Two episodes of Doctor Who from the William Hartnell era, unseen since 1965, have been released after being discovered in a private film collection. The episodes, parts one and three of the 12-part adventure 'The Daleks’ Master Plan', were broadcast in November 1965 and written by Dalek creator Terry Nation.
The recovered episodes, titled 'The Nightmare Begins' and 'Devil’s Planet', were found by the charitable trust Film is Fabulous, which aims to preserve private film collections. The estate of the deceased owner, who wished to remain anonymous, also held four other Doctor Who episodes already in the BBC's archives.
The original 16mm telerecordings have been restored and made available on BBC iPlayer in the UK from Friday morning. They will also be shown at a sold-out event at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, west London, on Saturday afternoon.
The discovery was revealed as a surprise to actor Peter Purves, who played the Doctor's companion Steven in the episodes, at a private screening in mid-March. Purves described the episodes as 'beautifully directed' by Douglas Camfield.
The episodes feature the first appearance of Nicholas Courtney in Doctor Who, playing Bret Vyon. Courtney later became known for his role as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, a character who appeared with multiple Doctors.
Ninety-five episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s remain missing, having been wiped or junked by the BBC in the 1970s. This is the first recovery of lost episodes since 2013, when nine Troughton-era episodes were found in Nigeria.
