Skip to content
Support Us

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Previously lost Doctor Who episodes found in Nigeria

The find brings the number of lost episodes of the cult sci-fi show down to 97.

NINE MISSING EPISODES of the cult BBC science fiction drama “Doctor Who” have been found in a television station storeroom in Nigeria, nearly half a century after they were last seen, the broadcaster said.

Among the recovered 1960s footage is most of the classic story “The Web of Fear”, a black and white adventure in which the Time Lord, then played by Patrick Troughton, battles a robot yeti in London’s underground train system.

The tapes were found gathering dust in a television station in Jos, a central Nigerian city plagued by chronic sectarian violence.

The trove, which is being described by the BBC as the “largest haul of missing episodes recovered in the last three decades”, also includes six-part story “The Enemy of the World.”

“It’s thrilling,” said Mark Gatiss, author of recent “Doctor Who” episodes.

“Every single avenue seemed to have been exhausted, every now and then something turns up — but to have two virtually complete stories out of the blue is absolutely incredible.”

The BBC destroyed many of the drama’s original tapes in the 1960s and 1970s but some were copied for sale to foreign broadcasters.

Despite the find, 97 episodes remain lost.

The episodes were uncovered by Phillip Morris, director of Television International Enterprises Archive.

“The tapes had been left gathering dust in a storeroom at a television relay station in Nigeria,” he told the BBC, adding that they were “just sitting on the shelf.”

“I remember wiping the dust off the masking tape on the canisters and my heart missed a beat as I saw the words, Doctor Who. When I read the story code I realised I’d found something pretty special,” he added.

The tapes originally went from Britain to Hong Kong and then on to a series of television stations in Nigeria as part of the distribution systems that operated at the time.

Morris said he had been “lucky” to find the tapes intact given the high temperatures in Nigeria.

“Fortunately in this case they had been kept in the optimum condition,” he said.

He joked that he is often described as the “Indiana Jones of the film world” for discovering the cache of tapes.

The new programmes will be available on iTunes from today and will be released on DVD later.

© AFP 2013

WATCH: Lea Michele’s heartbreaking performance in Glee’s Cory Monteith tribute episode

Read: The Love/Hate cat on the Late Late… and 4 other weekend TV picks

Author
View 28 comments
Close
28 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute davey boy
    Favourite davey boy
    Report
    Mar 29th 2019, 8:04 PM

    An exercise? You could see all of the above at any A&E dept every weekend..

    117
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brendan Geoghegan
    Favourite Brendan Geoghegan
    Report
    Mar 29th 2019, 8:20 PM

    Add in another 100 people and it might represent a typical emergency room and a more realistic simulation

    96
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chessie Cat
    Favourite Chessie Cat
    Report
    Mar 29th 2019, 9:35 PM

    Looks like an episode of Killinaskully.

    38
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Killian Ryan
    Favourite Killian Ryan
    Report
    Mar 29th 2019, 10:14 PM

    No flooding involved?

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute TamuMassif2019
    Favourite TamuMassif2019
    Report
    Mar 30th 2019, 1:00 AM

    Windscale blows up???

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tim Oleary
    Favourite Tim Oleary
    Report
    Mar 30th 2019, 11:07 AM

    Good. Continuing training as this is vital to equip guards with all the necessary abilities to deal with emergency situations and have effective coordination. All agencies working together need effective procedures.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds