Lost episodes of Doctor Who found in Nigeria
More Doctor Who is always a good thing. But that’s getting the cart ahead of the horse. The really interesting bit of this story is that it shows the crazy march of technology and entertainment. Can you imagine, for example, MGM just tossing out the old copies of Stargate SG-1, losing them forever? With today’s DVD, Blu-ray, Streaming, and Syndication of old television shows, that is just unthinkable. But that’s exactly what happened with Doctor Who at the BBC.
In the late 60s and early 70s a large amount of archived recordings were destroyed or wiped at the BBC tape and film libraries. Among those were over 100 episodes of Doctor Who. Slowly but surely, those missing episodes are being recovered as copies are found tucked away at remote stations in all parts of the world. Most recently, 11 episodes were recovered at a television relay station in Nigeria, bringing the total of missing episodes down to 97.
The latest discovery has allowed them to release two six episode stories, The Enemy Of The World and The Web of Fear, from the second Doctor’s run. Both are now available on iTunes. It’s great timing as the series is just over a month away from the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast. Here’s the trailer for The Enemy Of The World.