Two missing episodes from the classic series of Doctor Who have been found.
A collector’s cardboard box included ‘The Nightmare Begins’ and ‘Devil’s Planet’. They form the first and third episodes of the 12 part serial ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’.
The serial was co-written between Terry Nation, who created the Daleks, and Dennis Spooner and aired from November 1965.
Film is Fabulous! received the collection as an anonymous donation. The charity, based in Leicester works up and down the country to recover lost film and media.
The episodes feature William Hartnell as the first Doctor and companions Katarina (Adrienne Hill) and Peter Purves as Steven Taylor.
Purves surprised with the two episodes at a screening in Leicester on Wednesday.
He said “my flabber has never been so gasted,” adding, “I’ve never forgiven the BBC for losing those episodes, it would be really nice to get a few royalties.”
The BBC decided to wipe the episodes due to them being too dark for international audiences. It was common practice to reuse tape and 95 episodes of Doctor Who remain missing. Amongst these are another seven parts of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ including the ‘The Feast of Steven’ which acts as a standalone Christmas Special.
The episode also marks Nicholas Courtney first appearance in the show. He plays Bret Vyon before he would go on to play Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart throughout the series. His in-universe daughter, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, has recently starred in spin-off series The War Between the Land and the Sea.
It has been 13 years since a Nigerian TV company found ‘The Enemy of the World’, a second Doctor serial.
The recovered episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer as part of the Whoniverse collection this Easter with first look clips available on the Doctor Who YouTube channel.
Featured Image Credit: Doctor Who/BBC
Journalism and Film and Media student who loves writing about TV. @darcyrobson07
