Fun fact: the only reason the entire run of Monty Python’s Flying Circus still exists is because Terry Gilliam purchased the master tapes from the BBC himself; otherwise, every episode would have been erased. THAT is how bad the junking epidemic used to be.
I am surprised he was able to purchase the 2"Quad tapes with all the internal bureaucracy at that time. Do you have any further information on how he achieved it plus where he stored the tapes as they were rather large compared to the home video formats that came later on. I know that the writers of Steptoe and Son were able to get episode of their episodes dubbed onto Shibaden VT for personal home use.
Actually, what happened is that Terry Jones (not Gilliam) got a tip from someone in the BBC archive that the first series (only the first one, not the other three) was going to be wiped, so he went in and secretly made copies on Philips video cassettes. The episodes didn’t end up getting wiped, Jones claimed it was because they sold the show in the USA about six months later. In the end, the Pythons got copies of the master tapes from the BBC when they assumed ownership of the show. I think the originals are still in the BBC’s archives.
@@archive9796 I believe Tom Baker’s era wasn’t affected by wiping at all. Chronologically the last story to have an episode wiped was Death to the Daleks (1974) which was in Jon Pertwee’s final season.
Now this is the time of silence where no new missing episodes are being discovered. Hopefully it's a calm before the storm of another missing episode popping up somewhere.
Tomb of the Cybermen is my favorite classic Doctor Who episode and I teared up when I heard you say that they were almost lost forever because of a shipping error. So grateful that it was discovered where they got shipped to eventually.
I repeat what I said in the cut up version of this story, whoever has ep3 of Web of Fear is not a true whovian, they're a dang hoarder, a true fan would insure whatever they had could B shared. The jokes on them now though, as it'll soon B animated.
Sadly only a "fan" knows about its historical significance. But as part of the actual story, its the weakest episode. If we never see it, I don't think we are missing much. Talk about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.
@@paulharries9558 Yes I do recall at the time saying to a friend that it was rather odd to take the weakest episode out of the six found by Philip Morris. On the plus side with episode 3 of the 'Enemy of the World" been the weakness for this story also, along with it to be the only one known to exit for many years, the story gained a reputation of being the least best of season 5. If it wasn't for this the person who took an episode of' Web of fear' might have shown more interest in obtaining an episode of 'The Enemy of the World' instead.
I always feel SO on the fence when it comes to private collectors. On the one hand, I understand that they want to be able to say that they own a piece of history and they hope to maybe someday get a large sum from companies like the BBC in exchange for the episode. On the other hand, though, it feels so selfish, and I feel like personally if I had a piece of television history like that, I'd much rather be able to say that I helped with providing the world with something that was once thought to be lost. I just really don't know how I feel about them, and I wish that there was a way for us to at least know if some of the missing episodes are still out there. I understand if they want to hold onto the footage, but at least knowing that something like Marco Polo is out there and safe in the hands of someone who cares would be a sort of reassurance, you know?
@ Margaret Schafer, I am a private collector of original Dr Who material, and have a number of the original typed scripts and unit lists from the 60s. I do not have any film. I know that if I had not ‘rescued’ many of the items that I did in the early 80s, they would have been lost. You should celebrate the fact that episodes are, 100%, out there, and let the professionals do all they can to secure them. It will be some of the stories that come back from these collectors are not the glamorous ones everyone wishes, but early Dr Who, nonetheless.
@@johnfranklin8047 Back in the day, (when I was really young) I used to dumpster dive behind Lucas' original building in San Rafael. I grabbed stuff out of the trash, like posters and snippets of film. They were for me and my friends and no one cared about it, so we did it for ages. Then, one day, pros showed up, grabbed stuff and started selling it to make money. After that, Lucas had the dumpsters chained and locked up. Who knows how much cool stuff was lost because of greedy folks. For all that private collectors may keep things away from the public, they are also not making the kinds of profits that lead to more stuff being lost. So, it's a strange balance of forces. >shrug
The worst ones are the privet collector rings and groups of hoarders, if they know they have something lost, they WILL make sure its hidden And don't show it to anyone. Its vary sickening
Hey Josh, have you heard of the story that 'The Power of the Daleks - Episode 1' was screened at a Singapore school in 1978 (6 years after it was broadcast and presumably destroyed)? Chances of finding it or it even still existing are slim, but someone on the forums is investigating it as we speak. Kind of reminds of the Macra Terror New Zealand school story.
We're long overdue for another bunch of missing Doctor Who episodes discoveries. Here's hoping some will turn up over the next two years - then we can celebrate sixty glorious years in style!
@@jaded6530 I don't think so. Ian stated confidently that "THEY'LL ALWAYS BE 106 MISSINIG EPISODE!" before the BBC announced that Enemy and Web were found. (they were already found 2 years prior but Phillip was looking for Web EP3 with no luck sadly) Have they ever stated that they both have in hold of other missing who eps?
@@harrycarson6526 I do think we will get more missing episodes recovered (hopefully soon) probably from private collectors I just hope they’ll be in good condition
@@blairm383 yea i think thats only way we could get more missing ep but the only problem is that they might not ever let go of these unless they get paid a large sum of money.
The Deadly Assassin Part 3 is also missing in a way. The ending shot of the Doctor being downed was hacked out due to complaints, not the least of which being the dreaded and evil hag known as Mary Whitehouse (May she not rest in peace). Instead, the ending had to be recreated for the home media release.
Imagine wishing there were more episodes recovered only so this documentary could be longer. ;) Very good job on this! Could have (should have?) been on an official DW disc by the BBC as an extra!
Absolutely love your attitude of appreciating what we have instead of worrying about what we don't. It's a sentiment the world needs right now in all aspects of life. I love your dedication and absolute love for the program and it's history. You are a credit to all of fandom.
I find it unlikely, because the chances of finding some of these are slim, but imagine the day we finally get every single episode back, it would be like putting the last piece in a jigsaw
I know it’s the most lost of all missing episodes, but I hope one day Feast of Steven turns up. I’d love to see One give his Merry Christmas to all of you at home as the credits come in. We might need an actual Time Machine to make that recovery or a signal capturer that can track the signal down in the depths of space…
I saw a documentary stating that some BBC programmes in the 1960s - for a period of time - were simultaneously shot with two cameras - one in B&W, one in colour, the latter being for export to the US (the clip they showed to demonstrate this was from Pete & Dud - shot from a slightly different angle, for each camera). So that may be why. Of course I could be wrong!
@@louise_8546 It was because the BBC and Time Life wiped or junked the color versions, and all that was left were B/W telefilms shot off a monitor. The Pertwee WHOs were shown in color in England.
@@antoniod Yeah, I realised my mistake when I figured out the timeline for Pertwee (he was a bit before my time but I have vivid memories of Tom Baker - he was HUGE in the 1970s - and 1980s - in the UK). Sorry for the misunderstanding!
Another brilliant missing episodes documentary Josh! It's fascinating the ways so many lost classics have been returned to the BBC archive and the work that went into restoring the Pertwee episodes! Hopefully we can get that number below 97 at some point in the future.
Fun fact: Some of these _Doctor Who_ episodes weren't the only missing works to be found in cabinets. In the fourteenth century, some French monks were cleaning up and found, in a cabinet, a long-forgotten 900-year-old alphabetical roll of Euripides' plays, volume 2: Eta through Kappa. While moths and mice had evidently eaten all the Theta titles, some of the Iota titles, and all but one of the Kappa titles, there were still nine plays surviving that had long been thought lost: _Helen, Electra, Heracles Mad, The Children of Heracles, The Suppliant Maidens, Iphigenia at Aulis, Iphigenia among the Tauri, Ion,_ and _The Cyclops._ This brought the total known extant Euripides plays up to nineteen from ten. It must have been big news among literary scholars at the time (though of course news traveled more slowly back then).
5:28 this list gave me the idea for something; the 60s stories which level of completion have not improved are : Marco Polo, The Myth Makers, Mission to the Unknown, The Massacre, The Smugglers, The Tenth Planet, Power of the Daleks, The Highlanders, The Moonbase, The Macra Terror, Fury From the Deep, The Space Pirates. 12 stories have never had any new episodes found
This has to be one of the sickest videos that I have ever seen about Doctor Who! Your storytelling and use of supporting graphics and video are spot on. Please keep making awesome content like this!
I already watched the individual episodes of this, but I just wanted to come back and say how wonderful and brilliant this was. Thank you for all your hard work Josh!
Amazing documentary, learnt so much about the missing & found Pertwee episodes. You said it best, "let's appreciate what we do have", and that's the 168 episodes returned to the BBC Archives. In my lifetime alone many episodes retuned, re-colorised, or even animated for a new generation to enjoy a lost episode. Plus, thanks to some fans using audio recorders in the 1960's all remaining 97 episodes are now also in the BBC Archive, just in audio form. Personally, I recommend giving the 1960's Doctor Who lost episodes a listen, provided you enjoy audio entertainment. Personal favorites include "The Celestial Toymaker" from Hartnell & "Fury from the Deep" from Troughton.
They're not alone. So much is lost from so many channels. Many other UK channels wiped or destroyed their archives too and I believe similar things happened in the US. I think Josh explains it well. Broadcast video tape in the 60's and 70's was phenomenally expensive - think £thousands per tape in today's money, and was huge too. A tv station with budget constraints would be tempted to reuse these. Especially if a tape held an old, black & white show that would never be retransmitted and could be reused to record a newer colour show. The stations did archive things they thought should be kept - important occasions such as the Olympics though. It is a total shame with hindsight, but we should be grateful at what we do have.
At the time they was no home media and very few shows were repeated. Videotape was extremely expensive so it made sense to reuse it. Of course no one could predict the future.
I'm 47, and so amazed and thrilled to go to Suncoast Video at Eastland Mall in the early 90's to pick up my VHS copy of 'Tomb of the Cybermen'. These stories are giving me the chills, and wonderful memories. True thanks for making this video about this incredible story.
Lord Snares, on the day of your final incarnation, your honored place in The Great Matrix is assured. For this and all of your works, the High Council of Time Lords salute you.
The BBC, like the german public broadcasting service, is financend by a television fee, right? So, the content they made was financed by the poeple and therefore is public property. How could the BBC dare to extinguish public property? Anne Hanford's statement "The BBC neither *needs* nor can afford to preserve a copy of every videotape or film it transmits" is an arrogant slap in the face of anyone paying their fee month by month. She should remember from whom she got her paycheck. Besides this: Every piece of television program the BBC transmitted is a historic document, that must be preserved. Such an archive is a invaluable treasure for future generations to explore and understand history.
Super interesting. I watched Doctor Who on German TV from the fourth Doctor upwards back then. So I was pretty excited when it came back in the 2000's. Only after that did I discover how long it had originally been running, the early Doctors and stuff about missing episodes. I'm still flabbergasted that people thought "Ok, we've shown it twice, off to the bin it goes". 😲
I’d read Richard Molesworth’s book before watching this and I really appreciate the overview you give. Obviously his book has more detail but watching this helped me understand some of the more technical bits that went over my head a bit :)
One hell of an awesome documentary! It brings Richard Molesworth's "Wiped!" to life, with suitable updates and Josh's wickedly cheeky sense of humour. The English teacher in me cringes at the occasional grammatical error, but in every other respect this is totally worthy of turning up on a classic series Blu-Ray box.
Much like most silent films, I am shocked at the utter lack of care in archiving and retention. Even if these 16mm copies no longer had perceived commercial value, they should have been given to a national archive or library or sold to collectors instead of just scrapped. Hopefully more episodes will resurface. Ethiopia said the had full sets back in the 90s. Anyone track that down? How about a reality show chasing down leads to find more episodes? Would be fun.
Its 2024 now and Im happy to see such respect and accord within the comments section here for all the classic episodes. I dipped my toes into modern Dr Who you tube comments and they were so abusive and hateful in the comments. So sad. Well done Josh. God bless.
Perfect just perfect josh.beautiful job of compiling and putting together this documentary. Full of great info and I could almost cry when I see how many episodes were lost upto the 80s .cant wait for more episodes to be uncovered
Your videos are quite astounding! I can’t get enough of them. They are so definitive, they really should be dvd extras, the work that must have gone into them is incredible, and as a fan of the series, I thank you for them
Even though this is a story I am very familiar with, it was great to see it presented and put together in such an excellent way. Ian Levine is always painted as the hero and it was great that you showed another side to his involvement, one that I hadn't been aware of! Excellent job.
Josh Snares, you've done brilliant work - as always! Your love of Doctor Who is obvious and I love your docs. G'day and thank you from a fellow Aussie and fan in Sydney.
1:00:31 Well it's a bit difficult when you watch an existing episode where they mention actions or events that happened in a missing episode. Like for instance when Marco Polo gets mentioned in "The Sensorites" or Episode 1 of "The Reign of Terror".
True to that! Out of all the missing episodes, I at least would like to see Marco Polo be restored. I have heard enough about it in various Dr. Who videos for it to gain a mythical status in my eyes... It would be neat to have it as an example of early historical serials.
Seriously, you should be getting paid for these videos. It's always been my opinion that UA-cam provides a huge amount of inadvertent resumes for the visual production industry. If I were in the BBC, I would snap you up for the Classic releases.
So many stories that just don't add up for how these are found. I'm 100% convinced someone has built their own Tardis and has saved them and scattering the films around time
A great documentary. Enjoyed watching it. As much as it would be lovely to see more episodes return I think it's becoming ever more unlikely with each passing year but one can live in hope. Thankfully we still have a full set of audio recordings of this era of the show.
So what has Ian Levine seen traded? He says that collectors would only trade a missing episode for another missing episode, this suggests that he met other collectors who refused to trade an episode they had.
Yea!!! The full film!! The good thing about digital now, is that we can save it on digital, but that takes up storage, like having a VHS tape sitting there Also, thanks for making a full video! I'm going to try and put this into a software and make this an audio file, and then I'm going to upload it too a music app so I can listen to this on a airplane ride one day
I find it interesting how there are some episodes which have some scenes intact. It would be nice to able to reunite these scenes with the episode itself. As far as I'm aware, these episodes are the following: Galaxy 4 (1) The Daleks' Master Plan (1, 3 & 4) The Savages (4) The Tenth Planet (4) The Power of the Daleks (1 & 5) The Highlanders (1) The Macra Terror (2) The Evil of the Daleks (7) The Abominable Snowmen (4) Fury from the Deep (2, 4-6) The Wheel in Space (1, 4 & 5)
Rewatching this video and am unsurprised to find it just as good as it was on the first watch. Very interesting and very well put together. I even went and bought the Wiped book because of it, which I am slowly getting through.
RE Colourisation of old Doctor Who episodes Now, as I'm sure you're aware, there are countless examples of black and white 60s Doctor Who which have been not only colourised but improved visually to the point they look like they were filmed recently. Whether it's done by AI or manually, we now have the ability to redo classic Doctor Who, of ANY decade, to a level which gives the viewer an experience which brings the footage to life. And what I'm referring to is FAN WORK. Seeing footage over 50 years old upscaled and in colour is staggering.
Its very sad theres so much missing episodes yet it does add so much mystery and adds a even more mystical feel to an already mystical show yet i do feel as if its been long enough
I love your videos, they help with my recent obsession over Doctor who missing episodes. Also as a Latter-Day saint I appreciate you using the full name of our church whenever you mention, just feel really respected 😁
Wait.... you're telling me this whole time there was a surviving episode 3 of The Faceless Ones, yet I ended up watching the animated version because I was unaware of it? Damm...
Incredibly the original high-quality SSTV(Slow Scan Television) recordings of the Apollo 11 moon landing were also scrapped in the early 80's by NASA. The only copies that survive are in the much lower quality NTSC television video format and a Super 8 film someone shot of the screen.
I was always under the impression that the Pertwee era Who episodes have always been complete at the BBC and the only problem was that some of them remained in black and white only. Either way, I am glad all Pertwee's episodes now exist in colour as he was the first Doctor I knew.
My theory for the Dalek's Master Plan: Terry Nation was known to be involved with using the Daleks in promotions, merch, and sometimes charity events. I wouldn't consider it a stretch if Terry Nation or an affiliate borrowed copies of the Dalek's Master Plan for such an event, and a film or two got misplaced.
If only something is being done for other shows with missing episodes, like Z-Cars and in particular, The Adventures of Twizzle (where only the very first episode exists in the archive).
Great content as always and because of this awesome documentary I purchased the “Wiped” telos book, Thanks Josh for a brilliant and informative documentary 👍😁
Fun fact: the only reason the entire run of Monty Python’s Flying Circus still exists is because Terry Gilliam purchased the master tapes from the BBC himself; otherwise, every episode would have been erased. THAT is how bad the junking epidemic used to be.
stonks
Someone get me a Tardis, the best Hartnell and Troughton impersonators and a lot of pounds. I think I have an idea
I am surprised he was able to purchase the 2"Quad tapes with all the internal bureaucracy at that time. Do you have any further information on how he achieved it plus where he stored the tapes as they were rather large compared to the home video formats that came later on. I know that the writers of Steptoe and Son were able to get episode of their episodes dubbed onto Shibaden VT for personal home use.
I read that he and another cast member broke into the BBC and stole all the master tapes to save them from junking
Actually, what happened is that Terry Jones (not Gilliam) got a tip from someone in the BBC archive that the first series (only the first one, not the other three) was going to be wiped, so he went in and secretly made copies on Philips video cassettes. The episodes didn’t end up getting wiped, Jones claimed it was because they sold the show in the USA about six months later.
In the end, the Pythons got copies of the master tapes from the BBC when they assumed ownership of the show. I think the originals are still in the BBC’s archives.
How lucky we are to own all of the Pertwee era.
Pertwee is my absolute favourite doctor
And Tom Baker.
@@ryandonagheylovescash4710 how much was the Tom baker era effected by the bbc destroying episodes
@@ryandonagheylovescash4710 that’s very odd Tom baker isn’t on the thumbnail if you think we are lucky to have all of his era
@@archive9796 I believe Tom Baker’s era wasn’t affected by wiping at all. Chronologically the last story to have an episode wiped was Death to the Daleks (1974) which was in Jon Pertwee’s final season.
It's kind of hilarious that the BBC, which THREW AWAY these missing episodes, thinks it can threaten to sue someone who has recordings of them.
Here's a horrible thought, every years, there are less and less people who have seen the missing Doctor Who episodes
Now this is the time of silence where no new missing episodes are being discovered. Hopefully it's a calm before the storm of another missing episode popping up somewhere.
Some of this is BBC's own fault. They won't commit to a permanent amnesty.
Tomb of the Cybermen is my favorite classic Doctor Who episode and I teared up when I heard you say that they were almost lost forever because of a shipping error. So grateful that it was discovered where they got shipped to eventually.
I repeat what I said in the cut up version of this story, whoever has ep3 of Web of Fear is not a true whovian, they're a dang hoarder, a true fan would insure whatever they had could B shared. The jokes on them now though, as it'll soon B animated.
Sadly only a "fan" knows about its historical significance. But as part of the actual story, its the weakest episode. If we never see it, I don't think we are missing much.
Talk about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Honestly I get the feeling it was destroyed either by the person who removed it or it turned to vinegar. That’s what PV has basically stated.
@@paulharries9558 Yes I do recall at the time saying to a friend that it was rather odd to take the weakest episode out of the six found by Philip Morris. On the plus side with episode 3 of the 'Enemy of the World" been the weakness for this story also, along with it to be the only one known to exit for many years, the story gained a reputation of being the least best of season 5. If it wasn't for this the person who took an episode of' Web of fear' might have shown more interest in obtaining an episode of 'The Enemy of the World' instead.
@@jamesattenbourghwhy would it be destroyed?
I disagree and am not even surprised at the hoarders actions. A true Doctor Who fan is a complete self important arsehole.
I always feel SO on the fence when it comes to private collectors. On the one hand, I understand that they want to be able to say that they own a piece of history and they hope to maybe someday get a large sum from companies like the BBC in exchange for the episode. On the other hand, though, it feels so selfish, and I feel like personally if I had a piece of television history like that, I'd much rather be able to say that I helped with providing the world with something that was once thought to be lost. I just really don't know how I feel about them, and I wish that there was a way for us to at least know if some of the missing episodes are still out there. I understand if they want to hold onto the footage, but at least knowing that something like Marco Polo is out there and safe in the hands of someone who cares would be a sort of reassurance, you know?
I really hope Marco Polo is recovered some day. It was probably my favorite serial from season 1.
I feel exactly the same way, Margaret. It's such a conflicting feeling!
@ Margaret Schafer, I am a private collector of original Dr Who material, and have a number of the original typed scripts and unit lists from the 60s. I do not have any film. I know that if I had not ‘rescued’ many of the items that I did in the early 80s, they would have been lost. You should celebrate the fact that episodes are, 100%, out there, and let the professionals do all they can to secure them. It will be some of the stories that come back from these collectors are not the glamorous ones everyone wishes, but early Dr Who, nonetheless.
@@johnfranklin8047 Back in the day, (when I was really young) I used to dumpster dive behind Lucas' original building in San Rafael. I grabbed stuff out of the trash, like posters and snippets of film. They were for me and my friends and no one cared about it, so we did it for ages. Then, one day, pros showed up, grabbed stuff and started selling it to make money. After that, Lucas had the dumpsters chained and locked up. Who knows how much cool stuff was lost because of greedy folks. For all that private collectors may keep things away from the public, they are also not making the kinds of profits that lead to more stuff being lost. So, it's a strange balance of forces. >shrug
The worst ones are the privet collector rings and groups of hoarders, if they know they have something lost, they WILL make sure its hidden And don't show it to anyone. Its vary sickening
Hey Josh, have you heard of the story that 'The Power of the Daleks - Episode 1' was screened at a Singapore school in 1978 (6 years after it was broadcast and presumably destroyed)? Chances of finding it or it even still existing are slim, but someone on the forums is investigating it as we speak. Kind of reminds of the Macra Terror New Zealand school story.
Considering the fact that Galaxy 4 episode 3 and Underwater Menace episode 2 was found at a school sale, I believe it sounds possible.
We're long overdue for another bunch of missing Doctor Who episodes discoveries. Here's hoping some will turn up over the next two years - then we can celebrate sixty glorious years in style!
@@onekie5787 remember phillip morris is a dick and ian levine as well we might find more once they give up their tapes.
@@NF1332 I know they’re dicks but do they actually hold tapes from us?
@@jaded6530 I don't think so. Ian stated confidently that "THEY'LL ALWAYS BE 106 MISSINIG EPISODE!" before the BBC announced that Enemy and Web were found. (they were already found 2 years prior but Phillip was looking for Web EP3 with no luck sadly) Have they ever stated that they both have in hold of other missing who eps?
@@harrycarson6526 I do think we will get more missing episodes recovered (hopefully soon) probably from private collectors I just hope they’ll be in good condition
@@blairm383 yea i think thats only way we could get more missing ep but the only problem is that they might not ever let go of these unless they get paid a large sum of money.
This is a very nice documentary made by someone who cares and is good at what they do and their name is josh Snares. Well done
The Deadly Assassin Part 3 is also missing in a way. The ending shot of the Doctor being downed was hacked out due to complaints, not the least of which being the dreaded and evil hag known as Mary Whitehouse (May she not rest in peace). Instead, the ending had to be recreated for the home media release.
@@onekie5787 I think it got removed after broadcasting.
Imagine wishing there were more episodes recovered only so this documentary could be longer. ;) Very good job on this! Could have (should have?) been on an official DW disc by the BBC as an extra!
I don’t say this with many things, but I can genuinely say this is the best documentary I’ve ever seen! Keep up the good work Josh!
Sad that 97 are missing but it's happy what everyone has done to get them back
Absolutely love your attitude of appreciating what we have instead of worrying about what we don't. It's a sentiment the world needs right now in all aspects of life. I love your dedication and absolute love for the program and it's history. You are a credit to all of fandom.
I find it unlikely, because the chances of finding some of these are slim, but imagine the day we finally get every single episode back, it would be like putting the last piece in a jigsaw
I know it’s the most lost of all missing episodes, but I hope one day Feast of Steven turns up. I’d love to see One give his Merry Christmas to all of you at home as the credits come in. We might need an actual Time Machine to make that recovery or a signal capturer that can track the signal down in the depths of space…
I was puzzled when Pertwee episodes appeared in Black and White in 1984. "I JUST saw these in color"(in 1978 in the US)! "What happened?"
I saw a documentary stating that some BBC programmes in the 1960s - for a period of time - were simultaneously shot with two cameras - one in B&W, one in colour, the latter being for export to the US (the clip they showed to demonstrate this was from Pete & Dud - shot from a slightly different angle, for each camera). So that may be why. Of course I could be wrong!
@@louise_8546 It was because the BBC and Time Life wiped or junked the color versions, and all that was left were B/W telefilms shot off a monitor. The Pertwee WHOs were shown in color in England.
@@antoniod Yeah, I realised my mistake when I figured out the timeline for Pertwee (he was a bit before my time but I have vivid memories of Tom Baker - he was HUGE in the 1970s - and 1980s - in the UK).
Sorry for the misunderstanding!
@@louise_8546 i think that was with ITV in 1968.
Another brilliant missing episodes documentary Josh! It's fascinating the ways so many lost classics have been returned to the BBC archive and the work that went into restoring the Pertwee episodes! Hopefully we can get that number below 97 at some point in the future.
Hopefully! I'm dying for another Missing Episode recovery!
@@JoshSnares same
Fun fact: Some of these _Doctor Who_ episodes weren't the only missing works to be found in cabinets. In the fourteenth century, some French monks were cleaning up and found, in a cabinet, a long-forgotten 900-year-old alphabetical roll of Euripides' plays, volume 2: Eta through Kappa. While moths and mice had evidently eaten all the Theta titles, some of the Iota titles, and all but one of the Kappa titles, there were still nine plays surviving that had long been thought lost: _Helen, Electra, Heracles Mad, The Children of Heracles, The Suppliant Maidens, Iphigenia at Aulis, Iphigenia among the Tauri, Ion,_ and _The Cyclops._ This brought the total known extant Euripides plays up to nineteen from ten.
It must have been big news among literary scholars at the time (though of course news traveled more slowly back then).
Who needs an SO when you have an hour long documentary about the returned missing episodes of Doctor Who
Personally, Im glad the generation of "government is my mommy and daddy" aren't having kids to pass their motarded philosophy on to.
5:28 this list gave me the idea for something; the 60s stories which level of completion have not improved are : Marco Polo, The Myth Makers, Mission to the Unknown, The Massacre, The Smugglers, The Tenth Planet, Power of the Daleks, The Highlanders, The Moonbase, The Macra Terror, Fury From the Deep, The Space Pirates.
12 stories have never had any new episodes found
Galaxy 4 episode 3 was recovered in 2011 :)
This has to be one of the sickest videos that I have ever seen about Doctor Who! Your storytelling and use of supporting graphics and video are spot on. Please keep making awesome content like this!
I have some lost media recovered, it’s some local dubs of television shows and movies from the early 2000’s that isn’t available for purchase anymore.
Yesssssss. The perfect valentines day film.
It’s amazing the Ash Williams was so involved in Doctor Who preservation. Freaking crazy
I already watched the individual episodes of this, but I just wanted to come back and say how wonderful and brilliant this was. Thank you for all your hard work Josh!
Why is it that so many serials seemed to turn up with a scattershot of episodes? Wouldn’t you think they’d keep the entire serial stored together?
All sorts of crazy stuff must've happened that scattered episodes of a whole serial.
Amazing documentary, learnt so much about the missing & found Pertwee episodes. You said it best, "let's appreciate what we do have", and that's the 168 episodes returned to the BBC Archives. In my lifetime alone many episodes retuned, re-colorised, or even animated for a new generation to enjoy a lost episode.
Plus, thanks to some fans using audio recorders in the 1960's all remaining 97 episodes are now also in the BBC Archive, just in audio form. Personally, I recommend giving the 1960's Doctor Who lost episodes a listen, provided you enjoy audio entertainment. Personal favorites include "The Celestial Toymaker" from Hartnell & "Fury from the Deep" from Troughton.
The BBC are "ham-fisted bun vendors" for destroying so much classic TV.
They're not alone. So much is lost from so many channels. Many other UK channels wiped or destroyed their archives too and I believe similar things happened in the US. I think Josh explains it well. Broadcast video tape in the 60's and 70's was phenomenally expensive - think £thousands per tape in today's money, and was huge too. A tv station with budget constraints would be tempted to reuse these. Especially if a tape held an old, black & white show that would never be retransmitted and could be reused to record a newer colour show. The stations did archive things they thought should be kept - important occasions such as the Olympics though. It is a total shame with hindsight, but we should be grateful at what we do have.
At the time they was no home media and very few shows were repeated. Videotape was extremely expensive so it made sense to reuse it.
Of course no one could predict the future.
@@ryandonagheylovescash4710 I know that, and Josh does a good job explaining it. I just wanted an excuse to use that Pertwee line. ;)
I'm 47, and so amazed and thrilled to go to Suncoast Video at Eastland Mall in the early 90's to pick up my VHS copy of 'Tomb of the Cybermen'. These stories are giving me the chills, and wonderful memories. True thanks for making this video about this incredible story.
What an incredible recounting of this story. This was produced so well! Thank you, Josh, for taking the time!
Just letting you know that two years later people are still enjoying your work.
Can’t believe it’s been two years!
I think that that number 97 is going to decline in the near future.
Hopefully
It would be nice to have some missing episodes by the 60th anniversary
I hope so
It's been 8 years without finding any episode
Lord Snares, on the day of your final incarnation, your honored place in The Great Matrix is assured. For this and all of your works, the High Council of Time Lords salute you.
The BBC, like the german public broadcasting service, is financend by a television fee, right? So, the content they made was financed by the poeple and therefore is public property. How could the BBC dare to extinguish public property? Anne Hanford's statement "The BBC neither *needs* nor can afford to preserve a copy of every videotape or film it transmits" is an arrogant slap in the face of anyone paying their fee month by month. She should remember from whom she got her paycheck.
Besides this: Every piece of television program the BBC transmitted is a historic document, that must be preserved. Such an archive is a invaluable treasure for future generations to explore and understand history.
This video is a bit too long and in-depth for me, but I really appreciate the effort that must have gone into making this huge documentary.
Super interesting. I watched Doctor Who on German TV from the fourth Doctor upwards back then. So I was pretty excited when it came back in the 2000's. Only after that did I discover how long it had originally been running, the early Doctors and stuff about missing episodes. I'm still flabbergasted that people thought "Ok, we've shown it twice, off to the bin it goes". 😲
I’d read Richard Molesworth’s book before watching this and I really appreciate the overview you give. Obviously his book has more detail but watching this helped me understand some of the more technical bits that went over my head a bit :)
That was definitely my intention, to take the book and make it more approachable! It's a brilliant book for all the details!
One hell of an awesome documentary! It brings Richard Molesworth's "Wiped!" to life, with suitable updates and Josh's wickedly cheeky sense of humour.
The English teacher in me cringes at the occasional grammatical error, but in every other respect this is totally worthy of turning up on a classic series Blu-Ray box.
Much like most silent films, I am shocked at the utter lack of care in archiving and retention. Even if these 16mm copies no longer had perceived commercial value, they should have been given to a national archive or library or sold to collectors instead of just scrapped. Hopefully more episodes will resurface. Ethiopia said the had full sets back in the 90s. Anyone track that down? How about a reality show chasing down leads to find more episodes? Would be fun.
How lucky we can enjoy all the Pertwee era coloured episodes.Hope there still exists more to turn up unexpectedly!
i'm surprised you didin't add the discovery of the 625 B/W videotape version of the time monster ep6 at pebble mill studios in 1987.
Its 2024 now and Im happy to see such respect and accord within the comments section here for all the classic episodes. I dipped my toes into modern Dr Who you tube comments and they were so abusive and hateful in the comments. So sad. Well done Josh. God bless.
Paul Scoones is a legend. He does all the info subtitles for "The Collection" Blu-ray sets.
He's a treasure.
He does *some* of them! :-)
Perfect just perfect josh.beautiful job of compiling and putting together this documentary. Full of great info and I could almost cry when I see how many episodes were lost upto the 80s .cant wait for more episodes to be uncovered
Your videos are quite astounding! I can’t get enough of them. They are so definitive, they really should be dvd extras, the work that must have gone into them is incredible, and as a fan of the series, I thank you for them
Fantastic show. Thank you. So much support and passion out there for archives and restoration.
Even though this is a story I am very familiar with, it was great to see it presented and put together in such an excellent way. Ian Levine is always painted as the hero and it was great that you showed another side to his involvement, one that I hadn't been aware of! Excellent job.
This documentary is *phenomenal.* It needs to be on the Collection sets.
Been bingeing on your videos recently. Informative, hilarious at times and truly addictive! Thank you
Josh Snares, you've done brilliant work - as always! Your love of Doctor Who is obvious and I love your docs. G'day and thank you from a fellow Aussie and fan in Sydney.
Making my semi regular pilgrimage back to this video
1:00:31 Well it's a bit difficult when you watch an existing episode where they mention actions or events that happened in a missing episode. Like for instance when Marco Polo gets mentioned in "The Sensorites" or Episode 1 of "The Reign of Terror".
True to that! Out of all the missing episodes, I at least would like to see Marco Polo be restored. I have heard enough about it in various Dr. Who videos for it to gain a mythical status in my eyes... It would be neat to have it as an example of early historical serials.
21:48 Steve Irwin?! Thanks for finding the episode. We'll try to make a story where the Doctor faces off some crocodiles.
Parts of the Reign of Terror not existing because of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus is so random
As much as I hate Philip Morris for his comments on the revived series, I'm very grateful that he found classic episodes.
What did he say, was he right?
This gave me an idea for a custom Doctor Who DVD where it contained every found episode mentioned in the countdown.
Seriously, you should be getting paid for these videos. It's always been my opinion that UA-cam provides a huge amount of inadvertent resumes for the visual production industry. If I were in the BBC, I would snap you up for the Classic releases.
He is. That's why there are adverts on the video.
@@MuchWhittering ....BY the BBC. By the BBC. That's what I meant. ; )
the bbc would demonetise everything if they could! 😂
So many stories that just don't add up for how these are found. I'm 100% convinced someone has built their own Tardis and has saved them and scattering the films around time
A great documentary. Enjoyed watching it. As much as it would be lovely to see more episodes return I think it's becoming ever more unlikely with each passing year but one can live in hope. Thankfully we still have a full set of audio recordings of this era of the show.
I swear you should have a “Number of times I’ve said Ian Levine” counter
So what has Ian Levine seen traded? He says that collectors would only trade a missing episode for another missing episode, this suggests that he met other collectors who refused to trade an episode they had.
Putting in a Dlanet of the Daleks VHS and it playing Death to the Daleks is magic
Brilliant series Josh!
Yea!!! The full film!!
The good thing about digital now, is that we can save it on digital, but that takes up storage, like having a VHS tape sitting there
Also, thanks for making a full video! I'm going to try and put this into a software and make this an audio file, and then I'm going to upload it too a music app so I can listen to this on a airplane ride one day
Josh Snares does it again! Keep up the good work.
I find it interesting how there are some episodes which have some scenes intact. It would be nice to able to reunite these scenes with the episode itself. As far as I'm aware, these episodes are the following:
Galaxy 4 (1)
The Daleks' Master Plan (1, 3 & 4)
The Savages (4)
The Tenth Planet (4)
The Power of the Daleks (1 & 5)
The Highlanders (1)
The Macra Terror (2)
The Evil of the Daleks (7)
The Abominable Snowmen (4)
Fury from the Deep (2, 4-6)
The Wheel in Space (1, 4 & 5)
this documentrry is soo good! you can tell its made with a true love and compassion of the show. thank you Josh Snares!
Just found you. Love the countdown and high production quality. Very well done!
This was well done. Thank you for the effort this involved.
I've never really been into Doctor Who, but I love the stories of episodes being recovered. This is a fascinating documentary, expertly presented.
I hope we can at least have one full season from the first and second doctors one day
Your best work to date Josh! Great to have a missing episodes discussion include Pertwee’s colour conundrum
i already watched all 3 parts but ill give it a little rewatch good vid as allways
😍😍😍😍
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
The moment it said Danger Minefield on screen at 52:39 a firework went off behind me
This is an outstanding piece of work. Thank you so much for taking the time to put it together Josh Snares and all others involved.
Brilliant post - thank you for presenting ‘the full story’ in such a thorough and entertaining way!
Rewatching this video and am unsurprised to find it just as good as it was on the first watch. Very interesting and very well put together. I even went and bought the Wiped book because of it, which I am slowly getting through.
For anyone who wants to know
Episode 1 00:00
Episode 2 14:50
Episode 3 46:30
Please don't thank me
In the U.K. we have a tv channel called channel 5 and this is exactly the style it f documentaries they make
Why did Gary Russell regret writing the letter? it got the episode back to the BBC after all.
Amazingly accurate and intricate video Josh. Well done and many thanks for posting.
RE Colourisation of old Doctor Who episodes
Now, as I'm sure you're aware, there are countless examples of black and white 60s Doctor Who which have been not only colourised but improved visually to the point they look like they were filmed recently.
Whether it's done by AI or manually, we now have the ability to redo classic Doctor Who, of ANY decade, to a level which gives the viewer an experience which brings the footage to life.
And what I'm referring to is FAN WORK. Seeing footage over 50 years old upscaled and in colour is staggering.
Its very sad theres so much missing episodes yet it does add so much mystery and adds a even more mystical feel to an already mystical show yet i do feel as if its been long enough
im starting to think this ian levine guy might be a bit of a doctor who fan
I love your videos, they help with my recent obsession over Doctor who missing episodes. Also as a Latter-Day saint I appreciate you using the full name of our church whenever you mention, just feel really respected 😁
💕
@@JoshSnares you're a legend, keep up the good work!😁
Deserves more views. Great work
Great video, can't imagine how much work it took to research all those details
I enjoy this episode. I am a fan of Classic Doctor Who.
If I had a Time Machine, I'd take every episode from the 1st-3rd story and return them the same day as the last episode airs.
Absolutely brilliant documentary. The research alone must've been an enormous task. Credit to you 🤟
Haha this was great! Thanks for making!
Wait.... you're telling me this whole time there was a surviving episode 3 of The Faceless Ones, yet I ended up watching the animated version because I was unaware of it? Damm...
It's on the Blu-Ray. ;)
Incredibly the original high-quality SSTV(Slow Scan Television) recordings of the Apollo 11 moon landing were also scrapped in the early 80's by NASA. The only copies that survive are in the much lower quality NTSC television video format and a Super 8 film someone shot of the screen.
Insane, isn’t it? The Moon Landing is a FAR more important piece of material that should have been properly archived. It’s really sad.
I was always under the impression that the Pertwee era Who episodes have always been complete at the BBC and the only problem was that some of them remained in black and white only. Either way, I am glad all Pertwee's episodes now exist in colour as he was the first Doctor I knew.
Imagine, if you could send messages back in time, to save classics
My theory for the Dalek's Master Plan: Terry Nation was known to be involved with using the Daleks in promotions, merch, and sometimes charity events. I wouldn't consider it a stretch if Terry Nation or an affiliate borrowed copies of the Dalek's Master Plan for such an event, and a film or two got misplaced.
Terry never had any episodes, although his agent did purchase copies the first four episodes of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, but no others.
If only something is being done for other shows with missing episodes, like Z-Cars and in particular, The Adventures of Twizzle (where only the very first episode exists in the archive).
Great content as always and because of this awesome documentary I purchased the “Wiped” telos book, Thanks Josh for a brilliant and informative documentary 👍😁
It's a great book, hope you like it!