Doctor Who legend Carole Ann Ford makes plea for return of missing classic story: "Let us have it back"

Doctor Who's first companion, Carole Ann Ford, has reflected on missing story Marco Polo and has issued a plea for its return.

The fourth ever serial saw the first TARDIS team, William Hartnell's First Doctor, Ford's Susan, William Russell's Ian Chesterton and Jacqueline Hill's Barbara Wright, meet the historic Italian merchant-explorer in a seven-episode adventure, which first broadcast in 1964.

However, after episodes were erased by the BBC in 1967, the entire serial is now missing, with just some audio surviving.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com as part of an in-depth interview about her time on Doctor Who, Ford said she's "mortified" by the idea that the story can't be watched by fans, adding: "Marco Polo! Such a beautiful one, so beautiful. Such a loss. Well, hopefully it’s not lost forever."

While nothing has been proven, some fans believe the story exists in a private collection, with Ford issuing a plea if that is the case and saying: "Please, if there's somebody out there who's got Marco Polo, return it because we're suffering... please, let us have it back just for a while so we can see again what that loveliness was."

A total of 97 of 253 episodes from the show's first six years are currently missing, leaving 26 stories incomplete, because the BBC erased or reused tapes in the 1960s and 1970s to save storage space and costs, before archiving policies were in place.

In recent years some of these episodes have now been recreated via animation, as tapes of audio recordings have survived for every episode. However, it has long been believed that some of the episodes exist in private collections, with the organisation Film is Fabulous! on the hunt for the episodes and sharing periodic updates with fans, including a promising one late last year.

During the interview, Ford also reflected on her earliest days on the BBC sci-fi, including her first impressions of iconic actor Hartnell.

"I thought he was adorable!" she said. "He was very charming, very sweet, very considerate, and took it all very seriously, which I approved of. I don't like people messing about and giggling - they've got to take the work seriously."

She added: "The part was so important to him. It was everything to him. And because of that, he was a real perfectionist with it."

Carole Ann Ford's full interview will be available on RadioTimes.com soon.

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