The recent discovery of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ prints has re-written the rules about lost Doctor Who episodes…
For many years, our understanding about lost Doctor Who episodes has been quite clear: the BBC recorded them on videotape, and they were then film recorded (or ‘telerecorded’) for overseas sales. These films were sent abroad for overseas transmission, and the original tapes were wiped or junked. The overseas copies were then returned to the BBC for junking, or the individual broadcasters would be issued with orders to dispose of the material themselves.
Therefore, the only reason any lost Doctor Who episodes have survived is because of these overseas copies. Some broadcasters didn’t follow the rules and kept hold of the films, which were later returned by the broadcasters themselves or unearthed by missing episode hunters like Ian Levine or Philip Morris. Other films made it back to the BBC but were ‘pilfered’ by the Corporation’s employees for their own private collections, and these have since made their way back to the archive (such as ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan‘ episode two.)
Until 2026, this was the general understanding of how the world of lost Doctor Who episodes worked. If anything was going to be returned, it would be as a result of a film copy being made for overseas sales. We could therefore predict the likelihood of lost Doctor Who episodes turning up. ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan,’ for example, has often been considered one of the least likely contenders owing to the fact that, according to legend, only one copy of the story was ever made as an ‘audition print’ for Australia, who rejected it for being too violent.
However, we are now in the unprecedented situation of having five of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’s 12 episodes back in the BBC archive – a situation which, according to ‘the rules’ should be next to impossible. How can so much of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ have survived when ‘Marco Polo‘ – which was copied abundantly – have disappeared off the face of the earth?
Well, we don’t have an answer for ‘Marco Polo’ – yet. But an interview with film expert John Franklin on The Doctor Who Missing Episodes Podcast gives a staggering, and exciting, explanation as to why we now have so much of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ back in our possession.
Basically, our understanding of the BBC’s telerecording process has – until this point – omitted a key step. It was always assumed that episodes were videotaped and then simply copied for overseas sales. But Franklin explains that there was another crucial step in this process, and one that opens up a world of possibilities for the return of more lost Doctor Who episodes.
This step involves technical review copies, or ‘cutting copies’ as they were known internally. Simply put, a telerecording of an episode would be made as the episode was being transmitted. This would then be sent to an external film laboratory who would produce a negative, and from this negative a positive print would be struck. This would then be sent to the BBC for technical review purposes, to check for errors and defects and so forth. And then, if the BBC required further positives, these would be ordered from the laboratory that held the negative.
This means that all of the currently lost Doctor Who episodes (potentially) went through this process – including the elusive seventh episode of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan,’ whose survival has always been considered ‘impossible’ due to the fact that a telerecording was, allegedly, never made. But we can no longer say this with certainty, as there is no paper trail for the BBC’s cutting copies. We don’t know, exactly, what was copied, or what happened to the negatives that were held by the film labs.
Indeed, this is why we now have two lost Doctor Who episodes back in our possession. The recently recovered instalments of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ weren’t specifically struck for Australian broadcasters; they were ‘cutting copies’ that were made for the purposes of technical review. And if these were made, and have survived, and have found their way into the hands of private collectors, then why not ‘Marco Polo,’ or ‘The Power of the Daleks‘? All bets, it would seem, are now off.
This revelation is doubly exciting when we remember the sterling work being carried out by Film is Fabulous! Whilst they are not strictly in the business of hunting down lost Doctor Who episodes, they are liaising with a number of private film collectors for the purposes of cataloguing their archives, and returning lost media to the relevant broadcasters. This is exactly what happened with ‘The Nightmare Begins’ and ‘Devil’s Planet’ – and this is before we start talking about all the new leads that have opened up regarding film laboratories which, as far as we know, have never been chased up.
Add to this the comments made by the experts of lost Doctor Who episodes, and there are some exciting prospects on the horizon. Paul Vanezis, who has assisted with the recovery of many lost Doctor Who episodes in the past, stated previously that he knows of at least two missing episodes to be in the hands of private collectors.
Similarly, the missing episode hunter and archivist Philip Morris went on record a number of years ago as saying that he knew of at least six lost Doctor Who episodes in private collections; whether or not these included the recent discoveries from ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ is unclear. We do know that one of these films is ‘The Web of Fear‘ episode three.
So often in the world of lost Doctor Who episodes we’re told to take things with a pinch of salt, and to temper our expectations, and to ‘believe it when we see it.’ This time, though, you have our permission to be excited. We know for a fact that more lost Doctor Who episodes are in existence and that a dedicated team of experts are doing everything they can to return them. We have the new information about cutting copies and all the possibilities this new line of enquiry opens up. Certainly, we can’t rely on timescales (the process could take years) but it’s fair to say that there are now lots of credible reasons to expect great things.
Which of the lost Doctor Who episodes are you most excited to see again? Let us know in the comments below.
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