet, let alone any of series four. But The Sun made one glaring mistake in their attempt to trash Freema: there is no-one in the BBC that high in authority who would ever talk to them on that kind of topic. It just wouldn’t happen. Such a person would lose their lucrative job in a heartbeat, it wouldn’t be worth risking discovery.

To attempt to poison Freema’s fanbase by eroding the will to commit to her character emotionally is nothing short of a crime in our book. It’s bad behaviour expected from a bully, not from any entity claiming to be “press”.

So in conclusion, all we can do is ask you to boycott The Sun. There is simply no reason to read it anyway and if this is going to be their new trend why do you need such negativity in your day? Entire towns have successfully boycotted The Sun, we dare say a fandom can do so as well. We are compiling a list of their associated products and companies to boycott, as well as previous claims by them that were complete fabrications so that you may more readily defend yourself against their rubbish and will publish it as soon as reasonably possible. Ask your friends and family to join this action.

We thank you for your loyalty to Freema.

and...

Latest Claim From Sun: 'Doctor Who' Gone In '08
UPDATED: Could this be a battle between a tabloid and the BBC?

By MICHAEL HINMAN
Source: The Scottish Sun
May-31-2007



Either the Scottish tabloid The Sun has the biggest scoop in genre history, or the newspaper has declared war on the BBC.

Just days after claiming that new companion Freema Agyeman was being dumped by the show, The Sun is now claiming that showrunner Russell T. Davies plans to end the iconic "Doctor Who" series on BBC after its fourth season in 2008.

"The heavy workload -- nine months of 16-hour days every year -- has started to take its toll," a source reportedly told The Sun. Apparently, Davies and his senior staff have "hatched a plan" that would have them give BBC a "group resignation" a year from now.

"It was decided the best thing for the show was go out at the top next year," the source reportedly said.

Such a story is just rubbish said Britain's The Guardian newspaper, courtesy of Outpost Gallifrey.

"Russell has always said that he wouldn't be with the show forever, and he has made no secret that the hours are quite exhausting," an unnamed source told the newspaper. "But there isn't any way [the show] would be axed even if he left. He loves the show and he does feel that maybe it would benefit from some new blood."

Davies' current contract with the show runs through the fourth season. "If Mr. Davies does leave 'Doctor Who,' the BBC will want to keep such a popular show going by bringing in a new executive producer to take over his creative responsibilities," the source said.

BBC has yet to respond to the story. Its public relations team was busy over the weekend denying another Sun report that Agyeman -- who plays Martha Jones in the series -- was being fired from the show. After that story ran, Agyeman's main Web site not only loudly proclaimed the story as false and attacking, but challenged the newspaper's entire journalistic integrity going as far as calling for a boycott ofThe Sun.

"There is simply no reason to read it anyway, and if this is going to be their new trend, why do you need such negativity in your day," Agyeman's Web site said over the weekend. "Entire towns have successfully boycotted The Sun, we dare say a fandom can do so as well. We are compiling a list of ... previous claims by them that were complete fabrications so that you may more readily defend yourself against their rubbish and will publish it as soon as reasonably possible."

A regular industry source in the United States told SyFy Portal that while the "Doctor Who" production team might be working long hours, their workload is no different than any other production company that puts together television shows day in and day out.

"Most British shows are between 12 and 15 episodes per season, which can be demanding. But here, we have seasons that run as long as 26 episodes," said the source, who asked not to be identified since he is not permitted to talk to media. "I don't know what's going on over there, but I would take the workload those guys at 'Doctor Who' have over mine any day."

To its credit, The Sun did correctly report in the past the departures of the show's original stars, Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. However, in recent months, the paper has also claimed that Tennant was leaving midway through the third season (and later at the end of the third season), and that Agyeman was getting the boot as well.

"Doctor Who" airs Saturdays on BBC One, and will premiere its third season on the SciFi Channel in July.