Earlier today the BBC held a press conference to officially reveal the recently uncovered Doctor Who missing episodes that had unearthed. They then promptly embargoed anyone from reporting on the contents of the press conference until after midnight, because apparently the BBC don't understand what a press conference is for. Details of the conference have leaked, however, and after checking numerous sources I now feel reasonably confident in reporting what we'd all hoped: 9 of the missing episodes of Doctor Who have been recovered, and they're all Second Doctor stories. We'd known for a few days that "a number" of episodes had been recovered, which implied at least two and probably more. Then two days ago, I got information that Deborah Watling, who played Victoria during the Second Doctor's time, and Frazier Hines, who played Jamie, would be at the press conference. That indicated the recovered episodes were likely to be Second Doctor only, and that there would not be any featuring Zoe. As for exactly what episodes have been recovered, well, Lance Parkin, a Doctor Who writer, "didn't sign anything" and is reporting
via his Facebook page that the recovered episodes include the entire missing run of "The Enemy of the World" and four of the five missing episodes for the six-part story, "The Web of Fear". That same information seems to have also been reported by The Northern Echo, in an article that has since been removed from their site. Assuming this information is all accurate, this is incredible news! This will be the first time a Second Doctor serial has been made complete since the full recovery of "Tomb of the Cybermen" back in the early 1990s. I'm also especially pleased that these particular episodes were recovered, as one was listed on in my article on what
missing episodes we really need, and the other should have been. So what's so great about these episodes? Well, "The Enemy of the World" was a story where the Doctor and his companions arrive on a future Earth, only to find that it's ruled over by a vicious dictator named Salamander; a dictator who looks exactly like the Doctor. It's also the last story made under the reign of Sidney Newman, who helped start the series back in 1963. The second story, "The Web of Fear", introduced the Yetis, the Great Intelligence, and a fellow called Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who went on to become somewhat popular. This story is heavily referenced in the most recent season of Doctor Who, and it is now missing only one of its six episodes. We don't know yet what the BBC's plans are for releasing these episodes. I'm sure both will get a DVD release at some point. They'd have to be flat-out stupid to not release a DVD of "The Enemy of the World", since it is now one of the few complete Second Doctor stories. "The Web of Fear" will likely also be released, probably with the one missing episode animated. Regardless of their plans, and regardless of the BBC's odd choice for announcing this by not really announcing it yet, I think we can all agree this is a great day for Doctor Who fans. In one fell swoop we've received more recovered episodes in a single day than in the entire, what, previous twenty years? I think that's cause for celebration.