The missing episodes were found by Philip Morris, director of Television International Enterprises Archive. Eleven episodes in total were found, nine of which that had not been seen in 46 years. The episodes are from two Doctor Who 6-episode stories; The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear.
All six episodes of The Enemy of the World have been rediscovered, while five of the six episodes of The Web of Fear are also now available. Episode three of The Web of Fear is still missing but the BBC Worldwide restoration team has reconstructed this part of the story using a selection of the 37 images that were still available from the episode along with the original audio, which has been restored.
Morris discovered the lost episodes by tracking records of tape shipments made by the BBC to Africa for transmission. His investigation led him to a television relay station in Nigeria.
"The tapes had been left gathering dust in a store room at a television relay station in Nigeria. I remember wiping the dust off the masking tape on the canisters and my heart missed a beat as I saw the words 'Doctor Who'. When I read the story code I realized I'd found something pretty special," Morris said.
There are still 27 Doctor Who stories that are missing or incomplete; an unfortunate result of a BBC Archive space saving measure.
For now the rediscovered Doctor Who episodes are available exclusively from iTunes but will be released on DVD soon.
Written by: James Delahunty @ 12 Oct 2013 17:04
