William Hartnell as Doctor Who in 1965's Galaxy Four

One of the biggest sins of television is that its history was not saved.  Back in the olden days, television companies used to wipe the master tapes out of their episodes, so they could reuse the film and save a little money.  Due to this, thousands of hours of early television have been lost, and there was no greater sinner than the BBC when it comes to disregarding its own history.  The BBC has erased hundreds of episodes of the sci-fi classic Doctor Who before mandatory archiving was instituted in 1978.  Well, two lost Doctor Who episodes were discovered and returned to the BBC by Australia’s ABC Channel.

“Christmas has come early for Doctor Who fans everywhere.  It’s always wonderful when a missing episode turns up but it’s been years since the last one so to have two is just brilliant,” said current Doctor Who writer and actor Mark Gatiss.  “Add to that a proper bit of action from the legendary Chumblies (and the horrifying Rills!) plus the utterly mesmeric Patrick Troughton on great form.  Well, what more could we all ask for?”

The two episodes returned were part three of the Doctor Who story line Galaxy Four from 1965 and the second part of The Underwater Menace from 1967.  Galaxy Four stars the first Doctor Who, William Hartnell, while The Underwater Menace stars his replacement, Patrick Troughton.

Image:  BBC Doctor Who Adventure Day

Tags: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Doctor Who, lost Doctor Who episodes discovered, ABC Channel, Australia, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, lost Doctor Who episodes found, lost television episodes, television history, BBC, science fiction, lost sci-fi shows discovered, BBC recovers two lost Doctor Who episodes, Mark Gatiss, Chumblies, Rills

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