Two lost Doctor Who episodes discovered and on their way to BBC iPlayer
Two missing episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s have been found among a "ramshackle" collection of vintage films, and have now been restored for broadcast.
Two missing episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s have been found among a "ramshackle" collection of vintage films.
The two episodes, The Nightmare Begins and Devil’s Planet, were from the third series entitled The Daleks’ Master Plan, starred William Hartnell as the Doctor and Peter Purves as his companion Steven Taylor, as well as Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon, Adrienne Hill as Katarina, and Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen.
The stories, which were written by Daleks creator Terry Nation, hadn't been seen since they aired on TV in the UK and were assumed to be lost forever, but charitable trust Film is Fabulous! discovered them in a private collection and, after BBC Archives worked to restore the original 16mm telerecordings, they will be available on BBC iPlayer at Easter.
Noreen Adams, Director of BBC Archives said: “We’re thrilled to have worked with the team at Film is Fabulous! to bring these lost Doctor Who episodes to viewers on BBC iPlayer this Easter. BBC Archives has been working to restore the original recordings and update these to broadcast quality, ensuring fans can enjoy a little extra treat with their Easter Eggs this April.”
Thes are the first of the lost Doctor Who episodes to be announced to the public since 2014.
The Nightmare Begins aired in November 1965, with Devil's Planet airing two weeks later. The intervening episode, Day of Armageddon was discovered by a former BBC engineer in 2004, but much of the "dark and gritty" storyline is still missing after it was ordered to be wiped.
The Daleks' Master Plan was not sold overseas after censors in Australia and New Zealand deemed it too violent, and so it wasn't seen as profitable to sell the rights to other markets.
And with the move towards colour broadcasting, the black and white story wasn't thought to have much future value so was consigned to the bin but some episodes were still made by technicians to check for potential problems that would need fixing before being pitched elsewhere.
These tapes made their way to an amateur collection, and Professor Justin Smith, FIF's chair of trustees explained they were donated to the charity after an anonymous late collector passed away.
The collector's films largely focused on his love of trains and canals, including hundreds of home videos.
The professor said: "We travel all over the country to recover film collections from private hands.
"A lot of the films had suffered water damage and the cans had corroded.
"These are gems in what was an eclectic and ramshackle collection, a lot of which hadn't been looked after as well as the Doctor Who had.
"The collector did recognise what he had, but how he acquired them has been lost to time."
Cast member Peter was invited to a special screening of the episodes in Leicester on Wednesday (11.03.26) under false pretences and was blown away by what he actually saw on the screen.
The 87-year-old actor was tearful when he discovered the "perfect lie" he had been told, as he had arrived in Leicester for what he expected was going to be interviews with the media about 1960s TV.
Learning the real reason he had been lured to the venue with "a perfect lie", he said: "I'm speechless, knocked out."
After viewing the episodes he added to the BBC: My flabber has never been so gasted."
He then quipped: "I've never forgiven the BBC for losing those episodes, it would be really nice to get a few royalties."
But growing more serious, he said: "I'm not sure I even saw those programmes go out originally - I remember the stories, but having seen them, the pictures are unfamiliar to me.
"I didn't remember the first one when I was still almost comatose following the injury I received fighting in Troy in the wonderful Mythmakers - which of course is missing."
A special screening of the two episodes organised by FIF, with Peter as guest of honour, is being held in London on 4 April to coincide with them appearing on BBC iPlayer.
