The BBC has confirmed that the two recovered episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960’s will be made available for viewers in the UK on BBC iPlayer on Good Friday.

The two episodes; The Nightmare Begins and Devil’s Planet were from the third series entitled The Daleks’ Master Plan.

Written by Terry Nation, the series starred William Hartnell as the Doctor and Peter Purves as Steven Taylor. It also featured Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon, Adrienne Hill as Katarina, and Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen.

The episodes were found by Film is Fabulous! – a charitable trust run by film collectors, cinema lovers and vintage television enthusiasts. They approached BBC Archives after finding them in a private collection, which worked to restore the original 16mm telerecordings.

Viewers will be able to watch the two episodes on BBC iPlayer in the UK from 6am on 3 April 2026 (Good Friday). These episodes add to a raft of Doctor Who programming which forms The Whoniverse on BBC iPlayer

The BBC and Film is Fabulous! have announced the recovery of the William Hartnell episodes The Nightmare Begins and The Devil's Planet, two previously missing episodes of the epic twelve part story broadcast over the winter of 1965/66, The Daleks' Master Plan!

From the BBC press release:

The recoveries bring the current count of missing episodes of Doctor Who down to 95, a number that hasn't reduced since the announcement of the recovery of The Enemy of the World and most of The Web of Fear in 2013. It means the first quarter of the story is now back in the archives, and enables us to now see more of Adrienne Hill's portrayal of short-lived companion Katarina, and of Nicholas Courtney's first role in the series as Bret Vyon, long before he became regular character Brrigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

BBC: exclusive first look

The BBC has announced that a brand-new 4K restoration of Doctor Who: The Movie is coming, rebuilt from the original film reels of Paul McGann’s debut as the Eighth Doctor. 

In 1996, Paul McGann debuted as the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who, a feature-length co-production between the BBC and the American Fox network, more commonly known as The TV Movie.

This 90-minute feature was shot on film, and now, for the first time, all 219 reels of original film (totalling almost 200,000 feet!) have been pulled from deep storage in the US and meticulously scanned over 21 days, then restored by Paul Vanezis to provide a definitive 4K experience.

The restoration has a 24-frame transfer to match the original film rushes, and immersive surround sound, rebuilt from the original raw sound elements.

Also starring Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor), Daphne Ashbrook (Grace), Eric Roberts (The Master) and Yee Jee Tso (Chang Lee),

The TV Movie sees the Doctor’s regeneration triggered on an operating table, with surgeon Grace Holloway accompanying the new Doctor on an epic adventure to prevent The Master from stealing the Doctor’s future lives.

This new release is available on 4K in a limited edition steelbook with exclusive artwork, as well as standard Blu-ray, and includes a host of special features including:

• The ‘uncensored’ UK version.
• The USA broadcast version.
• Soundtrack in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo.
• In Conversation with director Geoffrey Sax.
• Sylvester McCoy and Janet Fielding featurette.
• 3 New Featurettes with Daphne Ashbrook, Eric Roberts and Yee Jee Tso. 
• Two audio commentaries.
• Isolated music score.
• Production info text.
• The Seven Year Hitch making-of documentary.
• Paul McGann’s audition tape.
• Alternate takes.
• Electronic press kit and behind the scenes footage.
• TARDIS tour.
• BBC Trails.

And much more.

Doctor Who The TV Movie in 4K!

Doctor Who – The Movie. The ultimate new restoration is available is available to pre-order ahead of its release on 25th May 2026 in the UK.

UltraHD   Blu-ray  Steelbook

The latest issue in this series of 116-page bookazines examines Season 21 and the world of Doctor Who during Peter Davison’s final year in the leading role. 

Chronicles 1984 is packed full of new and rare content, which has been compiled in co-operation with some of the biggest names from the show. 

Editor Marcus Hearn explained

Highlights of the new bookazine include:

• In an exclusive interview, Peter Davison recalls his final season as the Doctor and his decision to leave the series.

• Janet Fielding discusses her relationship with 1980s producer John Nathan-Turner and returning to the role of Tegan.

• In another exclusive, director Graeme Harper offers a behind-the-scenes insight into the key moments of his classic story The Caves of Androzani.

• In his first Doctor Who Magazine interview, Oscar-winning visual effects artist Dimitri Delacovias describes working on Season 21 and shares previously unseen concept designs.

• A preview of the Warriors of the Deep Special Edition, with contributions from director Pete McTighe, visual effects designer Chris Thompson and others.

• An archive interview with Warriors of the Deep writer Johnny Byrne, unseen since December 1983.

• The life and career of Eric Pringle, writer of The Awakening.

• The strange story of how The Five Doctors’ writer Terrance Dicks fell out with John Nathan-Turner.

• Novelist Jenny Colgan describes spending a day at Television Centre on the set of Frontios.

• A look at the new merchandise available on both sides of the Atlantic in 1984.

PLUS

    Guides to every story in Season 21, Target books, the Doctor Who Annual, comic strips and much more!

Doctor Who: Chronicles 1984 is on sale 12 February, price £12.99 from panini.co.uk and selected news retailers while stocks last. Also available digitally from pocketmags.com price £11.99.

Issue 626 of Doctor Who Magazine is out today and features the Daleks.  

In this issue

• Join THE FIFTEENTH DOCTOR as he finally confronts his arch-enemies, the Daleks, in our comic strip adventure Corruption of the Daleks!

• An exclusive look at the content of the forthcoming Blu-ray release of Season 21 – PETER DAVISON’s final season as the Doctor, that also introduced Sixth Doctor COLIN BAKER.

• Writer and exec producer PETE McTIGHE continues his Production Diary giving us a day-to-day look at the production of The War Between the Land and the Sea.

• DYLAN HOLMES WILLIAMS, director of The War Between, shares his techniques!

• Scientific advisor DAVE HONE on giving the Sea Devils a ‘proper’ name.

• Can on-screen clues reveal exactly where and when the Doctor’s latest adventures take place?

• This month in 1980… A look at COLIN BAKER’s other big sci-fi role…

• UNA McCORMACK considers how important Liverpool has been in the fortunes of Doctor Who.

• Decipher the secrets of the Long Song in our Fact of Fiction feature on The Rings of Akhaten.

Regular features

• GALLIFREY GUARDIAN: including the latest news about this spring’s Target Books releases.

• Reviews – including a look at the DVD and Blu-ray of The War Between the Land and the Sea.

• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.

• Prizes to be won – including Blu-rays, audio dramas, action figures and theatre tickets! 

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 626 is on sale Thursday 5 February 2026  from panini.co.uk and TG Jones priced £7.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99.

The latest Special Edition from Doctor Who Magazine looks back at last year's season of Doctor Who

In this issue

• A look back at Ncuti Gatwa’s second – and final – season as the Doctor, including:The design of The Robot Revolution.The animation in Lux.Stunt work on The Well.A study of the Shreek from Lucky Day.Interviews with the Barber and Abena from The Story & the Engine.Staging The Interstellar Song Contest.The costumes of Wish World and The Reality War.

• Plus – we check in with Who fan Lizzie Abel since she became part of the Whoniverse!

• Meet the Who Kids of The Lamplighter School in Dallas, Texas…

• Memories of 2025’s Gallifrey One convention.

• How monster actor Mickey Lewis took the Cybermen home with him…

• Location Manager Iwan Roberts on finding alien worlds…

• Fans reflect on the importance of disability representation in the latest series.

• Pete McTighe and Chris Chapman assess their work on the Blu-ray range.

• A big year for Big Finish – we talk to the producers about new innovations on audio…

• Writer and designer Paul Lang on his work on the Doctor Who Annual 2026.

• Join Brand Manager James Page as he welcomes fans to Stonehenge for Doctor Who Day.

• Join DWM at the table read for The War Between the Land and the Sea.

• In Memoriam… Paying tribute to Doctor Who contributors who we’ve lost in the past year.

Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition – The 2026 Yearbook is on sale Thursday 29 January 2026  from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £9.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £8.99.

The next issue in the Black Archive series will look at the 5th Doctor story Mawdryn Undead

Mawdryn Undead, first broadcast in 1983, was an ambitious serial, weaving familiar elements of Doctor Who together with myth and legend. Balancing two Brigadiers, a murderous new companion, and a crew of hubristic mutated scientists is no mean feat, resulting in divided opinion across viewers.

Four decades on, Kara Dennison re-examines the first instalment in the Black Guardian trilogy as a story potentially before its time. What makes a ‘good’ companion? What truly makes immortality a curse? And what does it mean to trust a hero who will never stop changing?

Kara Dennison is one of the range editors of The Black Archive and a contributing author to many online and print genre outlets. She is the author of Black Archive #22: Hell Bent.

Mawdryn Undead is available now in paperback and electronic formats, direct from Obverse Books and from selected online retailers.

Doctor Who writer Andrew Cartmel has been awarded the 2025 Terrance Dicks Award for Writers by the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. 

The next release in the Blu-ray Collection series will be Season 21, the last starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and introducing Colin Baker as the Sixth incarnation.

The box set will be released on Monday, 16th March 2026 and is available for pre-order on Amazon now. 

In his final season, the action ramps up for Peter Davison’s Doctor as he faces terrors from his past, invaders from the future, arch enemies and a battle to the death.

With companions Tegan (Janet Fielding), Turlough (Mark Strickson), Peri (Nicola Bryant) and robot Kamelion (Gerald Flood) the Doctor journeys from an underwater seabase to contemporary England, from a devastated Earth colony to the beaches of Lanzarote, from a volcanic alien world to the deadly caves on Androzani.

Along the way, the TARDIS crew confront Daleks, Sea Devils, Silurians, Tractators, slug-like Gastropods, the evil Malus and the vengeful Master!

All episodes have been newly remastered from the best available sources – these classic adventures have never looked or sounded so good on home media. 

The Collection: Season 21 is also jam-packed with hours of new and exclusive material, including:

• UPDATED SPECIAL EFFECTS
  On The Awakening, Frontios, Resurrection Of The Daleks and The Caves Of Androzani
• WARRIORS OF THE DEEP: SPECIAL EDITION 
• An exciting four-part re-edit with updated special effects and immersive 5.1 surround sound mix
• IN CONVERSATION
• Matthew Sweet chats to Janet Fielding (Tegan), Mark Strickson (Turlough) and Matthew Waterhouse (Adric)
• NEW MAKING-OF DOCUMENTARIES
• For Resurrection Of The Daleks and The Twin Dilemma
• LOOK WHO’S BOATING 
• Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton take to the River for an epic adventure.
• 48 HOURS WITH FIELDING
• Toby Hadoke crashes at Janet Fielding’s
• BEHIND THE SOFA 
• New episodes with Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Bonnie Langford (Mel), Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Tara Ward (Preston), Keith Jayne (Will), Jeff Rawle (Plantagenet), Rula Lenska (Styles), director Graeme Harper, Paul Conrad (Romulus) and Andrew Conrad (Remus).   
• THE DOCTOR WHO ESCAPE ROOM
• Two new teams battle it out
• BRAND NEW AUDIO COMMENTARY 
• On The Awakening
• NEW SURROUND SOUND MIXES 
• On Warriors Of The Deep, The Awakening and The Caves Of Androzani.
• TALES OF THE TARDIS 
• A 2023 edit of Earthshock with new linking material
• from Peter Davison and Janet Fielding
• THE FIVE(ISH) DOCTORS REBOOT
• With brand new audio commentary
• EXCLUSIVE ARCHIVE TREATS 
• Including never-before-released TV appearances and studio footage
• HD PHOTO GALLERIES 
• INFO TEXT 
• PDF ARCHIVE
• PLUS LOTS MORE!

This ten-disc box set also includes hours of special features previously released on DVD, including Documentaries, Featurettes, Audio Commentaries and more.

The Collection: Season 21 Announcement Trailer

A newly re-edited version of the classic Doctor Who story ‘The Sea Devils’, will be available on BBC iPlayer and broadcast on BBC Four on Sunday 7th December

The 1972 Third Doctor story is being shown ahead of the foes' return in The War Between the Land and the Sea at 8:30 pm on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

This new 90-minute special condenses the original six-part adventure into a feature-length experience, with updated sound design by Mark Ayres, and an enhanced score featured in The War Between the Land and the Sea created by Lorne Balfe, which has been woven together with Malcolm Clarke’s groundbreaking 1972 music.

The Sea Devils stars Jon Pertwee who played the Doctor between 1970 and 1974, alongside Katy Manning as companion Jo Grant, and features the Master, played by Roger Delgado.

Written by Malcolm Hulke and directed by Michael E. Briant, the story introduced audiences to the formidable aquatic species the Sea Devils.

Russell T Davies, Showrunner, Writer and Executive Producer says:

The special version of The Sea Devils will air on BBC iPlayer from 6 am and BBC Four at 7 pm on Sunday 7th December, and will be followed by a double bill of The War Between the Land and the Sea at 8:30pm on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

The Sea Devils is produced by Bad Wolf with BBC Studios for BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. Executive producers are Russell T Davies, Joel Collins, Julie Gardner, and Jane Tranter.