If canon exists in other fandoms, omnirumour is unique to Doctor Who. Many of the early 60s episodes remain missing but recently Phil Morris, as a small part of his wider work with TIEA, has been scouring foreign archives in the hope of recovering lost British TV shows, Doctor Who included. Rumours about a significant find first surfaced on the internet several months before the recoveries of The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear were announced. If some of these rumours are to be believed, the number of recovered episodes is far greater than those two stories. As rumours were added to rumours, enter the novel phrase the 'omnirumour'. Given the time that has passed since that announcement, explanations as to the reason for the delay in further returns have become part of the beast that is the omnirumour. It is impossible to know which elements of the omnirumour are based on genuine sources and which are figments of the imagination, or more shockingly deliberate wind ups and underhand attempts to flush out the truth. Even those parts of it that can be traced to a genuine source could be complete nonsense, misunderstanding or presumption. The sad thing about this word is that it seems to have cut short the wider discussion of the issues. Over the years recoveries have come from many and varied sources and other potential leads are still there to be explored. The word also wrongly implies the rumours have a life of their own but without tongues wagging or keys pressing, it would be lifeless. It is in the interests of some to maintain the omnirumour, however dead in the water it appears to be. Is there such a thing as the omnirumour? In short, no. It is a false construct, completely meaningless. Perhaps it should be better rephrased as a collective noun - an omni of rumours. Or better still, an omni or rumourmongers. Forget about it, chill out, enjoy the massive existing corpus of Doctor Who and let the episode hunters do their job.
Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.
