Nine episodes from the fifth season of Doctor Who and starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor have been recovered from Nigeria, having been feared gone forever, the BBC announced today.

The previously missing, presumed destroyed episodes hail from The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear, with episodes 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 of Enemy completing that particular story and the return of episodes 2, 4, 5, and 6 of Web meaning only episode 3 of the Yeti sequel is still missing. Episode 3 of Enemy and episode 1 of Web were also returned, but were already held in the archive.

The recovery now brings the total number of missing episodes down to 97 and is the biggest single find in decades.

They - and the relevant stories' already-surviving episodes - had originally gone to Hong Kong but had been "bicycled" on and were discovered at a TV relay station in the city of Jos by Philip Morris, executive director of Television International Enterprises Archives (TIEA), who tracked records of overseas shipments made by the BBC containing tapes for transmission.

All the episodes - including a reconstructed episode 3 of Web - have been remastered and are available to buy via download as of now from iTunes by people in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany. The third episode of Web has been reconstructed by the BBC Doctor Who Restoration Team, using a selection of the 37 images that were available from the episode, along with the original audio, which has been restored.

In addition, The Enemy of the World will be available to buy on DVD from Friday 22nd November at the Doctor Who Celebration. It will then go on sale to the general public on Monday 25th November, with The Web of Fear to follow in early 2014.

It is unknown exactly when the episodes were found, but in a BBC press release statement, Morris said: Doctor Who News was at the press conference held yesterday in central London to announce the finds, where Deborah Watling, Frazer Hines, and Mark Gatiss were the special guests and screenings of episode 1 of Enemy and episode 2 of Web took place to rapturous applause.

Speaking about the recoveries, Hines told Doctor Who News: At the press conference, Dan Phelan, head of communication for BBC Worldwide, commented on the recent rife speculation, calling it "some 'almost' well-informed, some very wide of the mark." He also told Doctor Who News: A statement from Morris was then read out by Roy Robinson, archive co-ordinator at TIEA, part of which was as follows: A filmed interview with Morris was also shown, in which he said they had been very lucky because the episodes had been kept in optimum condition. He also praised the restoration, recovery, and archive work done by the BBC.

The screening of the second episode of The Web of Fear was introduced by Gatiss, who said: Watling's father, Jack, played Professor Travers in both Yeti stories, and during the question-and-answer panel, she commented on seeing her father again on the screen by simply saying: "That's brilliant!" She also added how Troughton had been like another father and another uncle to her.

Hines praised "the set boys" on The Web of Fear, saying they deserved a BAFTA and commenting that it was so realistic he thought the train lines would be live. He also recalled how Watling teased Troughton as he attempted a South American accent for Salamander in The Enemy of the World, saying that it sounded Welsh, which caused Troughton to slink away somewhat deflated!

Watling said about the episode discoveries: But when it was finally confirmed: Hines added: Stories Hines said he would most like to see returned were The Evil of the Daleks and The Space Pirates (because of the model work), while Watling cited Fury From The Deep, and Gatiss named The Power of the Daleks and The Daleks' Master Plan as his choice candidates for recovery.

In the press statement, Fiona Eastwood, director of consumer products for BBC Worldwide, commented:

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BBC America inadvertently revealed a potential time of broadcast for the 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor, when they updated their advance schedules for November online. The (provisional) details indicated that after a week-long celebration of the series, it would premiere on 23rd November at 2:45pm Eastern time, meaning a UK broadcast of the 75-minute special would occupy a prime-time slot at 7:45pm (possibly after Strictly Come Dancing in such a scenario).

However, BBC America have confirmed that the schedule for the week leading up to the anniversary has yet to be finalised, and that the broadcast mentioned above is currently only a 'placeholder' until the BBC lock the exact time down - the BBC themselves are unlikely to confirm such a definite time until much closer to the date (which could be a lead time of just ten days before broadcast!)

As well as episodes and documentaries, other programming planned by BBC America over the course of the week includes: the US premiere of An Adventure in Space and Time (provisionally scheduled for Friday 22nd November at 9:00pm, and not expected to be simulcast with BBC2 in the UK!); Explaining Doctor Who, which UK channel Watch have scheduled for 12th October as part of their Doctor Who Revisited launch day; and other 'talking-head' items including Tales from the TARDIS and a special 15-minute Day of the Doctor Pre-Show (the provisional schedule indicated 7:00pm on the Saturday before a prime-time repeat of the episode).

As noted, all schedules are subject to change.

BBC News have now confirmed that a (currently unspecified) number of previously assumed missing Doctor Who episodes have now been returned to the BBC.

Entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba reports:

Update: the official Deborah Watling website reports: "Deborah, along with Frazer Hines, will be helping the BBC to launch the newly found Dr.Who episodes this Thurs (10/10/13), between 3.30pm and 7.00pm approx."

Meanwhile, Peter Purves has indicated that he is unaware if any of his episodes have been returned in an interview with BBC Radio Norfolk.

The websites of the Radio Times magazine and the Daily Mirror newspaper in the UK have this evening published articles claiming that episodes of Doctor Who previously missing from the BBC's archives, starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor and unseen in the UK since the 1960s, have been recovered and will be made available for sale in the UK via online download on Wednesday 9th October.

The news follows an article published by the Mirror's sister title, The People, this morning. While this earlier article contained the unlikely claim that all missing episodes of Doctor Who had been recovered from a station in Ethiopia, it follows months of speculation in fandom that a large number of episodes had been recovered, with many of the circulating rumours focusing on a recovery from Africa.

Officially, 106 of the 253 episodes of Doctor Who broadcast during the 1960s are missing, being wiped or junked due to the BBC's archiving policies of the 1960s and 70s. Since this policy changed in the late 1970s many episodes have been recovered, but there have been just four such recoveries in the past twenty years.

So far there is no official comment from the BBC on the articles published this evening, but the Radio Times - which was formerly owned by the Corporation, and has always had strong links with Doctor Who - claims:


The Mirror article adds:


Doctor Who News cannot confirm any episode recoveries, only that the Radio Times and the Mirror are reporting the news. We will continue to monitor the story and bring you updates as we have them.

UPDATE I - 9am BST, MONDAY 7th OCTOBER: RadioTimes.com has now amended its article, replacing the word "two" with "the" but retaining the word "both". The relevant paragraph now reads as follows: "BBC Worldwide will put the previously lost episodes from different stories - both believed to be from the Patrick Troughton era - for sale on digital platforms such as iTunes from Wednesday, RadioTimes.com understands." Please note that DWN does not know if this now means that a number of missing episodes from two stories will be made available.

UPDATE II - 5.40pm BST, MONDAY 7th OCTOBER: According to The Mirror a short while ago, the press conference has been postponed to the end of this week, with the episodes' availability also delayed. It quotes a BBC spokesman as saying the episodes were "not quite ready". It also says a BBC spokesman had played down the reports of 100-plus episodes having been discovered, stating that they were inaccurate. However, The Mirror added that when the spokesman was asked if some episodes would be announced this week, he said: "There is a connection." In addition, RadioTimes.com has amended its piece again, to say: "Originally the BBC had scheduled a Wednesday release but now sources confirm that the date is likely to be later this week. A reason has not been given, but sources are adamant that the release will be this week."

A Doctor Who-themed trailer promoting the return of comedy panel quiz show Have I Got News For You has been made available to view online by the BBC.

The trailer, which has been airing on TV, shows the TARDIS arriving in front of the Houses of Parliament - and a visibly aged BBC News political editor Nick Robinson! - in the year 2063 and team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton emerging in Fourth Doctor-style garb to glean from a copy of a final print edition of a newspaper what has changed in the world. (Not much, apparently!)


This isn't the first time the show has had such a strong Doctor Who connection - and, indeed, a Fourth Doctor one at that. Tom Baker was the guest presenter on the third edition of the 36th series, which was first broadcast on 31st October 2008. (Staying in the sci-fi world, William Shatner also made a memorable appearance as guest host on the seventh edition of the 43rd series, first broadcast on 25th May 2012.)

Have I Got News For You will start its 46th series on BBC One on Friday 4th October at 9pm, with David Mitchell as the guest presenter and Danny Baker and Cathy Newman as the guest panellists. The series will comprise 11 episodes.

BBC America is to mark the era of the Tenth Doctor by showing the episodes The Stolen Earth and Journey's End on Sunday 27th October as part of its celebratory season Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited.

They will be preceded at 8pm ET/PT by the special documentary Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited - The Tenth Doctor, which will feature David Tennant, Freema Agyeman, and current lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat among those discussing how and why the Tenth Doctor became one of the most popular Doctors of all time.

Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Graeme Harper, the episodes - which were originally broadcast in June and July 2008 - comprised the epic finale of Series 4 and saw the Doctor, companions, and friends unite to take on the might of a new Dalek empire and Davros.

UPDATE: The associated DVD, which will be released on Tuesday 3rd December and is available to pre-order, will comprise three discs and will have the Revisited stories shown for the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors, as well as the accompanying documentaries plus special introductions by Steven Moffat to each two-parter. The product description states that the episodes for the Eleventh Doctor's era will be The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon. Their broadcast date is still to be announced.

The BBC will be showing "stings" for the forthcoming anniversary episode The Day of the Doctor tonight, the official site announced earlier today.

Revealing the ident and hashtag that will be used for the story, they will be shown on BBC One immediately before and after Atlantis - the BBC's new fantasy drama - which starts at 8.25pm.

Viewers can also look forward at some point to an all-new trailer that has been specially written and shot for the episode and is currently in post-production. In the meantime, an image has been released from behind the scenes of making the trailer.


The Day of the Doctor will air on Saturday 23rd November.

UPDATE: And here are those "stings":

The BBC America series celebrating each of the actors to have played the Doctor will be shown on Watch, the channel's schedule has revealed.

The Doctors Revisited will be broadcast at weekends, with the premiere of The First Doctor to be shown on Saturday 12th October at 2:00pm, followed by the accompanying story The Aztecs; Sunday will then see The Second Doctor at the same time, accompanied by The Tomb of The Cybermen. The following weekend then sees The Third Doctor on the Saturday alongside Spearhead From Space, and The Fourth Doctor alongside Pyramids of Mars on Sunday.

The documentaries were orginally broadcast monthly by BBC America, and were shown in Australia and New Zealand during August by BBC Worldwide's UKTV.

Other programming to accompany the launch of Doctor Who Revisited on the 12th October includes the documentaries The Companions at 4:30pm and Doctor Who Explained at 5:30pm, both of which are repeated before The Second Doctor on the Sunday.


Watch's schedules don't currently extend beyond the 20th October, but based on the pattern above the Fifth and Sixth Doctors are expected for 26th/27th October, Seventh and Eighth on 2nd/3rd November, Ninth and Tenth on 9th/10th November, and the Eleventh on the 16th - completing the series one week before the 50th Anniversary itself!

The episodes Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways are to be shown by BBC America on Sunday 29th September when the channel marks the Ninth Doctor's era in its celebratory strand Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited.

The stories, which formed the finale of the show's first series on its return to TV, marked the end of the Christopher Eccleston era, and saw his Doctor - aided by companions Rose, played by Billie Piper, and Captain Jack Harkness, portrayed by John Barrowman - taking on the might of the Daleks.

Preceding the episodes will be the special documentary Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited – The Ninth Doctor, featuring Steven Moffat, Neil Gaiman, Noel Clarke, and Barrowman among the participants discussing Eccleston's portrayal of a no-nonsense, hard-hitting, and straight-talking Doctor. The documentary will air at 8pm ET/PT.

The stories, written by Russell T Davies and directed by Joe Ahearne, originally aired in June 2005.

Highlights from this year's Doctor Who Prom are to be shown on BBC One in a 75-minute programme starting at 4pm on Monday 26th August.

Two concerts were held over the weekend of 13th and 14th July, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the programme and featuring music by Murray Gold, accompanied by specially-edited visual clips. The concert programme also included the world première of Song For Fifty, Gold's anthemic tribute to the show.

The first concert was broadcast live by Radio 3 and recorded for television broadcast.

Hosted by Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra and Dan Starkey as Commander Strax, the concerts also marked the classic era with a medley of sound effects by Brian Hodgson and music from The Daleks, The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Sea Devils, City of Death, Logopolis, The Five Doctors, and The Curse of Fenric, with Mark Ayres and Peter Howell on synthesisers and sound effects.

In addition, the Proms featured guest appearances by Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, Peter Davison, and Carole Ann Ford.

The concerts were performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the London Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Ben Foster, with soloists Elin Manahan Thomas, Allan Clayton, and Kerry Ingram.

As reported previously, the broadcast date was announced during Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor.