It was the interview they’d all been after – an exclusive from Castaway doctor Roger Stephenson.

And it was the Mid-Devon Gazette that got the scoop.

The Gazette is the family’s local newspaper and the star of the BBC’s Castaway 2000 docu-soap for the last 12 months agreed to give them an exclusive in-depth interview.

Reporter Richard Miller travelled to London on Sunday with photographer Phil Mingo, who helped to set up the interview, and spent nearly two hours with the family at a secret London location, just the day before they left the country for a holiday.

The resulting stories and pictures are spread across the front and three inside pages of the current Gazette.

Deputy editor Mary-Ann Bloomfield said: “The Mid Devon Gazette is the family’s local newspaper and Richard and Phil are the only journalists to have had a face-to-face meeting and in-depth interview with them.

“No money changed hands and we are delighted with the level of co-operation accorded by the family to their local weekly newspaper.”

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