The BBC will revive long-lost Doctor Who episodes from the classic era in a major way. The 1960s saw William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton lead the British show as the First and Second incarnation of the Doctor, respectively, traveling from the early days of humanity to their space-faring future. From 1963 until Troughton’s departure in June 1969, the Doctors faced Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, and other monsters.
Ahead of Doctor Who‘s 60th Anniversary specials, RadioTimes.com confirmed that the same network will also release previously lost stories in the form of podcast episodes released globally through the BBC Sounds app. The podcasts will feature surviving audio from the episodes’ original broadcasts combined with narration provided by several currently unrevealed stars from the show. While it is currently unknown which stories will be released through BBC Sounds, it is confirmed that three whole stories will be released on the platform on November 1 alongside the iPlayer library expansion.
Which Doctor Who Stories Are Missing?
Despite Doctor Who now being a major asset for the BBC, protocols adopted by the network regarding how they stored tapes of programs from 1967 to 1978 led to the broadcaster junking various shows. With streaming and even home releases of television shows being a long way off, the corporation saw no value in preserving programming and wiped videotape to make way for new shows. While Doctor Who had been one such victim of these procedures, the active efforts from viewers and the corporation to recover footage led to previously lost stories being fully restored or partially recreated through animation and tele-snap recreations utilizing stills and audio.
While the list of missing Doctor Who episodes shrunk, 97 episodes remain missing from the show’s first six classic seasons. The First Doctor’s 44 missing episodes include the majority of the twelve-part Dalek epic “The Dalek’s Master Plan,” three parts of 60th-anniversary villain The Toymaker’s (Neil Patrick Harris) original debut story “The Celestial Toymaker,” and the majority of Hartnell’s final story and Cyberman debut “The Tenth Planet.” Meanwhile, the Second Doctor’s era is missing 53 episodes, including serials of follow-up Cyberman tales “The Moonbase,” “The Wheel in Space,” “The Invasion,” “The Ice Warriors,” “The Power of the Daleks,” and “The Evil of the Daleks.”
Though Doctor Who may have been a victim of careless practices, active efforts have ensured that once-thought-lost stories could be preserved and enjoyed by a new generation. With only three stories from the lost episodes being currently set for release in the format, viewers may be speculating which tales will feature in the collection, with “The Celestial Toymaker” likely being among them to coincide with his 60th-anniversary return. Nevertheless, BBC Sounds’ new lost episode podcasts can give a more fully realized glimpse at the classic series to celebrate Doctor Who‘s monumental milestone.
