Site Menu

December 11th, 2011 67 comments

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

Two 1960’s lost Episodes Recovered – Video Clips

Two 1960’s lost episodes Recovered

Two previously missing episodes of 1960s Doctor Who have been returned to BBC. The recovered episodes are Galaxy Four part 3 & The Underwater Menace part 2.

The news has been officially confirmed by the BBC and both episodes were shown this afternoon at the British Film Institutes’s Missing Believed Wiped event.

From the official BBC Doctor Who Site…

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. “The Underwater Menace” dating from 1967 is now the earliest surviving complete episode featuring Patrick Troughton’s performance as the Second Doctor.

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.


Adverts/Affiliates

67 comments

  • WFK DVD Collector 13

    March 16th, 2013 - 10:33pm

    I think that there is deffenatly more missing episodes out there, but will the person who has them return them to the BBC???

    Episodes I want back, Galaxy 4:1, Mission To The Unknown, the power of the daleks:1-6, the Moonbase:1&3, the underwater manace:1&4, and Marco Polo:1-7.

    Reply
  • Doctor Who DVD Collector

    July 14th, 2012 - 8:47pm

    There is a video on YouTube which proves that there are still copies for many serials around the world. they’re by MrClassicDoctorWho and they’re excellent.

    Reply
    • Space 1999

      November 1st, 2014 - 2:18pm

      Hope in this endless bitter war

  • American Doctor Who fan

    December 19th, 2011 - 1:06am

    I am sure that there are many lost episodes that still exist in somewhere. I have two suggestions if you want to see or hear them–read the photo novels on the BBC’s classic Doctor Who website, or listen to the complete audio versions from AudioGo(the soundtracks still exist).

    I am of the hope that they will recreate many of the lost episodes through animation as they have done this in the past.

    Reply
  • Bob the Dalek

    December 17th, 2011 - 10:23pm

    My favorite thing about the old Doctor Who is the simplistic use of what they have i mean look at those things not bad from where i’m standing.

    Reply
  • The 14th Doctor

    December 16th, 2011 - 4:17pm

    Galaxy Four deserves to be back more than any other story considering it was possibly the very last to be destroyed, in the late 1970’s. It seems like a good story. Also I’m glad another episode of The Underwater Menace is back, having seen episode 3. My favourite thing about these discoveries is they contain two of the best Doctor Who quotes of all time.

    1: DW: What’s this fellow doing?
    Robot: Going to repair the damage you have caused.
    DW: Oh yes.. yes quite so.

    2: DW: Just one small question… Why do you want to blow up the world?

    Reply
  • Doctor Who: Missing in Action

    December 14th, 2011 - 3:24pm

    THERE IS STILL HOPE!

    We could have a chance to get at least 95% of the stories back on to our screens. The reason being is that T.V. stations around the world haven’t confirmed they have destroied there copies.

    I watched a video on YouTube abouth the missing episodes called ‘Sales and Transmitions – William Hartnell’ and it gave all the information about the episodes and which different countries have and haven’t confirmed they have destroyed them. this basically is A message for us to find the ones that need finding.

    Who things that the BBC should start looking with their eyes and not their ears?

    Reply
  • the TARDIS

    December 13th, 2011 - 5:49pm

    I know it’s not exactly related, but the Doctor Who Adventure Calendar is never really updated on time – sometimes it’s up at ten o’clock but on others it isn’t up until five. Today, it isn’t up yet and it’s now ten to six.

    Reply
    • the TARDIS

      December 13th, 2011 - 6:22pm

      Booboo, have you seen the latest trailer for day 13? it’s finally up on the Adventure Calendar.

  • Tim_M

    December 13th, 2011 - 5:34pm

    Whilst it’s great to have an episode (part 3) of the once completey missing ‘Galaxy 4’. I’m more interested to see ‘The Underwater Menace’ part 2! My reasons for this being…..
    1)It’s just great to see more Troughton!
    2)It’s been 20 years since a Troughton episode (the complete ‘Tomb of the Cybermen’ from Hong Kong) has been recovered….Long overdue in my opinion!
    3)Plus I’ve always felt ‘The Underwater Menace’ to be hugely underrated by the majority of fans. Certainly it’s NOT a classic but it’s good fun and the story would be much more duller without the likes of Troughton, the regulars and guest star Joseph Furst as Zaroff who is so wonderfully OTT! They MAKE the story much more colourful and vibrent. It’s exactly the reason WHY Joseph Furst hams it up becuase it isn’t a great script. And thankyou Joseph Furst for making it much more watchable.

    Reply
  • Doctor Who DVD Collector

    December 13th, 2011 - 3:31pm

    Hang on… Marchwood? I live in Fareham witch is near Southampton which is near Marchwood.. YIKEs!

    Reply
  • doctorwhofan27

    December 13th, 2011 - 11:56am

    galaxy 4 was great in reconstruction. i can’t wait to see the episode. and from the clip the underwater menace looks brilliant.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

By clicking submit you agree to our terms and conditions (below), we reserve the right to edit or delete inappropriate messages.

Comment rules

The Doctor Who site welcomes constuctive comments related to the news article in question. Links posted in comments may not be displayed. We reserve the right to delete or edit any post entirely at our discretion. If you leave unacceptable comments your IP address will be banned and reported

Click here to read full comments terms and conditions

Twitter

Facebook