Doctor Who's 5 most sought-after missing episodes – and how they could be found
A global treasure hunt is under way.
It’s almost hard to imagine how something as culturally significant as an episode of Doctor Who could go missing.
How could anybody hold a piece of television history in their hands and throw it in a skip? Well, it isn’t quite as straightforward as that – even though this dramatic “junking” may have been the fate of many episodes; in fact, there are 97 episodes still missing from both William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton’s years as the Doctor.
How did this happen? To find out we have to understand a little about how the show was made and distributed. In the early years Doctor Who was recorded on 2-inch quadruplex videotape in-studio (on location it was recorded in 16mm film and model shots were sometimes recorded in 35mm film – these would then be recorded, or telecined, onto the 2-inch videotape).
The BBC often looked to sell Doctor Who overseas, and as such it had to make a few copies to ship out to countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Sierra Leone. But the countries and the number of copies made varied from story to story.
The copies were created via a process called telerecording. Essentially, the videotape would be played back through a (CRT) monitor and a film camera would record the playback onto 16mm film. These copies would then be shipped around the world with a label attached showing the copyright expiry date, instructing them when the film should be destroyed, or returned to the BBC.
Meanwhile, the 2-inch videotape itself would be stored for a short period of time before finally being wiped to be used again. The BBC changed its archiving policy in 1978, but before this, there was a lack of clarity between departments when it came to cataloguing programmes.
It’s possible that some sections of the BBC might have believed that, via this process of telerecording, copies of Doctor Who were being kept for posterity somewhere in the BBC archive. However, there were other contributing factors at play, such as union agreements limiting repeats and a lack of storage space.
Whatever the case, the fact remains that most episodes weren’t kept, and due to the BBC’s need to reuse tapes, every single black-and-white episode of Doctor Who that was broadcast via its original 2-inch videotape master was wiped.
The film copies survived by luck, often returned to the BBC by the countries they were originally shipped out to. But again, most were not preserved. Their fate? Either thrown into the dreaded skip of oblivion, or perhaps they still sit in TV stations scattered across the globe. It was in a television relay station in Nigeria that Philip Morris discovered The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear (more on that in a moment).
This global treasure hunt is the only way that these stories can return in their full glory. Thanks to organisations such as Film is Fabulous! (which recently teased an upcoming update about a missing episode that may have been found) more BBC archive material is being discovered all the time, recovered from private collections and TV stations all around the world.
Although the footage of most of the 97 episodes remains lost, there are other ways that they have been preserved. Some very dedicated fans made reel-to-reel tape recordings at the time of broadcast, meaning that every single episode of Doctor Who survives via audio. Unfortunately, it wasn’t common practice for home viewers to make their own video recordings in the 1960s.
However, some fans did manage to capture short clips and the episodes have been reconstructed via on-set photographs and telesnaps (essentially the original screenshot technology created by John Cura). There are also many animations that have used every available resource to lovingly recreate the most important pieces of Doctor Who history... but there’s no substitute for the real thing.
Here are five Doctor Who stories featuring some of the most wanted missing episodes.
5. The Celestial Toymaker by Brian Hayles
(Originally broadcast in four parts in 1966 from 2nd - 23rd April)
The surreal nature of The Celestial Toymaker was groundbreaking and unlike anything Doctor Who had attempted before. The story exists in another realm, the domain of the sadistic Toymaker (played by Michael Gough). This world is inhabited by a strange array of disturbing Alice in Wonderland-style characters, all of whom are puppets of the Toymaker forcing Steven (Peter Purves) and Dodo (Jackie Lane) to join in with their childish games.
The Doctor literally becomes invisible for most of the story owing to William Hartnell being away at the time of recording. We only occasionally hear his disembodied voice in episodes 2 and 3, which has led some fans to consider these missing parts of Doctor Who history less important than others. However, the character of the Toymaker came back around as the centrepiece of the 60th anniversary specials, leaving many people wanting to find out more about his TV debut.
Just one episode exists in its entirety, The Final Test – legend has it that the episode survived in Australia because it was mistakenly considered to be footage of an important cricket match. The remaining three missing episodes were animated and released in 2024. (There are no surviving telesnaps from the missing episodes.)
Fortunately, the surviving episode is the most exciting part of the story, featuring a dramatic showdown between the Toymaker and the First Doctor, who is finally rendered visible and is forced to complete the Toymaker’s Trilogic Game. Intriguingly, this could have been William Hartnell’s original exit storyline if his contract hadn’t been renewed.
This final episode was returned from Australia, who are believed to have junked their remaining copies in 1976. New Zealand passed their copies onto Singapore in 1972, whilst Sierra Leone returned theirs to the BBC in 1974. The fate of the rest of the film copies remains unknown, but it’s thought that both Barbados and Zambia could potentially hold episodes.
4. The Evil of the Daleks by David Whitaker
(Originally broadcast in seven parts in 1967 from 20th May - 1st July)
The Daleks concoct an elaborate plan – they claim they want to study “The Human Factor”. In order to do this, they drag the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) into collaborating with them, which tests the faith of his loyal companion, Jamie (Frazer Hines) to its limits.
This seven-part story was billed as the end of the Daleks, introducing the concept of a Dalek Emperor (but not Davros) and new companion, Victoria Waterfield (played by Deborah Watling).
Unfortunately, only one episode survives, episode 2. Which is believed to have been returned to the BBC via Australia. New Zealand junked their copies in 1974 and the fate of the Singapore and Hong Kong copies remains unclear.
Terry Nation (creator of the Daleks) was eyeing up a Dalek spin-off at this time. As a result, the Doctor Who team essentially wrote them out of the programme, giving Patrick Troughton the last line of the story, “The final end!”, said as he glances back at the remaining chaos of the Dalek civil war.
However, Sydney Newman wanted to leave a slight hint that the Daleks might have survived, leaving one final lingering shot of a single twitching Dalek.
Telesnaps exist of the story and all six missing episodes were animated in 2021. However, The Evil of the Daleks is a very visual story, especially in its grand finale. Fans are desperate to see the original footage of the Second Doctor setting foot on Skaro (the Daleks’ home planet) as well as the epic fall-out between Jamie and the Doctor.
3. The Web of Fear by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln
(Originally broadcast in six parts in 1968 from 3rd February - 9th March)
The Web of Fear is a sequel to another largely missing serial, The Abominable Snowman – a Tibetan adventure featuring an intriguing duo of enemies, the robotic Yeti and the mysterious Great Intelligence. In this story both return alongside another important character from that story, Professor Travers (Jack Watling).
This time the action takes place in the heart of the London Underground system and it’s up to the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria to stop the Yetis and find out who is being controlled by the Great Intelligence.
Of the six episodes, only one is currently missing. It isn’t clear how many international prints were created of the story. However, we do know that Australia returned their copies to the BBC in 1975. New Zealand junked theirs in 1974, whilst Hong Kong passed their copies onto Singapore, who passed those along to Nigeria and this was where Philip Morris discovered every episode.
Sadly, just before shipment to the BBC, episode 3 mysteriously went missing. Morris believed it was sold privately as it was a noteworthy episode, famous for featuring the first appearance of the Brigadier (then Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart) played by Nicholas Courtney. As it stands the episode may still be held in a private collection. It was animated in 2021 to complete the story.
The Web of Fear is a beautifully shot horror-noir, peppered with the wonderful dry humour that became a hallmark of the Troughton era. It is famed for its tight script and claustrophobic London Underground setting, which was so convincing that London Transport officials allegedly complained, believing that the Doctor Who team must have filmed there without their permission.
2. The Tenth Planet by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
(Originally broadcast in four parts in 1966 from 8th - 29th of October)
The Tenth Planet is William Hartnell’s regeneration story (then referred to as the “renewal”). It also marked the first appearance of the Cybermen, more specifically the Mondasian Cybermen.
Only one episode is missing of this four-part farewell to the first Doctor. It is thought that just two copies were made of the serial. Australia returned theirs to the BBC in 1975, whilst the New Zealand copies were passed onto Singapore where their fate is unknown. A full set of telesnaps exist.
Unfortunately, the missing episode is the most vital one - the last episode. Although it was beautifully animated in 2013 (and updated in 2022) there’s a subtle tragedy to the Doctor’s goodbye to his two companions Ben (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills) that really needs to be seen.
The image of the ailing first Doctor standing in the snow has become iconic and this is largely due to the regeneration story of the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi). Twice Upon a Time is a 2017 Christmas special that revisits the first Doctor during the events of this missing episode (David Bradley takes on William Hartnell’s role as the first Doctor).
The First Doctor’s original regeneration was preserved via a short clip supplied to Blue Peter. The effect was created by Shirley Coward; she used a malfunctioning mixing desk to achieve the blended shot. Instead of mixing the shot normally, this machine overexposed the image creating a white blur– the regeneration effect was born!
1) The Power of the Daleks by David Whitaker and Dennis Spooner
(Originally broadcast in six parts in 1966 from 5th November - 10th December)
Our number one pick for the most sought-after Doctor Who story is not only Patrick Troughton’s debut as the Doctor, it is also one of the finest and quite possibly darkest Dalek stories ever broadcast.
Landing on the planet Vulcan, the new Doctor witnesses the murder of an examiner and assumes his identity in order to find out exactly what is happening on this colonised planet. Accompanied by Ben and Polly, the Doctor finds that a scientist, Lesterton (Robert James), has reactivated three Daleks found in a crash site. However, he assures the Doctor that he needn’t be alarmed, these Daleks are very helpful.
Tragically, not one episode of the six-part saga survives. Australia returned their copies to the BBC in 1975. New Zealand passed their prints onto Singapore in 1972 where their fate remains uncertain. Some clips have survived, as well as a full set of telesnaps. An animation was produced in 2016 and then updated with a special release in 2020.
The acting was of such a high-standard that through the audio and animation alone we can still feel the power of both Patrick Troughton’s groundbreaking take on the Doctor and Robert James’s incredible performance as Lesterson. The Doctor wanders about in his post-regeneration haze, taking to practising his recorder instead of explaining himself, much to the complete despair of both Ben and Polly, who aren’t even sure if this man is still the Doctor.
This first scene survives in bits and pieces, but the clips are of poor quality and can only offer a tantalising glimpse into what might have been. As a result, this missing story is considered the holy grail for Doctor Who fans. Everybody wants to see the immediate aftermath of the first ever regeneration. But not only that, The Power of the Daleks consistently ranks as one of the greatest Doctor Who stories ever, regardless of its historical significance.
For the legacy of Doctor Who there can only be one choice for the most wanted story – let’s hope that one day, we find it.
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