Doctor Who: 90 Episodes Recovered, or Clever Viral Marketing?

"Of all the ills there are, Rumour is the swiftest. She thrives on movement and gathers strength as she goes. From small and timorous beginnings she soon lifts herself up into the air, her feet still on the ground and her head hidden in the clouds." Virgil, The Aeneid

No hardcore Doctor Who fan could fail to have been gripped by the events of the last week. On Thursday, (June 13), news site Bleeding Cool revealed:

From 'The Savages' Episode 3. Copyright BBC.

"...the rumour is that we may be getting a whole host of Doctor Who episodes [for the 50th anniversary.] Not new ones, but episodes not seen anywhere since they were first broadcast. We all know that through a series of cock ups, incompetence and lack of forethought, swathes of episodes of Doctor Who from the sixties were wiped by the BBC. Some episodes were found again, some were sold to other countries, some kept in people’s loft space, but over a hundred episodes of the show were missing, along with episodes, entire series even, of many other BBC shows. What I’ve been hearing... is that the BBC have secured a large number of presumed-wiped episodes of early Doctor Who. And there are lots. Lots and lots."

Followed by:

"UPDATE: Shortly after posting, I received further confirmation of the details listed above from another, better connected source."

To add weight to this, Doctor Who enthusiast and missing episode hunter Ian Levine took to Twitter and revealed:

"...the rumour I heard from an impeccable source was eight thousand film cans containing ninety missing episodes [had been found.]"

From 'The Smugglers' Episode 2. Copyright BBC.

These whispers were met with a certain amount of cynicism by some, although I wouldn't say I pitched my tent in that camp; Levine's track record on such matters is pretty good. (In fact, he accurately predicted the announcement of Matt Smith's departure a good twenty-four hours before the news broke, the details having been leaked to him by another well-connected source.)

But as uncertainty mounted, with even Bleeding Cool beginning to suspect the whole thing may have been an elaborate scam, somebody (and we still don't know who) uncovered evidence that, in 2011, a 3 tonne shipment of old films had been sent from Lagos to a chap called Philip Morris, the executive director of a company called Television International Enterprises Archives Ltd. (Phil Morris has, apparently, spoken publicly about his interest in missing Who material several times in the past.)

After this revelation, the Internet basically melted. So great was the impact made by this fresh evidence that some fans tried to find ways to fake delivery notices on the website in question, in order to "prove" that it could be done. It was inevitable that an official statement would soon have to be made...

And it was, by Philip Fleming, the Head of Communications, Brands, Content and Digital at BBC Worldwide. It said:

"There are always rumours and speculation about Doctor Who missing episodes being discovered, however we cannot confirm any new finds."

But this vague, non-committal statement only fuelled the fan inferno, and it wasn't long until the man himself, Mr Philip Morris, showed his hand, in possibly the most amusing 'official statement' I have ever come across, (copied as it was written...)

From 'The Web of Fear' Episode 4. Copyright BBC.

"T.I.E.A DOES NOT HOLD ANY MISSING EPISODES OF THE LONG RUNNING DR WHO SERIES. THE ORIGINAL VIDEO TAPES WERE WIPED SUBSEQUENT FILM COPIES WERE EITHER RETURNED TO THE BBC AND SENT TO LANDFILL ODD FRAGMENTS HAVE SURFACED TWO EPISODES ON 16MM FILM BUT THATS IT. THE PROGRAMMES IN QUESTION LIKE MANY OTHERS WERE DESTROYED AS THEY HAD NO FURTHER COMMERCIAL VALUE .THEY ARE NOT MISSING BUT DESTROYED THE END.I am sorry if this upsets some people but these are the facts.I have also become aware of the tracking of some of our clients shipments these are local cultural materials sent to us for migration to a modern format as the playback equipment in the country of origin no longer exists and as such is the best road to preserve international cultural heritage .I will be making no more statements on this subject.Philip MORRIS Executive director T.i.e.a"

This seemed to be an end. Hopes dashed, dreams destroyed, the precious frames of The Space Pirates Episode 4 scattered to the solar winds...

But for some, it was nothing more than a blip. This was Bleeding Cool's reaction, (with emphasis added by me):

From 'The Faceless Ones' Episode 5. Copyright BBC.

"Bleeding Cool has reported in the last week on rumours circulating at the highest levels that such a cache has been located and is being prepared for release during the 50th anniversary year of Doctor Who.

...Repeatedly, [we have] stated that we don’t know the veracity of these rumours, only that they are very well sourced and virulent amongst the higher echelon of the BBC and Doctor Who production circles, who continue to insist that such a release will occur this year."

Doctor Who fansite Outpost Skaro seemed to share the view, reiterating on their website that their sources continued to confirm that some Doctor Who material had been uncovered, but that they were unsure as to its quantity or nature.

Now - this is the really fun bit! The summing up! Which I shall conduct in List Form...


Why the claims could be true:

1) Ian Levine believes there is some truth in them. Ian has a good track record and a number of sources with whom he is in contact.

2) Sources in "the higher echelon of the BBC" (apparently) continue to insist there is some truth in the story.

2) The BBC has not issued a denial. Saying "we cannot confirm any new finds" is not the same as "nothing has been returned."

3) The BBC has an excellent track record at trying to keep new discoveries secret for as long as possible. When the last two episodes turned up in 2011, it took them six months to make the news public.

From 'The Highlanders' Episode 4. Copyright BBC.

4) If the BBC was to confirm it had uncovered a cache of programmes, it could harm sales of its upcoming lost episode animations, such as The Tenth Planet Episode 4 in the Regenerations box set, (which would likely have been commissioned before the discovery was made.)

5) Philip Morris: "They are not missing but destroyed the end." If this statement were true, we would currently have no Hartnell or Troughton stories in our DVD collections.

6) Philip Morris may have nothing to do with these rumours at all. A find could have been made elsewhere.

7) In October 2012, Anneke Wills (Polly in many of the lost episodes), alluded to the fact that The Power of the Daleks had been returned to the BBC when speaking at a convention, (although the source of this information is unconfirmed.)


And why these claims could be false:

1) Philip Morris has denied the rumours.

2) The whole thing could be a viral marketing scam deliberately started by the BBC to generate free publicity in the programme's 50th anniversary year.


Although, to be honest, that last statement sounds more unlikely than any of the rumours themselves(!) Personally, I think if there is any truth to these stories, we won't find out until much nearer the anniversary date in November. And it can't come soon enough for me!

Happy speculating :)