Wednesday 9 October 2013

Which lost Doctor Who story would you want returned? (Update)



It seems that the rumours about missing BBC TV programmes being found in various African countries may be true. BBC Worldwide are announcing the return of some long lost Doctor Who episodes at midnight tonight (10th October).

Over a hundred episodes of Doctor Who are still missing, despite a well-publicised campaign to recover them from TV stations around the world. Fans of the Doctor may have their own hopes for the latest haul of black and white gold. There are not many Patrick Troughton stories left in the BBC archives, maybe his two Dalek adventures would be a welcome addition to the DVD shelves. Others may want to see the other lost Dalek epic, which was broadcast in 12 parts.

Other long lost favourites include Marco Polo, the only story from the first series not to be issued on DVD.

Personally, I would like to see the return of one of William Hartnell’s final stories. No, not the final part of The Tenth Planet, which introduced both Cybermen and the first Doctor Who regeneration, but the story that preceded it.

The Smugglers was written Brian Hayles, an Archers scriptwriter who went on to create the Ice Warriors. Loosely based on The Moonstone by J. Meade Falkner, it was one of the last purely historical adventures for the Doctor. The only science fiction element being that the protagonists had gone back in time.

The reason for my enthusiasm for this story is that it was the first Doctor Who story to be filmed away from London and the South East. A substantial amount of location work was carried out in West Cornwall.  I discovered that the cottage my wife and I owned for a number of years, was next door to one of the main locations, the stone barns on our neighbours farm was used as an inn.

UPDATE.11th October

The Smugglers is still a missing story, but the announcement that 9 missing Patrick Troughton episodes were at a TV station in Nigeria suggests that a film copy of the lost classic may still be out there somewhere. 

DOCTOR WHO LOCATION
MISSING EPISODES
DOCTOR WHO BOOKSHELF

1 comment:

Kimota said...

Heh... we're like kids on Christmas Eve aren't we?

Personally one of the stories hotly tipped to be in tomorrow's announcement is definitely be on my list - Web of Fear. yeti, underground, the Brigadier.... it's a corker.

But I am also excited over the possibility of Power of the Daleks finding it's way back. Sadly that is far far less likely as only 2 copies were ever made for overseas sale and the fate of one of those is documented to be destroyed (New Zealand).

For Hartnell, it would have to be The Mythmakers (because I love Donald Cotton's writing) or The Massacre (the forgotten classic).

Out of my head

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