Another Doctor Who Miracle!
It has been officially confirmed that two previously believed missing (and possibly wiped) episodes of Doctor Who have now been located, secured, and now returned to the BBC archives, for safekeeping.
A press release has been released from FiF, please see below for their summary of the finds and their invaluable role in film preservation history:
Film is Fabulous! is a charitable trust run by film collectors, cinema lovers, and vintage television enthusiasts. Its primary objective is to ensure that vulnerable film collections held in the U.K. are preserved when private film collectors, and former industry professionals, pass away. Since 2023, the team have preserved many private film collections.
Film is Fabulous! is not a treasure hunt. However, it’s inevitable that missing and rare items, which have been presumed lost for decades, will be found in private collections. Numerous vintage television shows have been recovered. Two recent finds are missing episodes of Doctor Who, which were discovered in a deceased enthusiast’s private collection:
- The Nightmare Begins (Broadcast: 13th November 1965)
- Devil’s Planet (Broadcast: 27th November 1965)
The episodes are from the serial, entitled ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. Written by Terry Nation, they were broadcast during the third season of Doctor Who. The serial starred William Hartnell as the Doctor, and Peter Purves as Steven Taylor. It also featured Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon, Adrienne Hill as Katarina, and Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen.
The recovery means that the first three instalments of a once totally missing 12-part story now exist.They provide a dark and gritty outing for the Daleks, who were being groomed by their creator,Terry Nation, for their own series, and life outside of Doctor Who. Indeed, ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ was not sold by the BBC to overseas broadcasters.
The estate of the deceased owner, in whose collection the film prints were found, wishes that he remains anonymous. Consequently, we will not enter into any discussion on the collector’s identity. All we’re able to say is he cherished the films for many years, and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude for preserving these episodes of Doctor Who.
In addition to the recovery, the Film is Fabulous! team have organised a special event, at which the two restored episodes of Doctor Who will be screened. This celebration of vintage television will take place on Saturday 4th April. The full details will be published shortly. The two episodes will be on BBC iPlayer this Easter.
Film is Fabulous! have collaborated with BBC Archives to enable these programmes to be returned to the BBC. BBC Archives has ensured that the original 16mm telerecordings are restored – meaning viewers will be able to watch them in the best possible condition on BBC iPlayer.
This is of course fantastic news for any Who fan – murmurings of this collection began back in October, and FiF have been transparent in their efforts since locating this collection in their efforts to legally retrieve it, following the passing of the Collector. It was mentioned that at least one episode had been found, so to have two (they do seem to travel in pairs) and from the same serial is an absolutely fantastic piece of news to awake to (or in this writer’s case struggle to fall asleep having learned!)
This brings the tally of missing Doctor Who episodes from 97 to 95, and also gives Season 3 two more much-needed episodes in the process. We also get to see more of short-lived companion Katarina, played by Adrienne Hill, whose character appeared in only five episodes before being killed off in the fourth episode of this serial. The Nightmare Begins also marks the very first appearance of Nicolas Courtney in the series as Brett Vyon, preceding his portrayal of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart by several years.
As per the press release, the two episodes will be available to view on BBC iPlayer this Easter, and hopefully from there the BBC will make these newly recovered episodes available physically alongside the existing episodes 2, 5, & 10, hopefully also with photographic reconstructions available for the remaining seven episodes.
It is also worth noting that these two episodes are not the ones previously known to Paul Vanezis, though it is uncertain if those will surface anytime soon.
For anyone who wishes to donate to Film is Fabulous, they can do so via this link: https://filmisfabulous.org.uk
By HW Reynolds
Images provided by the BBC
Reverbium 