Sunday 27 October 2013

Missing Episodes: What was sold where and hasn't come back

97 Doctor Who episodes as missing from the archives. This table lays out which stories have missing episodes, where applicable, the countries which bought prints and hasn't returned them/passed them on/confirmed them as destroyed.

FIRST DOCTOR
STORY MISSING EPISODE COUNT EPISODES COUNTRY
Marco Polo 7/7 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Ethiopia
Jamaica
Malta
Thailand
Mauritus
The Reign of Terror 2/6 4, 5 Gibraltar
Ethiopia
Jamaica
Malta
Thailand
Aden
Trinidad & Tobago
Rhodesia
The Crusade 2/4 2, 4 Gibraltar
Ethiopia
Jamaica
Galaxy 4 3/3 1, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
Mission to the Unknown 1/1 1 NOT SOLD ABROAD
Myth Makers 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
Dalek Masterplan 9/12 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 ,9, 11, 12 NOT SOLD ABROAD
The Masacre 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
Celestial Toymaker 3/3 1, 2, 3 Sierra Leone
The Savages 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
The Smugglers 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
The Tenth Planet 1/4 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
SECOND DOCTOR
STORY EPISODE COUNT EPISODES COUNTRY
The Power of the Daleks 6/6 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Highlanders 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Underwater Menace 2/4 1, 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Moonbase 2/4 1, 3 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Macra Terror 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Faceless Ones 4/6 2, 4, 5, 6 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Evil of the Daleks 6/7 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Abominable Snowmen 5/6 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gibraltar
Nigeria
The Ice Warriors 2/6 2, 3 Gibraltar
The Web of Fear 1/6 3 Gibraltar
Nigeria*
Fury from the Deep 6/6 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gibraltar
The Wheel in Space 4/6 1, 2, 4, 5 Gibraltar
Nigeria
The Invasion 2/8 1, 4 Gibraltar
The Space Pirates 5/6 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gibraltar

* Prints for Web of Fear 1, 2 & 4-6 found. We don't know what happened to Nigeria's part 3 yet.

Date Source: Wiped! Doctor Who's Missing Episodes 2nd edition

For me the probability of recovery looks something like this starting with the least likely and working up in probability:

Feast of Stevennever telerecorded
Mission to Unknown
remaining DMP episodes
never sold abroad
Tenth Planet
Power of the Daleks
Ther Highlanders
The Underwater Menace
The Moonbase
The Macra Terror
Evil of The Daleks
sold but all prints accounted for
Galaxy Four
Myth Makers
Massacre
Celestial Toymaker
The Savages
The Smugglers
all sold to Sierra Leone
Ice Warriors
Web of Fear
Fury from the Deep
Invasion
Space Pirates
all sold to Gibraltar and unaccounted for
Abominable Snowmen
Wheel in Space
sold to Nigeria (with EotW and WoF)
and to Gibraltar and unaccounted for.
Macro Polo
Reign of Terror
The Crusade
sold to multiple countries which are unaccounted for.

Monday 14 October 2013

Missing Episodes: two quick links

From the Archive: The Surreal Reality of this Missing Episode Find! at http://www.from-the-archive.co.uk/2013/10/the-surreal-reality-of-this-missing.html is well worth a read.

The Wonderful Books people have a lovely graphic up at http://www.wonderfulbook.co.uk/data/foundeps800.jpg

Saturday 12 October 2013

Enemy of the World & Web of Fear returned to the BBC!

As has been well publicised 9 episodes of Patrick Troughton Doctor Who have been returned to the BBC: The Enemy of the World 1, 2 & 4-6 and Web Of Fear 2 & 4-6. The BBC already had Enemy of the World 3 and Web of Fear 1 so that means just one episode is now missing from this pair of stories: Web of Fear 3, the first to feature Nicholas Courtney as Colonel Lethbridge Stewart.

We looked at these episodes on the Blog in May and June 2011 - see:

186 The Enemy of the World Part 1
187 The Enemy of the World Part 2
188 The Enemy of the World Part 3
189 The Enemy of the World Part 4
190 The Enemy of the World Part 5
191 The Enemy of the World Part 6

192 The Web of Fear Part 1
193 The Web of Fear Part 2
194 The Web of Fear Part 3
195 The Web of Fear Part 4
196 The Web of Fear Part 5
197 The Web of Fear Part 6

The episodes were returned by Philip Morris of the Television International Enterprise Archive who has been hunting for missing episodes of British programs in Africa for several years. He'd previously returned two episodes of The Sky At Night to the BBC one of which featured it's host, Patrick Moore, talking to Arthur C Clarke.

So today this is the current state of the BBC archives for the Black & White episodes which cover all the stories broadcast for the first Two Doctors William Hartnell & Patrick Troughton.

I've colour coded each story:

Green=Complete
Orange=Partial/Some episodes exist
RED=Missing

SEASON 1 1963-1964 EPISODES
(STORIES Stories)
IN ARCHIVE MISSING IN ARCHIVE MISSING STATUS
An Unearthly Child 4 1,2,3,4 - 4 0 COMPLETE
The Daleks 7 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 - 7 0 COMPLETE
The Edge of Destruction 2 1,2 - 2 0 COMPLETE
Marco Polo 7 - 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 0 7 MISSING
The Keys of Marinus 6 1,2,3,4,5,6 - 6 0 COMPLETE
The Aztecs 4 1,2,3,4 - 4 0 COMPLETE
The Sensorites 6 1,2,3,4,5,6 - 6 0 COMPLETE
The Reign of Terror 6 1,2,3,6 4,5 4 2 PARTIAL
SEASON 1 TOTAL 42
(8 Stories)
    33 9 78.58%
SEASON 2 1964-1965 EPISODES IN ARCHIVE MISSING IN ARCHIVE MISSING STATUS
Planet of Giants 3 1,2,3 - 3 0 COMPLETE
The Dalek Invasion of Earth 6 1,2,3,4,5,6 - 6 0 COMPLETE
The Rescue 2 1,2 - 2 0 COMPLETE
The Romans 4 1,2,3,4 - 4 0 COMPLETE
The Web Planet 6 1,2,3,4,5,6 - 6 0 COMPLETE
The Crusade 4 1,3 2,4 2 2 PARTIAL
The Space Museum 4 1,2,3,4 - 4 0 COMPLETE
The Chase 6 1,2,3,4,5,6 - 6 0 COMPLETE
The Time Meddler 4 1,2,3,4 - 4 0 COMPLETE
SEASON 2 TOTAL 39
(9 Stories)
    37 2 94.88%
SEASON 3 1965-1966 EPISODES IN ARCHIVE MISSING IN ARCHIVE MISSING STATUS
Galaxy 4 4 3 1,2,4 1 3 PARTIAL
Mission to the Unknown 1 - 1 0 1 MISSING
The Myth Makers 4 - 1,2,3,4 0 4 MISSING
The Daleks' Master Plan 12 2,5,10 1,3,4,6,7,
8,9,11,12
3 9 PARTIAL
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve 4 - 1,2,3,4 0 4 MISSING
The Ark 4 1,2,3,4 - 4 0 COMPLETE
The Celestial Toymaker 4 4 1,2,3 1 3 PARTIAL
The Gunfighters 4 1,2,3,4 - 4 0 COMPLETE
The Savages 4 - 1,2,3,4 0 4 MISSING
The War Machines 4 1,2,3,4 - 4 0 COMPLETE
SEASON 3 TOTAL 45
(10 Stories)
    17 28 37.78%
SEASON 4 1966-1967 EPISODES IN ARCHIVE MISSING IN ARCHIVE MISSING STATUS
The Smugglers 4 - 1,2,3,4 0 4 MISSING
The Tenth Planet 4 1,2,3 4 3 1 PARTIAL
HARTNELL TOTAL 134
(29 Stories)
    90 44 67.17%
The Power of the Daleks 6 - 1,2,3,4,5,6 0 6 MISSING
The Highlanders 4 - 1,2,3,4 0 4 MISSING
The Underwater Menace 4 2,3 1,4 2 2 PARTIAL
The Moonbase 4 2,4 1,3 2 2 PARTIAL
The Macra Terror 4 - 1,2,3,4 0 4 MISSING
The Faceless Ones 6 1,3 2,4,5,6 2 4 PARTIAL
The Evil of the Daleks 7 2 1,3,4,5,6,7 1 6 PARTIAL
SEASON 4 TOTAL 43
(9 Stories)
    10 33 23.26%
SEASON 5 1967-1968 EPISODES IN ARCHIVE MISSING IN ARCHIVE MISSING STATUS
The Tomb of the Cybermen 4 1,2,3,4 - 4 0 COMPLETE
The Abominable Snowmen 6 2 1,3,4,5,6 1 5 PARTIAL
The Ice Warriors 6 1,4,5,6 2,3 4 2 PARTIAL
The Enemy of the World 6 1,2,3,4,5,6 - 6 0 COMPLETE
The Web of Fear 6 1,2,4,5,6 3 5 1 PARTIAL
Fury from the Deep 6 - 1,2,3,4,5,6 0 6 MISSING
The Wheel in Space 6 3,6 1,2,4,5 2 4 PARTIAL
SEASON 5 TOTAL 40
(7 Stories)
    22 18 55%
SEASON 6 1968-1969 EPISODES IN ARCHIVE MISSING IN ARCHIVE MISSING STATUS
The Dominators 5 1,2,3,4,5 - 5 0 COMPLETE
The Mind Robber 5 1,2,3,4,5 - 5 0 COMPLETE
The Invasion 8 2,3,5,6,7,8 1,4 6 2 PARTIAL
The Krotons 4 1,2,3,4 - 4 0 COMPLETE
The Seeds of Death 6 1,2,3,4,5,6 - 6 0 COMPLETE
The Space Pirates 6 2 1,3,4,5,6 1 5 PARTIAL
The War Games 10 1,2,3,4,5,
6,7,8,9,10
- 10 0 COMPLETE
SEASON 6 TOTAL 44
(7 Stories)
    37 7 84.1%
TROUGHTON TOTAL 119
(21 Stories)
    66 53 55.47%
TOTAL 253
(50 Stories)
    156 97 61.67%

Statistical Highlights:

  • Over half of Patrick Troughton's episodes (66/119) are now in the archive for the first time.
  • Over half of Season 5's episodes (22/40) are now in the archive for the first time. At one stage just two episodes, Enemy of the World 3 and Wheel in Space 6, were in the BBC Film and video archive!
  • For the first time since we knew episodes were missing in the archives Season 5 has more episodes in it than Season 3.
  • The 9 episode haul of missing episodes represents the largest find of missing episodes outside the BBC's premises, previously held by the episodes found at the BFI (8 episodes) and Ian Levine's Nigeria haul (6 missing episodes). Like this find both hauls there also featured episodes already in the archives.
  • The number of Missing Episodes falls bellow 100 for the first time.
  • Enemy of the World is the first story to have been released as a Missing Story Soundtrack CD to be completely found.
  • Deborah Watling had 12 episodes in the archives before yesterday. She now has 21, with 22 still missing.
  • This haul produces an 11 episode run of existing episodes from Ice Warriors 4 through to Web of Fear 2, which, for Patrick Troughton's tenure as the Doctor, is beaten only by the 14 episodes from Invasion 5 - Seeds of Death 6 and the 11 from Wheel In Space 6 - Mind Robber 5.
Our table of the origins of the prints the BBC hold now looks like this:

Season 1: 1963-1964 EPISODES Film Archive BBC E BFI Private BBC Abroad
An Unearthly Child 4 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4        
The Daleks 7   1,2,3,4,5,6,7        
The Edge of Destruction 2   1,2        
Marco Polo 7            
The Keys of Marinus 6 5 1,2,3,4,5,6        
The Aztecs 4   1,2,3,4        
The Sensorites 6   1,2,3,4,5,6        
The Reign of Terror 6       6 (1982), 3 (1985)   1,2,3 (1984, Cyprus)
Season 2: 1964-1965 EPISODES Film Archive BBC E BFI Private BBC Abroad
Planet of Giants 3   1,2,3        
The Dalek Invasion of Earth 6 5 1,2,3,4,5,6        
The Rescue 2   1,2        
The Romans 4 1,3 1,2,3,4        
The Web Planet 6 2 1,2,3,4,5,6        
The Crusade 4 3     1 (1999, NZ)    
The Space Museum 4 3 1,2,3,4        
The Chase 6   1,2,3,4,5,6        
The Time Meddler 4 2         1,3,4 (1985, Nigeria)
Season 3: 1965-1966 EPISODES Film Archive BBC E BFI Private BBC Abroad
Galaxy 4 4       3 (2011)    
Mission to the Unknown 1            
The Myth Makers 4            
The Daleks' Master Plan 12       2 (2004) 5 & 10 (1983)  
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve 4            
The Ark 4 3 1,2,3,4        
The Celestial Toymaker 4           4 (1984, Australia)
The Gunfighters 4 4 1,2,3,4        
The Savages 4            
The War Machines 4       2 (1978) Australia
1,3 (1992)
  1,3,4 (1985, Nigeria)
Season 4: 1966-1967 EPISODES Film Archive BBC E BFI Private BBC Abroad
The Smugglers 4            
The Tenth Planet 4 1, 2, 3          
The Power of the Daleks 6            
The Highlanders 4            
The Underwater Menace 4 3     2 (2011)    
The Moonbase 4 2,4          
The Macra Terror 4            
The Faceless Ones 6 1     3 (1987)    
The Evil of the Daleks 7       2 (1987)    
Season 5: 1967-1968 EPISODES Film Archive BBC E BFI Private BBC Abroad
The Tomb of the Cybermen 4           1,2,3,4 (1992, Hong Kong)
The Abominable Snowmen 6       2 (1981)    
The Ice Warriors 6         1,4,5,6 (1988)  
The Enemy of the World 6 3         1,2,4,5,6 (2013, Nigeria)
The Web of Fear 6         1 (1978) 2,4,5,6 (2013, Nigeria)
Fury from the Deep 6            
The Wheel in Space 6 6     3 (1984)    
Season 6: 1968-1969 EPISODES Film Archive BBC E BFI Private BBC Abroad
The Dominators 5 1,2,4,5   1,2,3,4,5      
The Mind Robber 5 5 1,2,3,4,5        
The Invasion 8 2,3,5,6,7,8          
The Krotons 4 1,2,3   1,2,3,4      
The Seeds of Death 6 1,2,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6        
The Space Pirates 6 2          
The War Games 10 2,5,8,9   1,2,3,4,5,
6,7,8,9,10
     

By some distance, with 15 episodes, Nigeria is the country that has returned the most episodes to the archives!

This then leaves the following 97 Doctor Who episodes as missing from the archives with, where applicable, the countries which bought prints and hasn't returned them/passed them on/confirmed them as destroyed.

FIRST DOCTOR
STORY MISSING EPISODE COUNT EPISODES COUNTRY
Marco Polo 7/7 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Ethiopia
Jamaica
Malta
Thailand
Mauritus
The Reign of Terror 2/6 4, 5 Gibraltar
Ethiopia
Jamaica
Malta
Thailand
Aden
Trinidad & Tobago
Rhodesia
The Crusade 2/4 2, 4 Gibraltar
Ethiopia
Jamaica
Galaxy 4 3/3 1, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
Mission to the Unknown 1/1 1 NOT SOLD ABROAD
Myth Makers 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
Dalek Masterplan 9/12 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 ,9, 11, 12 NOT SOLD ABROAD
The Masacre 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
Celestial Toymaker 3/3 1, 2, 3 Sierra Leone
The Savages 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
The Smugglers 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
The Tenth Planet 1/4 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
SECOND DOCTOR
STORY EPISODE COUNT EPISODES COUNTRY
The Power of the Daleks 6/6 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Highlanders 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Underwater Menace 2/4 1, 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Moonbase 2/4 1, 3 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Macra Terror 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Faceless Ones 4/6 2, 4, 5, 6 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Evil of the Daleks 6/7 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Abominable Snowmen 5/6 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gibraltar
Nigeria
The Ice Warriors 2/6 2, 3 Gibraltar
The Web of Fear 1/6 3 Gibraltar
Nigeria*
Fury from the Deep 6/6 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gibraltar
The Wheel in Space 4/6 1, 2, 4, 5 Gibraltar
Nigeria
The Invasion 2/8 1, 4 Gibraltar
The Space Pirates 5/6 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gibraltar

* Prints for Web of Fear 1, 2 & 4-6 found. We don't know what happened to Nigeria's part 3 yet.

Finally here's a Missing Episodes Bingo Card. If it existing, it's in green, if it doesn't it's in red.

STORY EPISODE
COUNT
EPISODES
An Unearthly Child 4 1 2 3 4
The Daleks 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The Edge of Destruction 2 1 2
Marco Polo 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The Keys of Marinus 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Aztecs 4 1 2 3 4
The Sensorites 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Reign of Terror 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Planet of Giants 3 1 2 3
The Dalek Invasion of Earth 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Rescue 2 1 2
The Romans 4 1 2 3 4
The Web Planet 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Crusade 4 1 2 3 4
The Space Museum 4 1 2 3 4
The Chase 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Time Meddler 4 1 2 3 4
Galaxy 4 4 1 2 3 4
Mission to the Unknown 1 1
The Myth Makers 4 1 2 3 4
The Daleks' Master Plan 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve 4 1 2 3 4
The Ark 4 1 2 3 4
The Celestial Toymaker 4 1 2 3 4
The Gunfighters 4 1 2 3 4
The Savages 4 1 2 3 4
The War Machines 4 1 2 3 4
The Smugglers 4 1 2 3 4
The Tenth Planet 4 1 2 3 4
The Power of the Daleks 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Highlanders 4 1 2 3 4
The Underwater Menace 4 1 2 3 4
The Moonbase 4 1 2 3 4
The Macra Terror 4 1 2 3 4
The Faceless Ones 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Evil of the Daleks 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The Tomb of the Cybermen 4 1 2 3 4
The Abominable Snowmen 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Ice Warriors 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Enemy of the World 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Web of Fear 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Fury from the Deep 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Wheel in Space 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Dominators 5 1 2 3 4 5
The Mind Robber 5 1 2 3 4 5
The Invasion 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
The Krotons 4 1 2 3 4
The Seeds of Death 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Space Pirates 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
The War Games 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Tuesday 8 October 2013

More on those Missing Episode Rumours

"They...... shall not return"

Cyberleader Krang's prediction in Tenth Planet may seem a little off by the end of this week.

When I last wrote I last wrote on the subject of the missing episodes the estimate I came up with was that 45 episodes could possibly reside in the vaults of various television companies. Since then something has happened for me to raise that estimate upwards by 22 episodes.

It was believed that the TV Station film archive was destroyed in Sierra Leona during the war. Recent research indicates it wasn't - though where I saw the information no longer contains the posts it once did. However a Radio Times website article from June 19th specifically mentions that Missing Episodes hunter Phil Morris (who appears on the commentary for episode 5 of The Reign of Terror DVD talking about his work) has been working in that country.

So if we include the prints sold to Sierra Leone that are now thought not to have been destroyed in our list of potential missing episode returns we get this:

FIRST DOCTOR
STORY COUNTRY EPISODES EPISODE COUNT
Marco Polo Ethiopia
Jamaica
Malta
Thailand
Mauritus
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 7
The Reign of Terror Gibraltar
Ethiopia
Jamaica
Malta
Thailand
Aden
Trinidad & Tobago
Rhodesia
4, 5 2
The Crusade Gibraltar
Ethiopia
Jamaica
2, 4 2
Galaxy 4 Sierra Leone 1, 3, 4 3
Myth Makers Sierra Leone 1, 2, 3, 4 4
The Masacre Sierra Leone 1, 2, 3, 4 4
Celestial Toymaker Sierra Leone 1, 2, 3 3
The Savages Sierra Leone 1, 2, 3, 4 4
The Smugglers Sierra Leone 1, 2, 3, 4 4
FIRST DOCTOR TOTAL 33
SECOND DOCTOR
STORY COUNTRY EPISODES EPISODE COUNT
The Abominable Snowmen Gibraltar
Nigeria
1, 3, 4, 5, 6 5
The Ice Warriors Gibraltar 2, 3 2
The Enemy of the World Gibraltar
Nigeria
1, 2, 4, 5, 6 5
The Web of Fear Gibraltar
Nigeria
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 5
Fury from the Deep Gibraltar 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 6
The Wheel in Space Gibraltar
Nigeria
1, 2, 4, 5 4
The Invasion Gibraltar 1, 4 2
The Space Pirates Gibraltar 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 5
SECOND DOCTOR TOTAL 34
GRAND TOTAL 67
67 episodes potentially existing making up the bulk of what's missing in seasons 3, 5 & 6. That's quite a bit closer to the number 90 being quoted in earlier rumours. And if, maybe, a few other things have been found from other sources......

Meanwhile our old friend Bleeding Cool has kept the story rumbling in the background:

Those Doctor Who Missing Episodes Rumours Take A Licking But Keep On Ticking
Dad's Army - The Smoking Gun For Doctor Who Missing Episodes?
Two Views On The Doctor Who Missing Episodes
Seems Like The BBC Just Scheduled A Missing Episode Of... Dad's Army?
The Dad's Army episodes would seem to indicate that whatever's been found is part of a wider haul. Indeed a rumour a year or so back was that 6000 cans of material had been shipped to someone in Liverpool.

Then a story, that had started in fan circles and run on niche websites suddenly got mainstream media attention over then weekend and everything went Radio Rental

The Sunday People Splashes On The Doctor Who Missing Episodes Omnirumor
How Rumourmongering Works: The Doctor Who Missing Episodes Story, Complete With Sky News Video
Doctor Who Missing Episodes - Available This Week
Doctor Who Missing Episode Release "Delayed A Couple Of Days"?
This last linked story dashed people's hopes a bit but actually there's a good reason for delaying from today: The BBC Director General Tony Hall has made a speech on the future direction of the corporation and the BFI is hosting Missing, Believed Wiped: By Popular Demand, an event showcasing recovered material. Not clashing with either of these is a good idea.

But as things stand an announcement is due Thursday....... But, as I said, Missing Believed Wiped is on tonight and DW returns have been announced at Missing Believed Wiped before.

Now I could be naughty and speculate that an announcement is necessary this week because The Tenth Planet is due out on DVD next Monday. The Tenth Planet, famously, has it's final episode missing..........