The Doctor Who Mind Robber has previously reported on a series of rumours concerning the return of hitherto missing Doctor Who episodes. At the time of writing 106 episodes are believed missing from the BBC Archives. All monochrome, the lost episodes span the tenures of the First and Second Doctors and date from 1964 to 1969. The earliest missing episode is William Hartnell’s fourth serial, Marco Polo, whilst the last is Patrick Troughton’s penultimate story, The Space Pirates. Colour prints of several of the Third Doctor’s episodes have not been recovered, however black and white copies exist and have been colourized. The final Jon Pertwee serial to receive the miraculous colour treatment was The Mind of Evil, which was released in June 2013.
The colourized Mind of Evil was released in June 2013
An article published today in the UK tabloid, the Mirror, alleges that over 100 missing Doctor Who episodes have been recovered by dedicated fans in Ethiopia. Supposedly retrieved from the Ethiopian Television and Radio Agency, the source for this rumour is one Stuart Kelly, who is described as a Doctor Who expert. Mr Kelly is said to have announced the find at the Wigtown Book Festival in Scotland last week.
Like all previous rumours, Mr Kelly’s announcement is not from a first hand source. Kelly relies on the hearsay of a third party. The Mirror reports him as saying, “I was told by a friend that the episodes have been found in Ethiopia. The BBC is negotiating to get them back right now. I really can’t say any more than that.”
Marco Polo (1964) is the earliest missing Doctor Who serial
Moreover, the Mirror has made no attempt to corroborate the story with either the third party or the BBC. In June the blog Bleeding Cool reported on rumours of over 90 episodes being recovered. Upon approaching the BBC, Philip Fleming, Head of Communications, Brands, Content & Digital, BBC Worldwide issued Bleeding Cool the following statement:
There are always rumours and speculation about Doctor Who missing episodes being discovered, however we cannot confirm any new finds.
Tonight on Twitter Doctor Who Restoration Team member Paul Vanezis responded to the Mirror article and stated, “I would love it to be true. But it isn’t.” This denial is less than definitive, however. Whilst the recovery of over 100 episodes from Ethiopia may be untrue, Vanezis is far from denying that all rumours are false. The BBC’s announcement in June could be similarly met with scepticism. Whilst not confirming any finds, the BBC certainly didn’t deny any either.
The Space Pirates (1969) is the last missing Doctor Who story
Well known Doctor Who uberfan Ian Levine has today Tweeted about the Mirror’s article and a subsequent report on the UK’s SkyNews on Sunday morning. Levine said, “Maybe the Mirror news story, and the Sky News Video Report, might just force the BBC’s hand into FINALLY making an announcement this week…” Levine’s comments are sure to be echoed by many fans who are becoming increasingly frustrated by the prolonged rumours.
Doctor Who uberfan Ian Levine
Interestingly, Sodere: Ethopian Social Media Network which has over 90,000 Facebook likes, republished the Mirror’s article today. Make of that as you will.
In the meantime, you can read The Doctor Who Mind Robber’s previous Missing Episode stories here, here, here, and here. You might also like to view our 50th Anniversary Countdown post, The 10 Most Wanted Missing Episodes. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
For further developments please see Radio Times Reports Digital Release of Two Missing Episodes This Week.
Vivien Fleming
©Vivien Fleming, 2013.
The Doctor Who Mind Robber 
I am going to wait for an official announcement by the BBC before I start celebrating, thank you very much. I’m always skeptical when I hear news that supposedly came from an unnamed, unspecified friend of the person the reporter is speaking with. And if you actually do manage to find that friend (assuming he or she actually exists) they will then in all likelihood tell you that THEY in turn also heard it from another friend. And so forth. At which point it becomes a game of telephone.
In any case, from what I remember reading, from several different sources that all agreed on it, the Daleks’ Master Plan part 7, The Feast of Steven, was never offered up for sale anywhere in the world and was almost immediately wiped by the BBC right after it was broadcast. So, no, it really would be absolutely impossible to find every single one of those 106 missing episodes.
I agree entirely Ben. “The Feast of Steven” is never going to be found and as I said the other day in my top missing episodes article, the rest of the DMP is the least likely to be found. It was only sold to Australia which didn’t screen it because of censorship problems.
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