The 97 missing Doctor Who episodes could soon be back in our hands following the announcement of an historic partnership between the BBC and SpaceX.
As you know, many of the classic Doctor Who episodes from the 1960s haven’t been seen since their original transmission, at least in the UK. Indeed, the video tape originals were wiped shortly after broadcast. What remains today are film recordings that were made for overseas distribution. The BBC recalled all of these copies in the late 60s and 70s, and all of them were systematically burned. Ironically, the ones that survived the inferno only did so because certain people didn’t do their jobs properly.
And at the time of writing, there are 97 missing Doctor Who episodes that have not yet been accounted for. And whilst it’s always hoped that these missing Doctor Who episodes will resurface one day, the BBC has taken matters into its own hands and now has a plan to recover all 97 – and they could be with us sooner than you think.
Impossible, you say? Well, the BBC’s cunning plan hinges on the fact that these episodes were transmitted. That means that the original broadcast signals still exist somewhere in space. All the BBC has to do is catch up with the signals and capture the missing Doctor Who episodes on tape.
Of course, the BBC on its own doesn’t have the scientific resources to achieve such a feat, but the rocket company SpaceX does. SpaceX has signed an exclusive deal with the BBC to track down and recover all 97 missing Doctor Who episodes using a fleet of super-fast rockets to intercept the original transmissions.
“When the scientists at SpaceX approached me with this idea, I thought, oh my gosh, really?” said the current Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies. “It’s mad and bonkers and wonderful and the kind of adventure the Doctor himself would go on. But then I thought about it some more and I thought, actually, it’s not as crazy as it sounds. It’s just science, and it’s physics, and I love science, and I love physics! So why the hell not? Go for it, SpaceX – bring me ‘The Feast of Steven‘!”
Although the specifics of this deal are still under wraps, one rumour suggests that SpaceX’s sister company – the social media platform X – might have been given exclusive broadcast rights for the missing Doctor Who episodes, when they are recovered. This would mean that the only way fans could enjoy the new material would be via their X accounts, if indeed they have them.
This rumour has gained some traction in the last few days after a mysterious LinkedIn entry made by one of the editors for the recently colourised ‘War Games‘ adventure. This poster updated their job description to say that they were currently “in the preparatory stages for re-editing a motherlode of missing Doctor Who episodes for social media. Finally we can bring ‘The Power of the Daleks‘ to a modern audience.”
This suggests that the missing Doctor Who episodes could be repurposed into 20 or 30 second TikTok-style videos for the social media generation, uploaded exclusively to X. This would also cover the BBC’s back in the event that they are unable to recover a complete episode due to solar flares, the bending of spacetime, or the fact that the whole idea is nonsense.
At the same time, the BBC seems quietly confident that its ambitious space mission will pay off. The rumours suggest that they have already recruited the documentary presenter Toby Hadoke to chronicle the events for an upcoming Blu-ray box set, most probably The Collection: Season Four. Another (now deleted) LinkedIn entry suggests that this documentary will be titled Fly Me to the Moonbase, and will be hosted from the flight deck of a SpaceX rocket.
We must admit, this latest announcement from the BBC has left us scratching our heads, so we reached out to the physicist Professor Brian Cox to pick his brains on the project’s viability.
“We live in a wonderful universe,” he said, grinning widely. “The world of physics has shown us time and again that all it takes is for one person, no matter how young or old, to have an amazing idea and change the world. When you think about it, we are all missing Doctor Who episodes in some small way, and it’s in our nature as human beings to seek after them, to do whatever it takes to get our hands on another copy of ‘The Space Pirates.’ We’re living in a wonderful age of scientific discovery, and things can only get better.”
We don’t know how long, exactly, we will have to wait for the recovery of these missing Doctor Who episodes, but we are reliably informed that SpaceX’s rockets will be travelling at 99.9% the speed of light, so it could be quite soon. Presumably, the missing Doctor Who episodes will be recovered in order, so the very first package should include the unbroadcast edition of ‘The Daleks‘ episode one, as the rocket will be taking a detour into a parallel universe where this episode was actually transmitted. We’re hopeful that the fourth instalment of ‘Planet of Giants’ will also be making an appearance on an upcoming Blu-ray boxset, or indeed exclusively on X.
Whatever the truth to this story, there’s no denying the fact that it’s a very exciting time to be a Doctor Who fan. Which missing Doctor Who episodes are you most excited to see? And how do you feel about the rumoured 20 second editions slated for X? Let us know in the comments below.
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