Long-lost Doctor Who Episodes Found

In the 1960s and '70s, the BBC lost 106 episodes of the TV series Doctor Who in an effort to clean house and make space. These episodes were from the earliest part of the series, in which actor William Hartnell played the first Doctor, and Patrick Troughton played the second. It was thought that the film was destroyed and the episodes were permanently lost.

But now those films have been found -in Ethiopia! The original tapes had been sold to the the Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency after being aired just once. Now the BBC is negotiating the return of those episodes, and hopes they may be back in the UK in time for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary celebration.

In the 1960s and 1970s, there was no market for home video. In fact, the concept did not exist. Even more, few TV programmers could envision a time in which decades-old TV shows would be used to fill hundreds of round-the-clock TV channels. But to legions of Doctor Who fans, the return of the missing episodes is an exciting chapter in the history of the science fiction series. Here's a list of the missing episodes.

There's no word yet on how soon they will be available for illegal download. -via Digg


Updates are pouring cold water on this report; it appears that one or two episodes may have been unearthed, but not all 106. There will be some sort of announcement later in the week, evidently.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
  2 replies
Valid source (aka Radio Times) announce two episodes available on legal platforms (aka iTunes / BBC player) unearthed a while ago by specialists with many connections and money.

Very unreliable source (aka a tabloid) announces a lot of episodes founds by fans...

Guess what... I am going to believe the first and disregard the second until the BBC says more.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I've read that it's all a complete lie, some officials have said none of it is true - but maybe because THEY want to announce the surprise and therefore want to take it out of the world first?
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Commenting is closed.
Click here to access all of this post's 9 comments

We hope you like this article!
Please help us grow by sharing:

Get Updates In Your Inbox

Free weekly emails, plus get access
to subscriber-only prizes.

We won't share your email. You can cancel at any time.
Email This Post to a Friend
"Long-lost Doctor Who Episodes Found"

Separate multiple emails with a comma. Limit 5.

 

Success! Your email has been sent!

close window
neat stories? Like us on Facebook!
Close: I already like you guys!