NINE MISSING TROUGHTON EPISODES RECOVERED IN NIGERIA!

The BBC announced today that nine previously missing episodes from the fifth season of Doctor Who starring Patrick Troughton have been recovered in Nigeria.

The previously missing episodes are from The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear with recovered episodes 1,2,4,5 and 6 completing Enemy, and the recovery of episodes 2,4,5 and 6 of Web meaning with the exception of episode 3 this story now exists in it’s entirety.

The nine episodes were recovered by episode-hunter Philip Morris, director of Television International Enterprises Archives Ltd, who tracked records of overseas shipments made by the BBC containing tapes for transmission.

In a BBC press statement, Morris said:

The tapes had been gathering dust in a store room at a television relay in Nigeria. 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.

Roy Robinson, archive co-ordinator at TIEA, attended today’s event and read out a statement from Morris, saying:

I would like to thank everybody at BBC Worldwide and BBC Television for their mammoth support during this project. It is my greatest pleasure in the 50th anniversary year of Doctor Who, in a joint project between my company TIEA and BBC Worldwide, to unveil two classic adventures.

Sadly, due to other archive commitments overseas, I am unable to be with you today. My work is endless and, as you know, the search must continue.

I would like to dedicate these episodes to everyone who has ever worked on the show and to all Doctor Who fans around the world. I have the Doctor Who fans’ best interests at heart. On behalf of myself and everyone at TIEA, thank you for your continued interest, and I hope our paths will soon cross again.

All the episodes (including a recon of episode 3 of Web) have been remastered and are available to buy now via iTunes in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany. Episode 3 of Web has been reconstructed by the BBC Doctor Who Restoration Team, using 37 images available from the episode, along with the original audio, which has been restored.

In a press statement, Fiona Eastwood, director of consumer products for BBC Worldwide, said:

We are thrilled with the recent discovery of The Web of Fear and The Enemy of the World and we’re very happy to be launching remastered versions of these treasured episodes to fans as we celebrate the 50th year of Doctor Who.

The Enemy of the World will be released on DVD on Friday 22nd November, just ahead of the programme’s 50th anniversary, with The Web of Fear due out in early 2014.

There are now 97 missing episodes of Doctor Who.

Click “PLAY ALL” to view all trailers and clips from The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear – and to view a short interview with episode-hunter Philip Morris.