Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, Editor's Picks TV News, TV | Tagged: doctor who

Doctor Who: Have Some of the Lost Episodes Finally Been Found?

Charitable trust/archivist Film is Fabulous! has been hinting that they may have found lost episodes of Doctor Who in private collections.

The Holy Grail of classic Doctor Who fans has always been the recovery and restoration of lost episodes from the 1960s to the early 1970s. A total of 97 of 253 episodes from the series's first six years, from 1963 to 1969, are currently missing, leaving 26 stories incomplete, because the BBC erased or reused tapes in the 1960s and 1970s to save storage space and costs, before archiving policies were in place. Doctor Who is not the only culturally and historically important show the BBC has erased, but it's been at the top of the list and helps draw attention to the rest. In the last few weeks, an archive expert has offered hope in the search for missing episodes, teasing that fans will be "very happy" with announcements to come.

In recent years, some of these episodes have now been recreated via (underbudgeted and really bad, in our opinion) animation, as tapes of audio recordings have survived for every episode. However, it has long been believed that some of the episodes exist in private collections – something that now appears to have been verified. Speaking on behalf of Film is Fabulous!, a charitable trust dedicated to preserving vulnerable film collections across the UK, film collector John Franklin shared a statement to clarify some recent claims made about missing episodes.

"We are aware of several collectors – plural – with several episodes of Doctor Who that are missing from the archive – plural – that are in private collections and with former industry professionals," Franklin said. "We are aware of those, and we are actively discussing their whole collections. We're not going to just take the Doctor Who, or the other rare bits they have, we're talking about the whole collections, coming in, being catalogued, and being managed in the way that we manage everything. So I hope that is a positive that your listeners take out of this."

Speaking specifically about a conversation on the Film is Fabulous! Facebook page, Franklin added on the Doctor Who: The Missing Episodes podcast, "The comment that was made on Facebook related specifically to one item, one unique set of circumstances with a film collector, and I'm going to give you some information about that.

"Since 2023, I and a couple of other key members of the Film is Fabulous! team have been aware of a large collection of films, thousands of films, that have become vulnerable. That collection contains some very important material including a missing episode of Doctor Who. It is a large collection and there is a possibility that there are other episodes of Doctor Who in that collection but at this moment in time, we know of one."

He said that the collector very recently died after becoming ill and, while Film is Fabulous! previously received permission to catalogue the collection and bring the items back to their secure facility, the legal situation is ongoing and has changed after the collector's death. Film is Fabulous! will now make an application to the court to continue with the previous agreement.

Franklin explained that Film is Fabulous deals with entire collections, and added that removing a single print or a rare item would be "illegal and immoral", emphasising that the trust will only work legally and respectfully.

"We are doing everything legally, with propriety, to make sure we secure that collection and can return that missing episode of Doctor Who and other items to the rights holder."

Sharing a final insight, Franklin urged fans: "Give us the space to conclude the things that we're doing. You will be very, very happy with the announcements when they come, but we just need the space to be able to do that now."

In May, Sue Malden of Film is Fabulous shared, "As far as Doctor Who goes, we do not have a statement or anything to make at the moment. We do know fairly certainly that there are episodes missing in private collections. Some members of the Film is Fabulous! team are in a considerably significant position to help on that."

"So, when the time is right, we really do hope that it will be Film is Fabulous! that manages to return, at least one or two – I don't know – missing episodes of Doctor Who to the BBC. We will have a ceremony with Claire Coss, head of library & curatorial services at the BBC] to do that, I'm sure. That works on the assumption every one of them had to be recorded somewhere. I've been asked in the past, when I knew less, whether I thought we'd found the last Doctor Who. And I'd sort of look a bit vague and say, 'Oh, I don't know.'

"But actually now I've stopped to think about it, every one has been recorded, they've got to be there somewhere. And we now think we know a few places where they might be."

Several of William Hartnell's episodes as the First Doctor and entire stories in Patrick Troughton's run as the Second Doctor are amongst the missing episodes. Fans have been hoping for their recovery for decades. Amongst them are the entirety of "Marco Polo" and "The Crusades" from Hartnell's era.

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