Doctor Who thoughts...
current location: United Kingdom, England,Hertfordshire,Dacorum District, Hemel Hempstead
It does seem as if, regardless of what one thinks of the actual stories (and I'm happy to go on record stating I rather liked them so far, although more would've been nicer), this 50th anniversary year is being marked by a surprisingly high number of cats being let out of the bag way too soon; firstly, DWM gets mailed to subscribers nearly a week early so the BBC announces David Tennant's involvement in the anniversary special earlier than intended; then the season 7 part 2 Blu Ray (with at the time unaired finale) gets shipped to 210 people prematurely; and now the announcement of Matt Smith's departure is forced by a leaked email (and then at least one paper breaks the BBC's midnight press embargo...although given that I suspect the announcement has been made a few months ahead of when they'd've liked to have done it, a couple of hours probably doesn't make much difference...). Not to mention a copy of the script for the Neil Gaiman episode getting mislaid. At this rate, I vaguely expect the whole of the anniversary special to do a Rose and get leaked online ahead of broadcast...
For what it's worth, Matt made the decision to leave back in February. Some of us knew about it over the weekend of Gallifrey One, and it's been really hard to keep schtum about it, esp when some fans were insistent that he was coming back. I figured that the news would be released sometime after S7 B ended since announcing it prior or during the new series would probably cause people to stop watching, and that it would be pretty hard to keep under wraps after that, esp with casting commencing (and if some rumours are true, already happening, and possibly done). I knew there would not be a surprise regeneration, and kept hoping that maybe things had changed -- unlike some people in fandom, I think that a Christmas regeneration will suck massively (Merry Christmas, have a dead Time Lord!). Esp if we have to wait another 9 months after that for the adventures of Twelve.
I hadn't heard about a leaked email, but like I said, the decision isn't anything new or recent, and timing wise seemed like it was always going to happen around now. It'll just ramp up interest in the Anniversary Special and the Christmas Special, as well as the constant speculation about Twelve. At least it won't be an interminable year like it was with Tennant.