The two recovered Doctor Who episodes Galaxy 4 - Air Lock and The Underwater Menace episode 2 were shown to an appreciative audience in Cardiff on Wednesday evening.

Both episodes were recovered from a collector last year and their existence was revealed at a screening at the BFI in London last December. The episode of The Underwater Menace was shown in full at the Missing Believed Wiped event but only an excerpt of about 10 minutes from Galaxy 4 was played, making the Cardiff screening the first time the whole episode had been seen in the UK since its initial transmission in September 1965.

The event was attended by Peter Purves, who played Steven in Galaxy 4, along with Anneke Wills and Frazer Hines, who played Polly and Jamie in The Underwater Menace. Following the screening, all three joined current show-runner Steven Moffat to answer questions about their time on the programme.

The panel was hosted by Gary Russell, and the event was attended by many other luminaries from the Doctor Who world, including some of the Restoration Team, who were greeted with much applause.

There is no news as to when the episodes will be released on DVD, although the BBC has said it is considering releasing them on iTunes.

BBC Worldwide and 2|Entertain have released a synopsis for the forthcoming DVD of First Doctor adventure The Sensorites, which is due to be released on 23rd January.
The DVD's commentary features William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Carole Ann Ford (Susan), Joe Grieg (Second Sensorite), Martyn Huntley (First Human), Giles Phipps (Second Human), Frank Cox (director), Raymond Cusick (designer), and Sonia Markham (makeup).

Other extras on the DVD include Secret Voices of the Sensorites, Vision On, Looking for Peter, plus the usual production notes, photo gallery, and PDF extras.

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The latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine has confirmed the commentary participants for the stories currently due out in March.

• Fourth Doctor adventure The Face of Evil (5th March) features Louise Jameson (Leela), Leslie Schofield (Calib), David Garfield (Neeva), Michael Elles (Gentek), Harry H. Fielder (tribesman), Philip Hinchcliffe (producer) and John McGlashan (film cameraman).
• Eighth season finale The Dæmons (26th March) features Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Damaris Hayman (Olive Hawthorne) and Christopher Barry (director).

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A number of feature clips from the U.N.I.T. Files Boxed Set (released last week) have been made available online via the BBC's Classic Doctor Who YouTube channel. From Invasion of the Dinosaurs, presenter Matthew Sweet discusses politics in the story, director Paddy Russell discusses capturing a deserted London on film, and Jon Pertwee talks about the creation of the Whomobile. From The Android Invasion, Philip Hinchcliffe discusses making a cliffhanger more effective, reflects upon the Kraal costumes, and Milton Johns reflects upon his own eyepatch story!

The BBC revealed today that two complete episodes of Doctor Who have been returned to the BBC Archives.

Firstly, the complete third episode of the William Hartnell story Galaxy 4, Air Lock has been recovered - prior to this only a short segment from the first episode remained in the archive with no telesnaps taken to show how the third episode and its characters would have looked.

Secondly, the complete second episode of Patrick Troughton's third story The Underwater Menace has also been recovered - making this the earliest complete episode for the Second Doctor to now exist in the Archives (alongside the existing episode three).


Both episodes were found via former TVS engineer Terry Burnett, who bought them at a school fête in Marchwood, Southampton back in the 1980s! Restoration Team member Ralph Montagu told the Radio Times how they came to his attention:
Both episodes were shown this afternoon at the British Film Institute's Missing Believed Wiped event - the first time they've been seen in the United Kingdom since their original transmission! (Air Lock was originally seen on 25th September 1965, with The Underwater Menace episode two on 21st January 1967) Screen shots from the episodes may be seen in the BBC's Doctor Who Adventure Calendar Day 11.


The episodes will require restoration work before they can be commercially released, with film damage to be repaired and missing censored clips to be re-instated. An announcement will be made by 2|Entertain next year as to when they are likely to appear on DVD. Meanwhile, the previous existing material for both stories can be found on the Lost in Time DVD boxed set.


These are the first full episodes to have been recovered since the 1965 Daleks' Master Plan episode Day of Armageddon turned up back in 2004, and brings the total missing episodes tally to 106.

Time to search those attics for more episodes!

A new book looking at the world of Doctor Who at the conclusion of the first season in 1964, is now available online.

The Wonderful Book of Doctor Who 1965 is a homage to Clayton Hickman's Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2011 published last year.

The new fan produced book looks back at the very first season of Doctor Who and imagines how such a book would have looked should it have been published for the Christmas 1964 market. It contains episode guides, interviews and fact files.

It has been written and produced by Paul Smith based on the original designs by Paul Lang, with a cover and story illustrations by Joe Cannon from Velvet Jacket

The book can be viewed via the Wonderful Book website.

First broadcast in 1942, the popular BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs has presented the favourite musical choices of hundreds of famous celebrities should they have ended up cast away. The BBC have recently made the series available in the form of a searchable archive, detailing the choices made by guests and also the actual programme to listen to in a number of cases.

In such a lengthy series it is inevitable that a many of Doctor Who's cast have featured; for example, the first Doctor himself William Hartnell was a guest on 23rd August 1965, choosing Charlie Chaplin's Spring Song as his favourite amongst other tracks like Lawd, You Made The Night Too Long by Louis Armstrong and Politsvian Dances by Alexander Borodin.

A year earlier, the third Doctor Jon Pertwee made his choices on 12th October 1964; these included two pieces by Mozart, Love is Strange by Lonnie Donegan, and his favourite being Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles.

More recently, the 27th December 2009 featured outgoing tenth Doctor David Tennant, who cited Tim Minchin's White Wine In The Sun as his favourite, amongst items like Deacon Blue's Dignity and his favourite band The Proclaimers performing Over And Done With; this episode of the series is one of those that is also available for download.

Other notable names include 'alternative' Doctors Peter Cushing (1959) and Rowan Atkinson (1988), short-lived Master Derek Jacobi (1978), and the tenth Doctor's last fellow TARDIS traveller Bernard Cribbins (1963); explore the index for the choices of many other Doctor Who guest stars!

(with thanks to Jamie Austin)

2|Entertain have reported via their Classic Series twitter feed that two commentaries are due to be recorded in London this coming Sunday. The two remaining original TARDIS travellers William Russell (Ian Chesterton) and Carole Ann Ford (Susan) will be reunited to record the commentary for First Doctor adventure The Sensorites, whilst Third Doctor tale Colony in Space will feature Katy Manning (Jo Grant) alongside (then) assistant floor manager Graeme Harper. Both recording sessions will see additional reflections from other, as yet unnamed, guests.

As usual, this announcement should not be taken as an indication of the stories coming out on DVD imminently, as commentaries are often recorded way in advance of release to take advantage of the commentators' availability!

Charity group Hyde Fundraisers are staging some displays of their replica Doctor Who characters to raise funds for BBC Children In Need and their other nominated charities. Characters will include Judoon, Ood, Scarecrows, Clockwork Droids, Auton and their latest addition, The Smiler.

The special displays take place at

• Ladysmith Shopping Centre, Ashton-under-Lyne - Saturday February 26th and Saturday March 5th.
• The Pitt Building, Cambridge Science Festival, Cambridge - March 19th & 20th.

A booklet looking into the early life and Ancestoral History of the First Doctor, William Hartnell has been created by Stephen Bray.

The 31 page booklet, WHO Do You Think You Are? - A Genealogical Enquiry Into the Ancestry of William Hartnell, TV's First Doctor Who digs into the most cobwebbed of corners illuminating Hartnell's earliest years and those of his ancestors, going right back to the 1500s. There's a few surprises and a couple of scandals throughout the journey!

The booklet is fully illustrated throughout with maps, contemporaneous photographs and genealogical charts.

The author is offering privately printed copies from the auction site Ebay.

Doctor Who is 47 today!

The first-ever episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child, was broadcast on this date in 1963.

The official Doctor Who site has a small feature to celebrate the show's 47th anniversary, including a clip featuring the original TARDIS crew of William Hartnell, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell and Jacqueline Hill.

BBC Archive has a feature on The Creators of Doctor Who.

AOL Television has put up an ultimate guide slide-show so "you can reminisce about all those wonderful Doctor Who filled times and characters".

Digital Journal has a piece, "Happy 908th Birthday, Doctor Who", about the confusion surrounding the Doctor's actual age.

The BBFC has classified an trailer for the first Doctor story The Ark, indicating it is due for DVD release in the next few months.

The Ark was the sixth story of Season 3, and was first broadcast between 5th March and 26th March 1966. Alongside William Hartnell as the Doctor it stars Jackie Lane as Dodo and Peter Purves as the Steven Taylor.

The story is set in the 57th segment of time, some 10 million years in the future, when the Earth has been destroyed by the sun going nova. A giant spaceship carrying all the Earth's surviving plant, animal and human life is on a 700 year journey to a new home on the planet Refusis II.

The story was written by Paul Erickson and Lesley Scott and directed by Michael Imison.

The Ark was first released on VHS in 1998 and is also available on CD with linking narration by Peter Purves.

The British Board of Film Classification has passed a number of extras for the March release of the two William Hartnell stories The Space Museum and The Chase.

The Space Museum

• Defending the Museum - 9'26"
• My Grandfather The Doctor - 10'3"
• The Space Museum - Picture Gallery - 4'24"
• A Holiday for the Doctor - 13'59"

The Chase

• The Thrill of the Chase - 10'24"
• Doctor Who - Follow that Dalek - 11'58"
• Give A Show - Slides - 12'13"
• Shawcraft The Original Monster Makers - 16'57"
• The Chase Photo gallery - 5'7"
• Last Stop White City - 13'14"
• Beyond the Screen - 21'54"
• Easter Egg - 2'48"
• Daleks! Conquer and Destroy - 22'36"
• Untitled - 12' 43"

The stories are due for release in the UK on 1st March 2010.

The Board have also cleared the three documentaries Doctor Who - Greatest Moments, which were shown on BBC Three in the summer. These documentaries appear to be included as extras in the February release of Dreamland.