BBC Worldwide has abandoned plans to release the second Doctor story, The Underwater Menace on DVD.

This month's Doctor Who Magazine reports that the plan to release the two surviving episodes from the story, alongside animated versions of the two episodes missing from the archive, have been cancelled by the BBC, following financial problems with the company contracted to provide the animation.

The Underwater Menace was first shown at the start of 1967, starring Patrick Troughton alongside Anneke Wills, Joseph Furst, Michael Craze and Frazer Hines. Following the episode junking which took place in the 1970's only Episode Three remained in the archives. This episode was included in the Lost in Time DVD Box set, released in 2004. However in 2011 Episode Two was recovered alongside the third episode of Galaxy 4.

It was planned to release the two existing episodes from the story, alongside animated reconstructions of the missing episodes, with BBC Worldwide telling Doctor Who News last December that they hoped to release the disc in 2015. However this has now been cancelled following financial problems at animation company Qurios which have seen the firm cease trading. It has not proved financially viable to find another partner to take on the animation and the BBC are reluctant to release an incomplete version.

Although a DVD release now seems very unlikely, it is possible the episodes may be released at some point in the future via some other means. A commentary track has been recorded along with bonus material intended for the DVD.

Until then, Episode Two of The Underwater Menace stands as the only classic Doctor Who episode, currently in the BBC archives, which has never had a release on DVD.

In a statement to fans on their Facebook page as well as in a newsletter, German DVD distributer Pandastorm Pictures announced that their release of The Five Doctors, originally planned for 26th June 2015, will now be released two months later, on 28th August 2015.

The reasons for the delay are, according to the Facebook message, "problems with the material". The newsletter adds that Pandastorm believed the german dub to exist but realised too late that it had been deleted. Thankfully a fan helped out with his recording of the german dub.

Here is the original newsletter announcement, translated from German:

Dear Doctor Who-fans,
we received a lot of positive feedback from you for the last few months. There were photos with you and the boxed sets, a self-made action figure of the Candyman and even Sophie Aldred (Ace) who can be seen on a picture, posing with our second 7th Doctor boxed set. WOW! We would like to send you all a big THANK YOU. Without you the making of these boxed sets would not have been possible.

Some of you might already know that we will also release "The Five Doctors" in Germany. We planned to release it on 26th June 2015 but we sadly have to delay the release to 28th August 2015. After some misunderstandings we now know for sure that the German TV-version had been destroyed. The good news is that our appeal to fans last summer payed off after all and a Doctor Who-fan made his recording available to us. All this took us a lot of time, so that the DVD's won't be ready in time, if we want to deliver a high quality product.

Pandastorm then continued listing all the versions of the 20th Anniversary Special that will be on the 2-Disc-Set:

• TV version in English

•  TV version in German (including German subtitles for the scenes edited out in Germany)

•  Three-part TV version in German (heavily edited, some scenes arranged in a different order)

•  Special Edition in English

•  Special Edition in German (including German subtitles for the scenes that were not shown in Germany)

So far Pandastorm Pictures released all three seasons of the seventh Doctor in season boxed sets in Germany. After The Five Doctors they are going to release two boxed sets for the complete sixth Doctor run and a 2-disc DVD release of The TV Movie.

BBC Worldwide has announced a new collaboration with content distribution service BitTorrent to mark a decade of new Doctor Who.

To celebrate ten years since the series reboot, the file sharing network will be offering a ten story box set featuring specially selected highlights from the modern era of Doctor Who for $12 globally.

The package will include exclusive video content from incumbent Doctor Peter Capaldi who gives his insight into some of his favourite Doctor Who episodes as well as Doctor Who: Earth Conquest – the documentary about the 2014 global tour which saw Capaldi and companion Jenna Coleman travel the world to meet their fans.

Julia Kenyon, Director of Drama Brands, BBC Worldwide comments: Matt Mason, Chief Content Officer at BitTorrent adds: The ten story box set will be available globally to stream or download from the BitTorrent Website.

The $12 Download / Stream Package includes

• Series 1: Rose
• Series 1: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
• Series 2: The Girl in the Fireplace
• Series 3: Blink
• Series 4: Special - The End of Time (Parts 1 & 2)
• Series 5: The Vampires of Venice
• Series 6: The Doctor’s Wife
• Series 7: The Rings of Akhaten
• 50th Anniversary special: The Day of the Doctor
• Series 8: Listen

A new interview with Doctor Who composer Dominic Glynn is released on April 1 by Reeltime Pictures as part of the Myth Makers series.

The DVD is available from Galaxy 4 or can be ordered or downloaded from Time Travel TV

Also out this month are re-issues of some classic interviews from Myth Makers

• Myth Makers 015 Jon Pertwee
• Myth Makers 002 John Leeson
• Myth Makers 106 Flight Through Eternity - The Sixties Vol. 2
• Myth Makers 058 Raymond E Feist
• Myth Makers 070 Gareth Thomas
• Myth Makers 029 Barry Letts & Terrance Dicks Vol. 2
• Just Who On Earth Is Tom Baker?
• The PanoptiCon Tapes Vol. 2
• Mindgame Trilogy

All are available from Time Travel TV

Reeltime’s Pictures cult range of Doctor Who interviews are being relaunched through a brand new website Time Travel TV.

Reeltime Pictures will be a name familiar to fans active in the 1980's. Formed in 1984 by former Celestial Toyroom editor and then BBC and Channel 4 employee Keith Barnfather, their remit was to produce high quality content for Doctor Who and Cult TV fans alike. Their direct to video output consisted of original drama, documentaries and Myth Makers - a series of in depth interviews with a whole host of classic Doctor Who stars hosted by Nick Briggs. In the days before YouTube and the internet, is was the only way for many fans to view interviews with the stars and producers of their favourite show.

The new site will initially feature fifty titles for fans to download, stream or purchase on DVD. Included in the initial releases is a brand new Myth Makers: A tribute to Anthony Ainley. With a further 11 titles - old and new - being added every month until the entire back catalogue is released.

Keith Barnfather explained Reeltime have already recorded a series of brand new Myth Makers to be released over the coming months. As well as the Anthony Ainley tribute; interviews with special effects guru Mike Tucker, composer Dominic Glynn, seventies producer Graham Williams, writer David Fisher and many more are in the pipeline

Also available will be a number of rare curiosities that have remained unreleased until now including Sophie’s Choice, an early 90’s pilot for an unmade children's documentary series hosted by Sophie Aldred. Later this year will also see the release of a brand new drama from Reeltime, White Witch of Devils End. Another sequel spawned from The Dæmons, this six episode series stars Damaris Hayman reprising her role as Miss Hawthorne.

Later this year Reeltime plan to shoot several Myth Makers with actors from the new series of Doctor Who, hopefully done live at a convention.These future plans will only come to fruition if there is enough interest in this initial re-launch.

Full details on the Time Travel TV Website

Two archive interviews are to be released on DVD and are available from Galaxy 4.

An interview with Tom Baker, conducted in 1989, was originally available on Video Cassette, published by Reeltime Pictures. It is released on DVD for the first time. Also available is a brand new title, an interview with Anthony Ainley from April 2000.

Both are released on 27th February.

German DVD distributer Pandastorm Pictures released a picture of the cover of the Season 25 boxed set, titled Siebter Doctor Volume 2, as well as a promotional picture on their Facebook page.

The 5 discs set will contain all the content of the UK releases, including the extras, and will include the German dub and the original English version. It will be released in Germany on 27th February 2015.

Volume 1, containing all episodes of Season 24, was just released a week ago. It can be ordered from  Amazon Germany. More season sets of the Classic Series are planned to come out in 2015.

BBC Worldwide have given an update on the status of the last classic story expected to be released on DVD, The Underwater Menace:


The highly anticipated DVD will include the only known existing episode that has yet to be made officially available to own, episode two (rediscovered in 2011).

Zavvi are to release an exclusive steelbook for the second Peter Cushing movie outing, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.. The Blu-Ray release will be a limited edition of 2000 and is due out on 15th May 2015; it is available for pre-order from today.

Cult Conversations is an exciting new range of DVDs from Fantom Films, featuring icons of British screen and television, presented by television aficionado Toby Hadoke.

The series contains in-depth interviews from many associated with Doctor Who, including Katy Manning and Terry Molloy as well as actors who have appeared in the series such as Tom Adams from Warriors of the Deep and John Carson from Snakedance. The first three Cult Conversations DVDs are now released (Katy Manning, Terry Molloy and Valerie Leon), with the rest to be published next month, individually priced £10.99 each or £54.95 for the whole series.