{"id":605386,"date":"2026-05-26T20:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/605386\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T20:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:16:09","slug":"the-group-behind-the-recovered-doctor-who-episodes-gives-a-hopeful-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/605386\/","title":{"rendered":"The Group Behind the Recovered ‘Doctor Who’ Episodes Gives a Hopeful Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

For decades, fans of classic Doctor Who believed that certain episodes from the show\u2019s early run<\/a> were gone forever\u2014thanks to the BBC\u2019s former practice of \u201cjunking\u201d its vintage programming. There have been some successful recovery efforts over the years, including revivals achieved with the help of animation<\/a>, but a true triumph came earlier this year when two episodes<\/a> from the 1965 arc \u201cThe Daleks\u2019 Master Plan,\u201d featuring William Hartnell as the First Doctor, came to light.<\/p>\n

You can now watch both episodes<\/a> on the Doctor Who: Classic YouTube channel. This discovery naturally sparked questions about whether or not more long-lost Doctor Who material<\/a> might still be out there, especially since \u201cThe Daleks\u2019 Master Plan\u201d entries were discovered almost accidentally, buried in an extensive collection from a film and TV fan who\u2019d recently passed away.<\/p>\n

The head of Film Is Fabulous!, the group dedicated to preserving private collections filled with vintage TV and film treasures that discovered the Doctor Who episodes, recently offered an update for Doctor Who fans hungry for more.<\/p>\n

As reported by the Radio Times<\/a>, Film Is Fabulous! founder John Franklin spoke at a recent \u201cDaleks\u2019 Master Plan\u201d screening in Manchester, England.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, we categorically do not have any missing episodes of Doctor Who,\u201d he clarified.<\/p>\n

He emphasized just how much digging is involved in the process. \u201cTaking a collection where there\u2019s 16,000 films would currently take us two years to catalogue. I mean, it\u2019s a lot of work,\u201d he said, adding that it\u2019s important that the process also respects the wishes of the collector.<\/p>\n

However, he\u2019s absolutely not ruling out the possibility of more Doctor Who discoveries in the future. \u201cIt\u2019s my hope, my expectation, that we will be in a position soon to take some of those collections, to identify some of the missing items that those people have, to return them to the BBC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades, fans of classic Doctor Who believed that certain episodes from the show\u2019s early run were gone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[243,835,96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-605386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bbc","tag-doctor-who","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}