Classic Doctor Who's discovered missing episodes get release date on BBC confirmed
The Daleks’ Master Plan awaits!
The recently recovered episodes of Doctor Who are coming to iPlayer very soon, the BBC has confirmed.
The two episodes, The Nightmare Begins and Devil's Planet, from the serial The Daleks’ Master Plan, will arrive on the streaming service at 6am on 3 April 2026.
Written by Terry Nation, the serial starred William Hartnell as the Doctor and Peter Purves as Steven Taylor. It also featured Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon, Adrienne Hill as Katarina, and Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen.
The two episodes were discovered by the charitable trust Film is Fabulous in a private collection after the death of its owner, who will remain anonymous. It's the first discovery of missing Doctor Who episodes since 2013.
Speaking exclusively to Radio Times, Sue Malden, former BBC archive selector, said: "It's so exciting. I've spoken so many times about Doctor Who and people always ask, 'Do you think there are any more to be found?'
"You go from saying, 'I don't know, I think this is the last,' to, 'Well, they were all recorded, so actually they've got to be somewhere,' and then these pop up."
She also stressed the importance of the episodes being made freely available on BBC iPlayer.
"To us, it's really important, because we know people have collected things, and if they do hand them over, there's a huge frustration that there isn't an opportunity to see them and again for the fans," she pointed out.
"So that's quite an important part of Film is Fabulous's philosophy, that if things are found, we try and do as much as we can to make sure they're seen.
"So we do put on events where found programmes are shown. This is the first time that something that's been found is being shown on iPlayer and that's absolutely brilliant.
"It's really quite an achievement to be able to publicise that these have been found, to whet people's appetite, and then they can see them."
Purves, who starred in the episode, was invited to watch the episodes when they were first discovered, and recently told Radio Times: "I was blown away by both episodes, not only because they’d been found, but because it was good to see how well they had been directed.
"Douglas Camfield was one of the finest BBC directors. His camerawork was superb.
“It was also great to be able to see a little more of my own acting work, and mates like Brian Cant performing.”
Doctor Who will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer this Christmas.
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Authors
Louise Griffin is the Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor for Radio Times, covering everything from Doctor Who, Star Wars and Marvel to House of the Dragon and Good Omens. She previously worked at Metro as a Senior Entertainment Reporter and has a degree in English Literature.
