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Doctor Who: The Missing Episodes

Doctor Who: The Missing Episodes

Carol Ann Ford and William HartnellOver the weekend it was announced that two more previously thought wiped episodes of Doctor Who had been discovered and returned to the BBC. However, over 100 episodes of the long-running sci-fi series are still missing with some stories completely absent from the archives because of the wiping policy in place during the 1960s and 1970s. ATV Today takes a look at the episodes that are still listed as missing presumed wiped.

In total 44 episodes featuring William Hartnell as the First Doctor are missing from the BBC archives. Marco Polo (featuring the original cast of Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and Carol Ann Ford) is completely absent from the archives; the story consisted of seven episodes and was the fourth Doctor Who story to be broadcast. The 8th story, The Jacqueline Hill as BarbaraReign of Terror, is missing two episodes from the archives; The Tyrant of France (Ep 4) and A Bargain of Necessity (Ep 5) – the story also featured the original cast. Two episodes of The Crusades, the 14th story, are missing; The Knight of Jaffa (Ep 2) and The Warlords (Ep 4). The story features Hartnell, Russell and Hill but with Maureen O’Brien as Carol Ann Ford had departed the series.

Galaxy 4, a story of which one episode was recovered, has three episodes missing; Four Hundred Dawns (Ep 1), Trap of Steel (Ep 2) and The Exploding Planet (Ep 4). By the time of the story, the 18th, William Russell and Jacqueline Hill had departed and future Blue Peter presenter Peter Maureen O'Brien and William HartnellPurves had joined. Mission to the Unknown, a single episode that acted as a prequel to the Daleks’ Master Plan, is missing – it is the only episode not to feature any of the series regulars. All four episodes of the 20th story, The Myth Makers, are absent from the archives; the story features the departure of Maureen O’Brien from the series.

The ambitious and lengthy Daleks’ Master Plan is mostly absent from the archives with only three episodes known to exist; the story features the departure of Adrienne Hill after just one story and the introduction and exit of Jean Marsh as a companion. The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve is also completely missing; none of the four episodes are known to exist. The story marked the introduction of Jackie Lane as series regular in its closing moments. Only one episode of the 24th story, The Celestial Toymaker, is in the archives. The Celestial Toyroom (Ep 1), The Halls of Dolls (Ep 2) and The Dancing Floor (Ep 3) are missing.
The Daleks' Master Plan
All four episodes of The Savages are missing; the story marks the last appearance of actor Peter Purves. It was also the last story to give each episode its own individual name. All four episodes of The Smuggler’s, William Hartnell’s penultimate story, is also missing. The final story, The Tenth Planet, to feature Hartnell in the lead role (as a regular) is missing the fourth and final episode. The story was the first to feature the Cybermen who returned many times over subsequent years.

The Patrick Troughton era is sadly more affected by the wiping policy with a total of 62 episodes currently missing from the archives. The actor’s debut story, The Power of the Daleks, is completely missing Anneke Wills who played Pollyfrom the achieves with only brief clips remaining. The Highlanders, the last truly historical story until 1982’s Black Orchid, is also completely absent with all four episodes missing; the story marks the first appearance of Frazer Hines who originally was not intended to be a regular but was asked to remain with the series because he impressed producers. The Underwater Menace is the second story to have had an episode recovered recently but episodes 1 and 4 are still missing. The Moonbase, which marked the return of the Cybermen, has two episodes missing; episode 1 and 3.

All four episodes of The Macra Terror are missing. The Faceless Ones has four episodes missing; episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6. The story makes the final appearances of Anneke Wills Deborah Watlingand Michael Craze. The Evil of the Daleks, which introduced Deborah Watling, currently has six of its seven episodes missing with only episode two known to survive. The Abominable Snowmen, the first appearance of the Yeti, has five episodes missing with only episode 2 known to survive. The Ice Warriors, which saw the first appearance of the titular creatures, has episodes 2 and 3 missing. The Enemy of the World has a total of five episodes missing with only the 3rd known to survive.

The Web of Fear, a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen and the first story to feature Nicholas Courtney in his most famous role, has five episodes missing with only the first known to survive. Fury from the Deep, the last story to feature Deborah Watling and the first to feature the sonic Wendy Padburyscrewdriver, is completely missing with all six episodes believed to have been wiped. The Wheel in Space, the first story to feature Wendy Padbury, has four episodes missing with episodes 3 and 6 still in the archives. The Invasion has its first and fourth episodes missing but these were reconstructed using animation for the DVD release. The final Patrick Troughton story, his penultimate, to be missing from the archive is The Space Pirates of which five of the six episodes are believed to have been destroyed; only episode 2 is known to exist.

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