Two previously missing Doctor Who episodes from the 1965 First Doctor adventure, 'The Daleks' Master Plan', have been found!
Episode One (The Nightmare Begins), and Episode Three (Devil's Planet) were discovered in an "eclectic" collection by Film is Fabulous! – a charitable trust run by film collectors, cinema lovers and vintage television enthusiasts. The trust approached BBC Archives after finding them in a private collection.
This brings the total number of discovered episodes from the serial to 5 (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 5 & 10), with the most recent episode from the serial (Episode Two: Day of Armageddon) having been recovered in 2004 from a former Yorkshire Television engineer who rescued it from a junk pile in the 1970s.
Written by Terry Nation, the story featured William Hartnell as the Doctor and Peter Purves as Steven Taylor. It also featured Nicholas Courtney (who would later to go on to play Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) as Bret Vyon, Adrienne Hill as Katarina, and Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen.
Peter Purves, was invited to the Phoenix Cinema in Leicester on Wednesday under false pretences to view the two episodes, and said:
"My flabber has never been so gasted. I've never forgiven the BBC for losing those episodes, it would be really nice to get a few royalties. 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.
It was just a job. It sounds silly but we did an episode of the programme each week, in the year I did 46 episodes. It was great fun and was great to be doing a series that was hugely popular. But it was a difficult time, I won't pretend it was easy, the cast kept changing and it seemed a bit of a time of flux.
In the two episodes we've seen there was a great performance by Nick Courtney playing Bret Vyon. I was concerned very much that he was there as a replacement for me. As it happens, he got killed in episode four or five."
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.”
BBC Archives has worked to restore the original 16mm telerecordings – meaning viewers will be able to watch them in the best possible condition on BBC iPlayer this April!
A full Press Release can be found on the Film is Fabulous! website.
BBC Director of Drama, Lindsay Salt, recently spoke with Deadline about the current situation with Doctor Who, and what the future holds for the brand.
The current BBC line is to focus on the 2026 Doctor Who Christmas Special, but they have repeatedly confirmed that the show is very much at the heart of the corporation, with Salt adding:
“There are different ways of setting up a show. We just need to make sure we do it in the right way and make sure we take the right time to do it. Ultimately it’s one of the BBC’s most treasured brands, so it’s not going anywhere.”
With the BBC x Disney deal now officially over, eyes are looking towards a potential new streaming partner. Salt didn't rule out another co-production deal for Doctor Who, specifically referencing HBO:
“I managed to walk into this job when the co-pro market imploded and I’ve learned a lot about the tenacity of producers and writers to make things at all budget levels. Things are getting funded in so many different ways now.”We’ll wait and see how we figure it out. HBO have been great partners creatively. There’s a lot of stuff that is changing out there.”
DWO will continue to cover this story as it develops.
Experience the Eighth Doctor's debut in stunning 4K and well as a whole host of special features.
In 1996, Paul McGann debuted as the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who, a feature length co-production between the BBC and the American Fox network, more commonly known as The TV Movie.
This 90-minute feature was shot on film, and now, for the first time, all 219 reels of original film (totalling almost 200,000 feet!) have been pulled from deep storage in the US and meticulously scanned over 21 days, then restored by Paul Vanezis to provide a definitive 4K experience.
The TV Movie has never looked or sounded so good, with a 24-frame transfer to match the original film rushes, and immersive surround sound, rebuilt from the original raw sound elements.
Also starring Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor), Daphne Ashbrook (Grace), Eric Roberts (The Master) and Yee Jee Tso (Chang Lee), The TV Movie sees the Doctor’s regeneration triggered on an operating table, with surgeon Grace Holloway accompanying the new Doctor on an epic adventure to prevent the Master from stealing the Doctor’s future lives.
This new release is available on 4K in a limited edition steelbook with exclusive artwork, as well as standard Blu-ray, and includes a host of special features including:
- The ‘uncensored’ UK version
- The USA broadcast version
- Soundtrack in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo
- In Conversation with director Geoffrey Sax
- Sylvester McCoy and Janet Fielding featurette
- 3 New Featurettes with Daphne Ashbrook, Eric Roberts and Yee Jee Tso
- Two audio commentaries
- Isolated music score
- Production info text
- The Seven Year Hitch making-of documentary
- Paul McGann’s audition tape
- Alternate takes
- Electronic press kit and behind the scenes footage
- TARDIS tour
- BBC Trails
And much more.
+ PREORDER the 4k UHD Blu-ray version on Amazon for £24.99!
+ PREORDER the 4k Steelbook version on Amazon for £34.99!
+ PREORDER the Blu-ray version on Amazon for £14.99!
Greetings fellow whovians! It's been a hot minute, hasn't it? Today marks the first day of a brand new chapter for Doctor Who Online as we modernise the site for a new digital era.
We're kicking things off right here on the News & Reviews page, which now features a full-featured CMS system to properly manage each news item in a scaled database. You can also (finally) add comments to each News item that's posted!
We've moved to a brand new dedicated server to handle the traffic and upcoming plans we have for the site. I know many of you are wondering what has happened to the old Forum, and we are planning to bring that back in view-only mode, but for the future we are focusing on a brand new Forum in the form of Discord, that will be our main DWO community hub.
Please bear with us as changes are implemented site-wide, and thank you for your continued support as a DWO community member!
