Two steps closer to completing the Master Plan.
The BBC has officially announced that two long-missing episodes of the 1965-66 Doctor Who serial "The Daleks' Master Plan" have been recovered. The found episodes are Episodes 1 and 3, "The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil's Planet", bringing the total to 5 episodes of the 12-part serial now recovered. This means the first three episodes, along with Episodes 5 and 10.
According to the article, the two episodes were located in "a cardboard box found in a collector's 'ramshackle' collection of vintage films. Episode 2, "Day of Armageddon", was found in 2004 by a former BBC engineer. Episode 5, "Counter Plot", and Episode 10, "Escape Switch", were discovered in 1983 in a London church basement.
Between 1967 and 1978, the BBC routinely deleted archived TV shows for various practical reasons—lack of space, scarcity of materials, and a lack of rebroadcast rights. As a result, 95 of 253 episodes from Doctor Who's first six seasons are currently missing, primarily from Seasons 3, 4 and 5, leaving 26 serials incomplete.
"The Daleks' Master Plan" is the fourth serial of the third season of Doctor Who. Written by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner and directed by Douglas Camfield, the serial was broadcast on BBC1 in twelve weekly parts from November 13, 1965 to January 29, 1966. It was the show's longest serial and remains the longest with a single director. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions, Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) and Katarina (Adrienne Hill), become embroiled in the Daleks' scheme to design the ultimate weapon. They're joined by Bret Vyon (Nicholas Courtney) and Sara Kingdom (Jean Marsh).
Episode 1 has the TARDIS landing on the planet Kembel in search of help for Steven, only to learn the Daleks are plotting with Guardian of the Solar System Mavic Chen to conquer the Earth. By Episode 3, the Doctor has stolen a vital component needed for the conquest, but after leaving Kembel, they're forced to land on penal planet Desperus, pursued by the Daleks.
Peter Purves, who played the First Doctor's companion Steven Taylor, was invited to the Phoenix Cinema in Leicester on Wednesday under false pretenses to view the two episodes, and said, "My flabber has never been so gasted. I've never forgiven the BBC for losing those episodes, it would be really nice to get a few royalties."
Purves added, "I'm not sure I even saw those programs go out originally. I remember the stories, but having seen them, the pictures are unfamiliar to me. I didn't remember the first one when I was still almost comatose following the injury I received fighting in Troy in the wonderful 'Myth Makers', which, of course, is missing."
"The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil's Planet" are expected to be made available on BBC iPlayer sometime this April. No word yet on when these episodes will be made available in the United States.






