DWO have received reports that missing Doctor Who material from the 1960's is being aired at todays 'Missing Believed Wiped' event at the BFI in London.
Christmas has come early for Doctor Who fans as two previously missing episodes of the show have been found, as announced at todays 'Missing Believed Wiped' event at the BFI in London.
Episode Three of Galaxy 4 (1965) which was previously missing all 4 episodes, has been confirmed as found.
Episode Two of The Underwater Menace (1967) which was previously missing episodes 1, 2 & 4 has also been confirmed as found.
DWO caught up with Doctor Who Restoration Team member, Paul Vanezis regarding the find:
It's been 7 years since the last missing episode was found, and fans had started to give up al hope, how did the latest find come about?
"This discovery was made by two people, Ralph Montagu and a film collector meeting and realising there was a bit of a connection. Ralph was working on the Dr. Who restorations in the past and Terry Burnett had some film, but didn't know what."
What kind of condition were the stories in when they were returned to you and how much work will there need to be applied to their full restoration?
"There's a lot of work to be done on both episodes. Air Lock is missing the last 27 seconds of action and the closing credits. There are many scratches and scuffs plus the usual issues we have with black and white film recordings such as off-locks, videotape dropout etc... Some of the damage will take a lot longer to repair than usual. Underwater Menace poses a different set of problems as well as the more usual. Firstly, it's the ABC's censored print, so the censor clips need to be re-instated. We've already had the clips re-scanned by the National Archives of Australia who have been very helpful. There are numerous film breaks, missing frames, deep scratches etc... and a two second section missing in the middle. That will be the most challenging repair."
Is there anything you feel the public can do to help in the search for missing serials, what are your hopes for future missing material, and do you believe there is a chance more may be found?
"There are 106 episodes missing from the BBC, but I don't think there are 106 episodes missing in the world. Now, I don't want to get peoples hopes up. I've been mis-quoted before, but I am certain there are episodes out there with private collectors. I know fans are excited by these finds and rightly so, but we're also looking for other lost programmes as well. Yesterday, the BFI screened the Dennis Potter 'Emergency Ward 9', found by a friend of mine Ian Beard. That is an incredible and far more important discovery in my view that the Doctor Whos, yet we're all talking about Hartnell and Troughton eps. I of course understand why, but I think more recoveries like this are more likely if people don't go round asking about lost DW, but black and white TV material in general. So, yes. More material will surface, but I don't know when."
+ Read DWO's full interview with Paul Vanezis in the Features section.
Clips from both episodes have been added below:
Galaxy 4: Episode 3 - Clip
The Underwater Menace: Episode 2 - Clip
Doctor Who DVD content Producer / Director, Ed Stradling has put together the following short item regarding the finding:
Radio Times have provided further information on how the episodes came to light:
So how did they come to light?
“Through me,” says Ralph Montagu, Radio Times’s head of heritage and a lifelong Doctor Who fan. “I occasionally meet up with a group of film collectors and retired TV engineers at a café in Hampshire.
“A few months ago I spoke to Terry Burnett, who used to be an engineer at TVS [the former ITV franchise based in Southampton]. Somehow Doctor Who was mentioned in passing, and Terry said, ‘Oh, actually I think I’ve got an old episode.’
“I thought it was bound to be something we’ve got already,” says Ralph. “I tried not to get too excited, but he came back the next day and brought this spool with him. It had no label, so I had a look at the film leader and it said ‘Air Lock’. I thought, ‘What’s that?’ I checked online and saw that Air Lock was an episode of Galaxy 4 - a missing Hartnell serial. So then I got very excited.”
Ralph met Terry again a couple of weeks later, “And he said, ‘Guess what I’ve got.’ It was another episode of Doctor Who! Again not labelled on the can, but it turned out to be The Underwater Menace part two.”
What other episodes of Doctor Who are missing?:
The First Doctor
Marco Polo - All 7 episodes
The Reign of Terror - Episodes 4–5 (of 6 total)
The Crusade - Episodes 2, 4 (of 4 total)
Galaxy 4 - Episodes 1, 2 & 4 (of 4 total)
Mission to the Unknown - Entire episode
The Myth Makers - All 4 episodes
The Daleks' Master Plan - Episodes 1, 3–4, 6–9, 11–12 (of 12 total)
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve - All 4 episodes
The Celestial Toymaker - Episodes 1–3 (of 4 total)
The Savages - All 4 episodes
The Smugglers - All 4 episodes
The Tenth Planet - Episode 4 (of 4 total)
The Second Doctor
The Power of the Daleks - All 6 episodes
The Highlanders - All 4 episodes
The Underwater Menace - Episodes 1 & 4 (of 4 total)
The Moonbase - Episodes 1, 3 (of 4 total)
The Macra Terror - All 4 episodes
The Faceless Ones - Episodes 2, 4–6 (of 6 total)
The Evil of the Daleks - Episodes 1, 3–7 (of 7 total)
The Abominable Snowmen - Episodes 1, 3–6 (of 6 total)
The Ice Warriors - Episodes 2–3 (of 6 total)
The Enemy of the World - Episodes 1–2, 4–6 (of 6 total)
The Web of Fear - Episodes 2–6 (of 6 total)
Fury from the Deep - All 6 episodes
The Wheel in Space - Episodes 1–2, 4–5 (of 6 total)
The Invasion - Episodes 1, 4 (of 8 total)
The Space Pirates - Episodes 1, 3–6 (of 6 total)
+ If you have any information regarding any of the lost episodes, E-mail Us!
[Source: Doctor Who Online]
