Doctor Who missing episodes
Currently lost episodes of Doctor Who / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Several portions of the long-running British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who are no longer held by the BBC. Between 1967 and 1978, the BBC routinely deleted archive programmes for various practical reasons—lack of space, scarcity of materials, and a lack of rebroadcast rights.[1] As a result, 97 of 253 episodes from the programme's first six years are currently missing, primarily from Seasons 3, 4 and 5, leaving 26 serials incomplete. Many more were considered lost until recovered from various sources, mostly overseas broadcasters.
Doctor Who is not unique in its losses, as many broadcasters routinely cleared their archives in this manner. Until the BBC changed its archiving policy in 1978, thousands of hours of programming in all genres were deleted. Other affected BBC series include Hancock's Half Hour, Dad's Army, Z-Cars, The Likely Lads, The Wednesday Play, Till Death Us Do Part, Steptoe and Son, Dixon of Dock Green and Not Only... But Also.[2] ITV regional franchisees, such as Rediffusion Television and Associated Television, also deleted many programmes, including early videotaped episodes of The Avengers.[3]
Doctor Who is unusual in that each of its 97 missing episodes survives in audio form, recorded off-air by fans at home.[4] Most episodes are also represented by production stills, tele-snaps, or short video clips. Furthermore, after careful restoration, all 1970s episodes are available in full colour, apart from the first episode of Invasion of the Dinosaurs, which is not always the case for other series.
Efforts to locate the missing episodes have continued, both by the BBC and by fans of the series. The recovered episodes have been extensively restored for release on VHS and DVD; surviving soundtracks have been released on cassette and compact disc. Many missing episodes have had their visuals reconstructed, either through specially commissioned animation or use of surviving footage and photographs.
Between approximately 1967 and 1978, large quantities of videotape and film stored in the BBC's Engineering department and film libraries were wiped or destroyed to make way for newer programmes.[1] This happened for several reasons, primarily the belief that there was no practical value to its retention.
The actors' union Equity had actively fought against the introduction of TV recording since the 1950s, when it first became a practical proposition. Before workable television recording was developed, if a broadcaster wished to repeat a programme (usually a one-off play), they had to re-hire the actors to perform it again, live, for additional fees. Equity's concern was that if broadcasters kept recordings of the original performances, they would be able to re-broadcast them indefinitely, which would reduce the amount of new production and threaten the livelihoods of its members. Although Equity could not prevent recording altogether, it added standard clauses to its members' contracts that stipulated that recordings could only be repeated a limited number of times within a specific timeframe, and deliberately set the fees for further use so high that broadcasters would consider it unjustifiable to spend so much money repeating an old programme rather than making a new one. Consequently, recordings whose repeat rights had expired were considered to be of no further domestic use to the broadcasters.[5][6]
Most Doctor Who episodes were made on two-inch videotape for initial broadcast and then telerecorded onto 16 mm film by BBC Enterprises for further commercial use.[1] Enterprises used 16 mm for overseas sales as it was considerably cheaper to buy and easier to transport than videotape. It also circumvented the problem of different countries' incompatible video standards, as film was a universal medium whereas videotape was not.[7] The BBC had no central archive at the time; the Film Library kept programmes that had been made on film, while the Engineering Department was responsible for storing videotapes.[1] BBC Enterprises only kept copies of programmes that they deemed commercially valuable. They had little dedicated storage space, and tended to place piles of film canisters wherever they could find space for them at their Villiers House property.[1]
The Engineering Department had no mandate to archive the programme videotapes they held, although typically they would not be wiped or junked until the relevant production department or BBC Enterprises indicated that they had no further use for the tapes.[8] The first Doctor Who master videotapes to be wiped were those for the serial The Highlanders, which were erased on 9 March 1967, a mere two months after Episode 4's original transmission.[7] Further erasing of Doctor Who master videotapes by the Engineering Department continued into the 1970s. Eventually, every master videotape of the programme's first 253 episodes (1963–69) was destroyed or wiped. The final 1960s master tapes to be erased were those for the 1968 serial Fury from the Deep, in August 1974.[8][citation needed]
Despite the destruction of these masters, BBC Enterprises held an almost complete archive (with the possible exception of one episode of The Daleks' Master Plan) of the series in the form of their 16 mm film telerecording copies until approximately 1972.[9] From around 1972 to 1978, BBC Enterprises also disposed of much of their older material, including many episodes of Doctor Who. The final 1960s telerecordings to be junked were those for the 1966 serial The War Machines, in early 1978, shortly before the junking of material was halted by the intervention of fan Ian Levine.[9]
The purge of the archives
Enterprises' episodes were usually junked because their rights agreements with the actors and writers to sell the programmes abroad had expired.[9] With many broadcasters around the world now switching to colour transmission, it was not deemed worthwhile extending agreements to sell the older black-and-white material.[10]
The BBC Film Library, meanwhile, had no responsibility for storing programmes that had not originated on film, and there were conflicting views between the Film Library and BBC Enterprises over which party held the responsibility for archiving programmes.[1] As each body believed it the other's responsibility to archive the material, each thought nothing of destroying its own copies as necessary. This lack of communication contributed to the erasure of much of the Corporation's film archive of older black-and-white programming. While thousands of other programmes have been destroyed in this way around the world, the missing Doctor Who episodes are probably the best-known example of how the lack of a consistent programme archiving policy risks permanent loss.[11]
Following the purges and subsequent recoveries, gaps in the Doctor Who archive are spread unevenly through its first 11 seasons. Major losses mostly affect First and Second Doctor serials; although two stories are missing just one episode each (The Tenth Planet, Episode 4 and The Web of Fear Episode 3), other stories are lost altogether. Patrick Troughton's era as the Second Doctor is particularly affected; of the 14 stories comprising his first two seasons, only The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Enemy of the World are complete, and these only exist due to telerecordings later returned from Hong Kong[1] and Nigeria, respectively.
All stories starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor are complete,[12] though many episodes no longer survive on their original videotapes and were only available from black-and-white overseas prints upon recovery; these episodes have subsequently been restored to colour using a variety of methods. In order of original transmissions, the very last Doctor Who master videotapes to be wiped were the first episodes of the 1974 serials Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Death to the Daleks. The latter was recovered from overseas, initially from a tape in the NTSC format, and later in the original PAL format on a tape returned from Dubai.[13]
For four years, Episode 1 of Invasion of the Dinosaurs was the only Pertwee episode to be entirely missing from the archives, until a black-and-white 16 mm copy was returned to the BBC in June 1983.[12] The story was released on DVD with a partially recolourised version of Episode 1, alongside a higher-quality monochrome transfer of the episode, in The UNIT Files box set.[14] With the exception of the final shot of episode 3 of The Deadly Assassin (1976), archival holdings from Death to the Daleks Episode 2 onwards are complete on the original broadcast videotapes.
Unrelated to the regular archive purges, the final shot of The Deadly Assassin Episode 3 (1976) has been excised from the master copy. The shot was removed after its initial UK transmission, following complaints from Mary Whitehouse of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association.[12] Subsequent repeats and commercial releases have restored the shot from off-air video copies.[12]
The end of the junkings
Internally, the wiping policy officially came to an end in 1978, when the means to further exploit programmes by taking advantage of the new market for home videocassette recordings started to become apparent. The prevailing view had also begun to shift toward the attitude that archive programmes should, in any case, be preserved for posterity and historical and cultural reasons.
The BBC Film Library was turned into a combined Film & Videotape Library for the preservation of both media.[1] The Film Library at the time held only 47 episodes of 1960s Doctor Who; they had once held 53, but six episodes had either been junked or gone missing.[13] Junkings at BBC Enterprises, however, continued until the intervention of Ian Levine, a record producer and fan of the programme.[9] Following the transfer of episodes still held by Enterprises, there were 152 episodes of Doctor Who no longer held by the BBC, although subsequent efforts have reduced that number to 97.
Among the most sought-after single lost episode is Episode 4 of the final William Hartnell serial, The Tenth Planet, which ends with the First Doctor's regeneration into the Second. The only portion of the episode still in existence, bar a few poor-quality silent 8mm clips, is the final 27 seconds, comprising the regeneration itself and a few seconds leading up to it. The sequence had been shown in a 1973 episode of Blue Peter and was retained in that show's archive.[1]
Even after the end of the purge, other archive issues persist. Serials from Seasons 22–26 were shown in Germany, with soundtracks dubbed into the German language; some of these episodes no longer exist in German television archives.[15]
Continuing search
On 20 April 2006, it was announced on Blue Peter that a life-sized Dalek would be given to anyone who found and returned one of the missing episodes.[16][17]
In January 2007, ITV began a campaign called "Raiders of the Lost Archive" and although the campaign was run by ITV, they were also looking to find Doctor Who episodes and other BBC shows.[18] One episode of the Raiders of the Lost Archive show aired in January 2007 and a further two episodes in July 2009.[19]
In December 2012, the Radio Times listings magazine announced it was launching the hunt for more Doctor Who episodes, to tie-in with the show's 50th anniversary.[20] The Radio Times issued its own list of missing episodes.[21] The magazine has also set up an email address specifically for Doctor Who missing episodes that the public can use to contact it if they have any information.[20]
Compared with other series
Compared with other BBC series broadcast in the 1960s, Doctor Who is well-represented in surviving episodes.[22] Of the 253 episodes broadcast during the 1960s, 156 still exist – mainly due to copies produced for overseas sales. For example, Seasons 1 and 2, the most widely sold abroad of the 1960s era, are missing only nine and two episodes, respectively. By contrast, the less well-sold Season 4 has no complete serials, while Season 5 has only two complete serials (The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Enemy of the World). Doctor Who's high profile has also helped to ensure the return of episodes which, for other less well-remembered programmes, might never have occurred.[11]
Of all ongoing BBC series from the 1960s, only Steptoe and Son and Maigret have a similar survival record, with all episodes from both series existing in some form.[23] Doctor Who is also comparatively rare amongst contemporaries in that all of its 1970s episodes exist as masters or telerecordings, while other series such as Z-Cars and Dixon of Dock Green are missing episodes from as late as 1975.[24][25]
List of missing episodes
As of October 2023[update], there were 97 episodes unaccounted for. The missing episodes span 26 serials, including 10 full serials. Most of the gaps are from seasons 3, 4, and 5, which currently lack a total of 79 episodes across 21 (out of 26) serials. By contrast, seasons 1, 2, and 6 are missing just 18 episodes, across 5 (out of 26) serials. Of these missing stories, all but three – Marco Polo, "Mission to the Unknown", and The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve – have surviving clips. All episodes also have full surviving audio tracks.
As of September 2022[update], many of these missing serials have been officially "completed" by using animation and/or telesnap reconstruction, and then subsequently released commercially by BBC Worldwide.
In April 2020, Philip Morris revealed in a Zoom interview that "at least six" missing episodes are currently in the hands of private collectors, and he is negotiating their return to the BBC.[26] The following year, Paul Vanezis (a well-known member of the restoration team and missing episode hunter) reiterated an earlier statement he made in 2018 that Doctor Who episodes do exist out there.[27]
In November 2023, more episodes were found in a private collection. However, the owner expressed reluctance to hand them to the BBC, citing the lack of official protection for private collectors. In response to the findings, film collector John Franklin recommended that the BBC implement measures to ensure that those possessing copies of missing episodes would neither have their collections confiscated nor be prosecuted for possessing BBC property, arguing that such protections would encourage more collectors to come forward with salvaged telerecordings.[28]
While the Patrick Troughton era is missing more episodes (53 as compared to 44 for William Hartnell), there are more Hartnell stories completely missing (6 as compared to 4). Serials highlighted in red are missing all episodes. Serials highlighted in yellow are missing more than half of their episodes. All others listed are missing at least one, but less than half, of their episodes.
Doctor (Missing) |
Season | Missing (Total) | Story | Serial | Missing / Total |
Episode(s) missing[29] |
Serial completion | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Animation | Recreation | Reconstruction | |||||||
First (44) |
1 | 9 (out of 42) | 004 | Marco Polo | 7 / 7 | All | |||
008 | The Reign of Terror | 2 / 6 | 4–5 | 2013[30] | |||||
2 | 2 (out of 39) | 014 | The Crusade | 2 / 4 | 2, 4 | 2022[31] | |||
3 | 28 (out of 45) | 018 | Galaxy 4 | 3 / 4 | 1–2, 4 | 2021[32] | 2021[32] | ||
019 | "Mission to the Unknown" | 1 / 1 | All | 2019[33] | |||||
020 | The Myth Makers | 4 / 4 | All | ||||||
021 | The Daleks' Master Plan | 9 / 12 | 1, 3–4, 6–9, 11–12 | ||||||
022 | The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve | 4 / 4 | All | ||||||
024 | The Celestial Toymaker | 3 / 4 | 1–3 | 2024[34] | TBA[35] | ||||
026 | The Savages | 4 / 4 | All | ||||||
4 | 33 (out of 43) | 028 | The Smugglers | 4 / 4 | All | ||||
029 | The Tenth Planet | 1 / 4 | 4 | 2013[36] | 2000[36] | ||||
Second (53) |
030 | The Power of the Daleks | 6 / 6 | All | 2016[lower-alpha 1][38] | 2005[lower-alpha 2][40] | |||
031 | The Highlanders | 4 / 4 | All | ||||||
032 | The Underwater Menace | 2 / 4 | 1, 4 | 2023[41] | 2015[42] | ||||
033 | The Moonbase | 2 / 4 | 1, 3 | 2014[43] | |||||
034 | The Macra Terror | 4 / 4 | All | 2019[44] | 2019[45] | ||||
035 | The Faceless Ones | 4 / 6 | 2, 4–6 | 2020[46] | 2020[46] | ||||
036 | The Evil of the Daleks | 6 / 7 | 1, 3–7 | 2021[47] | 2021[47] | ||||
5 | 18 (out of 40) | 038 | The Abominable Snowmen | 5 / 6 | 1, 3–6 | 2022[48] | 2022 [49] | ||
039 | The Ice Warriors | 2 / 6 | 2–3 | 2013[50] | |||||
041 | The Web of Fear | 1 / 6 | 3 | 2021[51] | 2013[lower-alpha 3][53] | ||||
042 | Fury from the Deep | 6 / 6 | All | 2020[54] | 2020 [55] | ||||
043 | The Wheel in Space | 4 / 6 | 1–2, 4–5 | 2017[56][57] | |||||
6 | 7 (out of 44) | 046 | The Invasion | 2 / 8 | 1, 4 | 2006[58] | |||
049 | The Space Pirates | 5 / 6 | 1, 3–6 | ||||||
26 incomplete serials | 97 missing episodes | 49 episodes | 1 episode | 47 episodes |
- After being released initially in 2016, the serial was re-released in 2020 with improved graphics and features.[37]
- After being released on CD-ROM in 2005 as a simple photo-only reconstruction, the serial was re-released in 2020 with improved techniques.[39]
- After being released in 2013 as a simple photo-only reconstruction, the serial was re-released in 2021 with improved techniques.[52]
Orphaned episodes
Serials that are over 50% complete (e.g., The Reign of Terror, The Tenth Planet) have been issued as standalone releases, with the missing episodes bridged using animation, visual reconstructions, or narration to the camera. Surviving episodes which form 50% or less of a complete story – referred to as "orphaned" episodes[59] – have been released by the BBC in compilations (e.g., Lost in Time), or as extras on releases of complete serials. A few four-episode serials of which 50% remain (e.g., The Underwater Menace, The Moonbase) have also been issued as standalone releases.
In 2023, all Doctor Who episodes in the BBC archive – with the exception of An Unearthly Child due to licensing issues[60][61] – were added to the iPlayer service. Depending on the circumstances, the animated reconstructions were also added to iPlayer.
Cells highlighted in green indicate releases where the orphaned episode has been combined with animated episodes to provide a complete serial. Cells highlighted in blue indicate releases where the orphaned episode was also animated.
Doctor | Season | Story | Serial | VHS | DVD | Blu-ray | iPlayer |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First | 1 | 008 | The Reign of Terror | Ep 1–3, 6: The Reign of Terror box set | Ep 1–3, 6: The Reign of Terror DVD | — | Ep 1–3, 6 |
2 | 014 | The Crusade | Ep 3: The Hartnell Years Ep 1, 3: The Crusade box set |
Ep 1, 3: Lost in Time[62] | Ep 1, 3: The Collection: Season 2 | Ep 1, 3 | |
3 | 018 | Galaxy 4 | — | Ep 3: The Aztecs: Special Edition DVD | Ep 3: Galaxy 4 Blu-ray | Ep 3 | |
Ep 3: Galaxy 4 DVD | |||||||
021 | The Daleks' Master Plan | Ep 5, 10: Daleks – The Early Years | Ep 2, 5, 10: Lost in Time[62] | — | Ep 2, 5, 10 | ||
024 | The Celestial Toymaker | Ep 4: The Hartnell Years | Ep 4: Lost in Time[62] | — | Ep 4 | ||
4 | 029 | The Tenth Planet | Ep 1–3: The Tenth Planet VHS | Ep 1–3: The Tenth Planet DVD | — | Ep 1–3 | |
Second | 032 | The Underwater Menace | Ep 3: The Missing Years | Ep 3: Lost in Time[62] | Ep 2–3: The Underwater Menace Blu-ray | Ep 2–3 | |
Ep 2–3: The Underwater Menace DVD | |||||||
033 | The Moonbase | Ep 2, 4: Cybermen – The Early Years | Ep 2, 4: Lost in Time[62] | — | Ep 2, 4 | ||
Ep 2, 4: The Moonbase DVD | |||||||
035 | The Faceless Ones | Ep 1, 3: The Reign of Terror box set | Ep 1, 3: Lost in Time[62] | Ep 1, 3: The Faceless Ones Blu-ray | Ep 1, 3 | ||
Ep 1, 3: The Faceless Ones DVD | |||||||
036 | The Evil of the Daleks | Ep 2: Daleks – The Early Years | Ep 2: Lost in Time[62] | Ep 2: The Evil of the Daleks Blu-ray | Ep 2 | ||
Ep 2: The Evil of the Daleks DVD | |||||||
5 | 038 | The Abominable Snowmen | Ep 2: The Troughton Years | Ep 2: Lost in Time[62] | Ep 2: The Abominable Snowmen Blu-ray | Ep 2 | |
Ep 2: The Abominable Snowmen DVD | |||||||
039 | The Ice Warriors | Ep 1, 4–6: The Ice Warriors VHS | Ep 1, 4–6: The Ice Warriors DVD | — | Ep 1, 4–6 | ||
041 | The Web of Fear | Ep 1: The Reign of Terror box set | Ep 1: Lost in Time[62] | Ep 1–2, 4–6: The Web of Fear Blu-ray | Ep 1–2, 4–6 | ||
Ep 1–2, 4–6: The Web of Fear DVD | |||||||
043 | The Wheel in Space | Ep 3, 6: Cybermen – The Early Years | Ep 3, 6: Lost in Time[62] | — | Ep 3, 6 | ||
6 | 046 | The Invasion | Ep 2–3, 5–8: The Invasion VHS | Ep 2–3, 5–8: The Invasion DVD | Ep 2–3, 5–8: N/A | Ep 2–3, 5–8 | |
049 | The Space Pirates | Ep 2: The Troughton Years | Ep 2: Lost in Time[62] | Ep 2: N/A | Ep 2 |
Unaired missing episodes
In addition to the official list of missing episodes, also missing is the original Episode 1 of The Daleks. At some point after the recording, it was discovered that a technical problem had caused backstage voices to be heard on the resulting videotape; in early December 1963, the episode was remounted with a different costume for Susan.[63] The only surviving portion is the reprise at the beginning of Episode 2. The master videotape for the original Episode 1 was wiped alongside the master tapes of all 7 episodes of The Daleks in August 1967, making it unlikely to ever be recovered.[citation needed]
Planet of Giants is another odd example, having originally recorded as four episodes, it had been directed by Mervyn Pinfield for Episodes 1-3 and Douglas Camfield for Episode 4. To create a faster-paced climax, Episodes 3 and 4 were combined and reduced to form a single episode, with Camfield being credited on that episode.[64] This decision, made by then-Head of Drama Sydney Newman, resulted in a gap at the end of the second production block (and the creation of Mission to the Unknown).
The unused portions of Episodes 3 and 4 are believed to have been destroyed when the master videotapes for the original Episodes 3 and 4 were wiped alongside the master tapes of all 3 episodes of The Daleks in January 1969, making it unlikely for the missing footage to ever be recovered.[citation needed] The serial's 2012 DVD release features a reconstruction of the original episodes, directed by Ian Levine. The production rebuilds the deleted scenes using CGI, footage from elsewhere in the serial, and re-recorded dialogue from Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, and actors impersonating the rest of the cast.[65]
Doctor | Season | Story | Serial | Lost Episodes | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First | 1 | 002 | The Daleks | 1 | Episode remounted. The reprise at the beginning of Episode 2 contains footage from the original version, which is otherwise missing. |
2 | 009 | Planet of Giants | 3, 4 | Edited together into a single episode before the original broadcast, airing as episode 3. There is no official 4th episode for this serial. The unaired versions are missing. |