The Great 'Doctor Who' Missing Episode Hoax

Not surprisingly, the recent story about the finding of lost Doctor Who episodes has turned out to be a hoax. The latest whispers are that this hoax played on more than just the fans though– it was played on the BBC itself. And at great cost. Allegedly there was one man in particular making all these rather bold claims regarding lost BBC episodes. For whatever reason, many higher-ups at the BBC and within the crew of Doctor Who felt this individual was on the level. This seems to be at least partly true, as former Who script consultant Ian Levine made the truth very clear on Twitter. “There will always be 106 Doctor Who episodes missing. And yes you can quote me on that.” An hour later, Levine added on Twitter: “My previous tweet was not ironic. I too wanted to believe ninety episodes had been found. I now believe none have been found. A massive hoax.” Sadly, this means we’ll probably never see those 106 missing episodes, which is a shame. I’ve had great dreams for seeing those William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton serials one day. And I think a lot of fans as well, considering anyone born after 1967 have never seen any of those Hartnell stories since they first aired.

Significant number of missing 'Doctor Who' episodes from the 1960's found?

During the early days of TV in Britain, a lot of shows that went out over the BBC airwaves were saved, but due to various actor contract issues, a lot were never rebroadcast. While the BBC did not have a central archive back then, BBC Enterprises did keep copies of programs they deemed exploitable to other commercial markets. What they did keep had a tendency to be piled up in whatever property the network had back then –which meant that no one was keeping an eye on them or even cataloging what they actually had. 

Starting in 1967, the BBC Engineering Department began erasing the master video tapes of Doctor Who, along with whole swathes of other late 1950s and early 60s TV shows. Beyond contract issues with the actors, along with other concerns, the BBC held the belief that there was no reason for this material to be kept. They cited the cost of video, which was high at the time, plus there was no place to store all these older shows, especially as they wanted to keep the newer shows they were producing for sales overseas . Plus, it was assumed, that with broadcasters across the globe converting to color, no one would want to buy old b&w TV shows. So while the Film Library kept programs that had been made on film, it was the Engineering Department responsibility for storing those master videotapes (despite the destruction of these masters, BBC Enterprises held a near-complete archive of the series in the form of their 16mm film telerecording copies until approximately 1972. The reason the BBC used that format was for overseas sales, as it was considerably cheaper to buy and easier to transport than videotape. It also circumvented the problem of different countries' incompatible video standards, as film was a universal medium whereas videotape was not). 

But in 1978, with the intervention of record producer Ian Levine who was a fan of the show, the policy of erasing Doctor Who (and other older BBC shows) ceased. But by then, the damage was done; the Film Library had only 47 episodes of 1960s Doctor Who –though they at one time held 53, but six episodes were  either junked or went missing due to their poor achieving response , which left a total of 152 episodes of Doctor Who no longer held by the BBC (but the show is unique in another way, as all of its missing episodes survive in audio form, recorded off-air by fans at home).

But while the master video tapes of those early episodes -and eventually all of the 16mm versions as well were wiped- over the decades episodes have been found all over the world thanks mostly to those 16mm versions used for oversea sales and private collectors in England, so by the end of 2011, only 106 episodes remain missing - 12 serials totaling 44 episodes of the first Doctor, and 15 serials totaling 62 episodes of the second Doctor.

Still, efforts to locate missing episodes continue, both by the BBC and by fans of the series. Extensive restoration has been carried out on many recovered 1960s and 1970s (some early Pertwee stories suffered the same fate as the Hartnell and Troughton, though they’ve all been recovered) episodes for release on VHS and now DVD and Blu-ray. The surviving soundtracks of missing episodes have been released on cassette and CD. Two episodes of The Invasion (released 2006) and two episodes of The Reign of Terror (released this year) were reconstructed using animation and released with the surviving episodes of those serials on DVD/Blu-ray.

But as Doctor Who celebrates its 50^th Anniversary this year, Bleeding Cool is reporting a rumor that the BBC has found a significant number of lost episodes acquired from “an eccentric engineer who worked for broadcasters across Africa with a taste for science fiction and a habit of taking things for ‘safe keeping.’”

And the site is saying this is not just a handful of episodes, but lots and lots; potentially all of the missing Hartnell episodes and many of the Troughton ones as well, most which have not been broadcast in the UK since their original airdates.

If this is true, this would be a significant financial boom for the BBC -despite whatever cost it would to clean them up with modern day technology- as well as Doctor Who fans across the globe, as anyone born after 1967 in the UK have never seen these missing episodes, along with the world wide fans who have not seen them at all.

Matt Smith to leave 'Doctor Who'

After the BBC announced the official 8^th season pick-up for Doctor Who, and Matt Smith saying he was staying, the actor has announced he’ll depart the title role in the upcoming Christmas Special to air on December 25, 2013.

Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew and fans of the show. I'm incredibly grateful to all the cast and crew who work tirelessly every day, to realise all the elements of the show and deliver Doctor Who to the audience. Many of them have become good friends and I'm incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last four years.

Having Steven Moffat as show runner write such varied, funny, mind-bending and brilliant scripts has been one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges of my career. It's been a privilege and a treat to work with Steven, he's a good friend and will continue to shape a brilliant world for the Doctor.

The fans of Doctor Who around the world are unlike any other; they dress up, shout louder, know more about the history of the show (and speculate more about the future of the show) in a way that I've never seen before, your dedication is truly remarkable. Thank you so very much for supporting my incarnation of the Time Lord, number Eleven, who I might add is not done yet, I'm back for the 50th anniversary and the Christmas special!

It's been an honour to play this part, to follow the legacy of brilliant actors, and helm the TARDIS for a spell with 'the ginger, the nose and the impossible one'. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go and Trenzalore calls. Thank you guys.

Matt.

Now the search is on to find his replacement, with show runner Steven Moffat sayin:

Every day, on every episode, in every set of rushes, Matt Smith surprised me: the way he'd turn a line, or spin on his heels, or make something funny, or out of nowhere make me cry, I just never knew what was coming next. The Doctor can be clown and hero, often at the same time, and Matt rose to both challenges magnificently.

And even better than that, given the pressures of this extraordinary show, he is one of the nicest and hardest-working people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Whatever we threw at him - sometimes literally - his behaviour was always worthy of the Doctor.

But great actors always know when it's time for the curtain call, so this Christmas prepare for your hearts to break, as we say goodbye to number Eleven. Thank you Matt - bow ties were never cooler.

Of course, this isn't the end of the story, because now the search begins. Somewhere out there right now - all unknowing, just going about their business - is someone who's about to become the Doctor. A life is going to change, and Doctor Who will be born all over again! After 50 years, that's still so exciting!

Another big question will be if Moffat will be staying with Who as well, as like Matt Smith, the Christmas episode would be the best time to depart. Months ago, when the idea of Moffat possibly leaving surfaced, Luther creator Neil Cross was rumored to be the one to fill in the slot if Moffat was leaving. The writer, of course, poo-pooed the idea. Cross, who also wrote two episodes in Doctor Who’s seventh season, The Rings of Akhaten and Hide, went on to run Crossbones, an NBC “limited run” series scheduled for midseason next year. Production on the show in now on, and by the time Doctor Who goes back into series production in February, Cross should be available. 

2013 is a gap season –the next season will not begin into the fall of 2014- so Moffat can work on Sherlock, his other BBC series. He’s mentioned more than once, while enjoying the work, he’s tired and spends a lot of time away from his family. This upcoming Christmas episode is a perfect time to leave as well.

As for who will take on the role of the Doctor is unknown, of course. Still the producers have time, as the Christmas episode will not begin filming until late August or early September. But I bet the months leading up to that filming will be fun.

Let the rumors begin.