While we’ve heard nothing definitive about whether or not a large cache of lost Doctor Who episodes have been found, the rumors surrounding the story continue to swirl and get more interesting.
As we’ve previously reported, rumors that an number of the lost 106 episodes from the 1960’s have been recovered have been running rampant the last few months.
Reports have said that between a dozen to ninety of those lost episodes have been recovered and are being prepped for broadcast and DVD release by the BBC and the Doctor Who Restoration Team.
Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnson reports on a recent “Doctor Who-related dinner-party” during which he heard that two people in attendance had signed nondisclosure agreements regarding the lost episodes.
The latest rumor indicates that as many as 94 of the missing episodes have been recovered. The latest report says that the only incomplete stories once the news is confirmed would be “The Dalek Masterplan” (10 episodes missing), “The Ice Warriors (1 episode still missing) and “The Wheel in Space” (1 episode still missing).
Johnson also reports that the BBC will unveil the news the week of the upcoming fiftieth anniversary with a BBC4 showing of the newly recovered “The Web of Fear” and a DVD release of “The Enemy of the World.” Both stories currently have one episode in the archives.
“The Web of Fear” would be a good candidate to celebrate the anniversary since it features the Great Intelligence. The Great Intelligence has been a recurring menace on the recently completed season of the new series.
There are also rumors that the Restoration Team has had their contract extended through 2016, even though the DVD line is currently winding down. (September sees the last complete story release).
Is any of this true? We don’t know yet. It all sounds great, but we’ll have to wait and see if there’s fact to the rumors.
Rumour, speculation, controversy – and all during the 50th Anniversary! Level heads will file this under “Too good to be true”, but I’m sure even they (like me) are hoping it’s inaccurate information. “Dozens” or “90 episodes” seems ridiculously. 2 or 3 episodes or a few minutes of clips seems more likely – given the return of two episodes recovered in 2011. A hoax? Maybe. Yet given the responses – or lack thereof – of those (allegedly) involved / ‘in the know’ and the idea of anniversary surprises, if you put yourself in their place, wouldn’t you do it too? Hoax or inaccurate information, I still believe further finds will emerge sometime in the future – episodes or not.
“The Web of Fear” AND “The Enemy of the World” – far more than we experienced TV hunters believed possible! Hopefully the DVD releases are complete with audio and text commentary, making of documentary, etc. and not just the episodes with bare-bones extras. Not good.
With significant finds on average every 5 years (alternating between Hartnell and Troughton) and recent events proving that small Tv relay stations hold material without the knowledge of their national archives, other parts of Africa need re-examining. Since these episodes were held at Jos in Nigeria, what about Bo in Sierra Leone?
None of the experienced hunters, so far as I’m aware, were able or willing to physically search the archives as Philip Morris has. These 11 eps were found at a relay station in Jos, which had become a relay station after the NTA became the main broadcaster in Nigeria, so around 1977. The relay station, I believe, used to be the main premises of BPTV, the last known broadcaster of the episodes. So they were found exactly where the paper trail said they last were! If this was known before then he’s shown them up as second-raters, frankly, and they’d be best to just let Morris get on with the work rather than complicate things by making less effective efforts of their own.