Doctor Who missing episodes
Country TV Network ( s ) episode
Australia ABC 1
Barbados CBC 0
Bermuda ZFB-TV 0
Canada CKVU and TVO 31
Cyprus CyBC 3
Ethiopia ETV 0
Ghana GTV 0
Gibraltar GBC 0
Hong Kong RTV 4
Iran NIRT 0
Jamaica JBC 0
Kenya VoK 0
Malta Xandir Malta 0
Mauritius MBC 0
New Zealand NZBC 0
Nigeria RKTV 15
Rhodesia RBC 0
Sierra Leone SLBS 0
Singapore RTS 0
Thailand HAS-TV 0
Recovery -- Episodes
BBC holdings [ edit ] Film Library oddities [ edit ] When the BBC audited its Film Library in 1977 , only 47 episodes were found to exist . These Film Library copies were a random sampling of viewing prints for various episodes , along with seven of the nine episodes that had originally been telerecorded onto film for editing and/or transmission , rather than recorded to videotape . These film-originated masters were stored in the Film Library , rather than in the Engineering Department with the videotapes . [ 1 ] The presence of the viewing prints is less easily explained . The Film Library 's remit covers material originated on film , not on videotape – yet two of the film-originated episodes of Doctor Who ( The Power of the Daleks Episode 6 and The Wheel in Space Episode 5 ) were junked by the Film Library , while it held such unexplained material as 16 mm copies of The Tenth Planet Episodes 1–3 , presumably viewing prints which were mistakenly returned to them at some point instead of BBC Enterprises . [ 9 ] Most surprisingly of all , they also retained a 16 mm telerecording copy of the original untransmitted pilot , presumably a viewing print made in 1963 and subsequently lodged at the Library . [ 8 ] The Film Library also held high-quality original film sequences made for insertion into videotaped episodes . Some of these , such as those from Episodes 1–2 of The Daleks ' Master Plan , survive to this day . [ 1 ] Other junked sequences were mistakenly entered into a film library computer system , leading to an impression that they had existed for some years afterward , and inaccurate speculation that the BBC was still destroying clips well into the early 1980s . [ 43 ] Engineering Department [ edit ] Following the establishment of the Film and Videotape Library , an audit of the Engineering Department found 60 of the 128 Third Doctor episodes starring Jon Pertwee , which in addition to the Film Library 's copies of the film-originated Spearhead from Space , brought that Doctor 's episode count up to 64 out of 128 . Villiers House [ edit ] In 1978 , Ian Levine located another 65 episodes from the show 's first six seasons ( plus 14 previously existing episodes ) , at the BBC Enterprises film vault at Villiers House in London . The episodes comprise 17 full serials , mostly from seasons 1 and 2 . According to Levine , the prints of The Daleks were flagged to be junked that very day . Levine alerted the new Film and Videotape Library 's archive selector , Sue Malden , who paid her own visit to Villiers House and found every remaining Jon Pertwee episode ( albeit as a 16 mm black-and-white telerecording ) , except for two from his final season : Death to the Daleks and Invasion of the Dinosaurs , Episodes 1 . In August 1988 , 10 years after Levine 's and Malden 's visits , Episodes 1 and 4–6 of the six-part story The Ice Warriors were discovered in a cupboard at Villiers House when the Corporation was in the process of moving out of the building . [ 1 ] National Film and Television Archive [ edit ] Shortly after the junking process was halted and the BBC established its Film and Videotape Library for the purpose of storage and preservation , archive selector Sue Malden began to audit what material remained in the BBC 's stores . When investigations revealed large gaps in the collection , Malden turned her inquiries to the National Film and Television Archive – which promptly returned three full Second Doctor serials – The Dominators , The Krotons , and The War Games , adding seven more episodes and completing two of those serials . [ 9 ] These all were standard 16 mm film telerecordings with the exception of The Dominators Episode 3 , which was a 35 mm print . Episodes 4 and 5 of The Dominators originated from a foreign broadcaster , and had been slightly edited ; the missing footage was restored later , through a mix of censor clips and more complete prints held by private collectors . [ 1 ] Overseas broadcasters that purchased missing episodes [ edit ] An appeal to broadcasters in other countries who had shown the programme ( notably Canada and African nations such as Nigeria ) produced `` lost '' episodes from the archives of their television companies . [ 1 ] The Tomb of the Cybermen , for example , was recovered in this manner from Rediffusion Television in Hong Kong in 1992 . [ 44 ] Of the 50 episodes recovered since the original BBC audit of its holdings , 24 have been returned from overseas broadcasters :
Many portions of the long-running British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who are no longer held by the BBC. Between 1967 and 1978 the BBC routinely deleted archive programmes, for various practical reasons (lack of space, scarcity of materials, a lack of rebroadcast rights). As a result of the cull, 97 of 253 episodes from the programme's first six years are currently missing, primarily from seasons 3 to 5, leaving 26 serials incomplete. Many more were considered lost until recovered from various sources, mostly overseas broadcasters. Doctor Who is not unique in its losses, as many broadcasters regularly cleared their archives in this manner. Until the BBC changed its archiving policy in 1978, thousands of hours of programming, in all genres, were deleted. Other affected BBC series include Dad's Army, Z-Cars, The Wednesday Play, Till Death Us Do Part, Steptoe and Son and Not Only. But Also. ITV regional franchises also deleted many programmes, including early videotaped episodes of The Avengers. Doctor Who is unusual, however, in that each of its 97 missing episodes survives in audio form, recorded off-air by fans at home. Most episodes are also represented by production stills, tele-snaps, or short video clips. Furthermore, after careful restoration, all 1970s episodes are available in full colour, which is not always the case for other series.