Two More Lost Doctor Who Episodes Found!

[tony ingram]

The Doctor Who News Page reports that two more lost episodes of sixties Who have been recovered. The Underwater Menace part two and Galaxy Four part three were apparently in the posession of a former TVS engineer named Terry Burnett who bought them at a school fete in the 1980's. Only another 106 to go!

[-MikeD-]

I hope this is true...what a brilliant Christmas present!

[Digifiend]

Confirmed by the BBC:

Two classic episodes of Doctor Who - thought to be missing forever - have been returned to the BBC archive.

Episode 3 of the William Hartnell adventure "Galaxy 4" and Episode 2 of Patrick Troughton's "The Underwater Menace" were purchased by film collector Terry Burnett at a village fete near Southampton in the early 80s. He had been unaware that the canisters contained material missing from the BBC.

Thanks to the kind loan by Mr Burnett, the classic footage has been shown today at the British Film Institute's annual "Missing Believed Wiped" event at the National Film Theatre in London. Host at the event was Doctor Who writer and actor Mark Gatiss who said: "Christmas has come early for Doctor Who fans everywhere. It's always wonderful when a missing episode turns up but it's been years since the last one so to have two is just brilliant. Add to that a proper bit of action from the legendary Chumblies (and the horrifying Rills!) plus the utterly mesmeric Patrick Troughton on great form. Well, what more could we all ask for?"

Over 100 episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s still remain missing. The tapes were routinely wiped once the rights to repeat them had expired. It seems unfathomable to us today, but before the advent of DVDs and iPlayer, grainy black and white material was thought to no longer be of interest to the television audience. However, many film prints sold overseas have since been returned. These latest discoveries are the first complete episodes to have been located since 2004.

None of the four episodes of the 1965 adventure "Galaxy 4" were known to have survived, although a short extract had been retained.

Research has shown that the returned episodes originated from the ABC channel in Australia. In fact, the copy of The Underwater Menace is still missing a few short sections which were removed by the Australian censors upon its original transmission Down Under. Fresh scans of the missing material have been made by the National Archives of Australia and will be incorporated into the restored episodes ahead of a DVD release.

Details of a commercial release will be announced by 2 entertain in 2012.

[alanultron5]

Those `missing` clips from `Underwater Menace` 2 have been restored as they were amongst a whole batch of `censored` clips found in the archives of Australian Television (They can be seen on the `Lost in Time` DVD set!)

What's interesting about the `Galaxy 4` Ep (3) is that it will reveal the one Doctor Who monster not glimpsed since original transmission in 1965 - the `Rills` Seemingly, (as far as I know) no publicity photos of those `creatures` were ever taken - or if they were, they got lost!

[tony ingram]

Those `missing` clips from `Underwater Menace` 2 have been restored as they were amongst a whole batch of `censored` clips found in the archives of Australian Television (They can be seen on the `Lost in Time` DVD set!)

What's interesting about the `Galaxy 4` Ep (3) is that it will reveal the one Doctor Who monster not glimpsed since original transmission in 1965 - the `Rills` Seemingly, (as far as I know) no publicity photos of those `creatures` were ever taken - or if they were, they got lost!

One photo of a Rill did turn up a few years ago. I think it's on their Wikipedia entry.

[-MikeD-]

One photo of a Rill did turn up a few years ago. I think it's on their Wikipedia entry.

Rilly??? Have you a link..I can't find the Wiki entry for some reason...

*edit* found it. And what a mightily impressive 'monster' it is!

[Digifiend]

Not that hard to find, if you check Tardis Wikia instead of Wikipedia. http://tardis.wikia.com/Rill

[alanultron5]

Just seen it! It's the `Rill` thing (Ouch!!) I was going by one of my late 80s `Dr Who Magazine's` in which someone wrote in to ask about the `Rills` and the mag had said no photo's were in existance - which was quite true back in about 1989.

[Classic Comics]

With apologies for being late to the topic (I've been on me hols)...

Fantastic news. Great to get eps of Hartnell and especially Troughton back into the archive. I still live in the hope that somebody somewhere has Troughton's Dalek or Yeti tales stashed in a basement and that they'll turn up in time. Well, I can dream. But 2 eps returned? Fantastic. Can't wait to see them.

[alanultron5]

`Galaxy Four` Ep 3 was the highest viewed single episode of the third season at - I think - 11.3 milllion.

[Classic Comics]

Out of sheer noseyness, does anyone have a particular lost story they'd love to see return?

[alanultron5]

Just has to be "Fury From The Deep" for me.

[tony ingram]

Out of sheer noseyness, does anyone have a particular lost story they'd love to see return?

The Web of Fear. Definitely the Web of fear. I've loved that story since I first read the Target novelization as a kid, and the soundtrack is great, as is the existing episode. I really want to see it all.

[-MikeD-]

Yup...The Web of Fear. Judging by the audio and telesnaps it must have been classic Who. I'd also nominate Power of the Daleks and Evil of The Daleks, because of The Daleks. In fact, any new discovery is exciting. Even if they find the rest of The Space Pirates...

[Digifiend]

Out of sheer noseyness, does anyone have a particular lost story they'd love to see return?

The Highlanders, because it was Jamie McCrimmon's first appearance.