Two long-lost Doctor Who episodes from 1965 have been recovered and restored, with streaming set for iplayer on 4 April. The black-and-white installments—featuring William Hartnell’s first Doctor up against a Dalek plan to conquer Earth, the solar system, and the galaxy—were unearthed in a cardboard box from a deceased film collector’s trove.
What Was Found In The ‘Ramshackle’ Collection
The film cans, wrapped in plastic bags and tucked into a vintage collection, were identified by Leicester-based charitable trust Film is Fabulous!. archivists have since restored the reels to broadcast quality, reviving two chapters of a storyline that has been unseen since their original UK transmission.
- The Nightmare Begins — part of the third series; originally aired in November 1965
- Devil’s Planet — broadcast two weeks later
The discovery means fans now have the first three episodes of The Daleks’ Master Plan, after an intervening chapter, Day of Armageddon, was found in 2004 by a former engineer. The saga, written by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, is a dark, 12-part arc—much of which remains lost—featuring early appearances by Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon, Adrienne Hill as Katarina, and Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen.
At a surprise reveal in Leicester’s Phoenix Cinema, Peter Purves—who played companion Steven Taylor—was shown the newly recovered material. “My flabber has never been so gasted, ” he said. Purves added: “Twenty-seven of mine still are missing, but I’m delighted that two have been found. It’s rather sad, but it’s great when some turn up. ”
When And How To Watch On Iplayer
The restored episodes will be available to stream on iplayer on 4 April, with a special London screening the same day featuring Purves as guest of honor. Noreen Adams, director of Archives, said the team has been restoring the original recordings to broadcast quality so fans can enjoy an Easter treat.
This marks the first time since 2013 that lost Doctor Who content has surfaced. That previous haul comprised nine episodes recovered overseas; in contrast, The Daleks’ Master Plan was never sold abroad, limiting the chances of international finds. Censors in Australia and New Zealand had deemed the story too violent at the time, and the black-and-white format was later judged to have little future value as broadcasters moved to color—factors that contributed to the original wiping.
Why These Episodes Matter And What’s Still Missing
The newly recovered chapters offer a rare look at Hartnell’s Doctor in one of the show’s darkest classic serials, long regarded by archivists and fans as a holy grail. Technicians once created additional copies to check for faults before potential overseas sales; it’s these quality-control prints that found their way into an amateur collection and, ultimately, back to the archive.
Despite the breakthrough, a significant portion of the classic era remains incomplete. Ninety-five episodes are still missing from the show’s early decades, and more than half of The Daleks’ Master Plan has yet to be recovered. Archivists and historians believe other lost material exists, though the timing and location of any future discoveries remain unknown.
Ahead of the Easter release, anticipation is building among classic-era devotees and newer viewers alike. For the first time in decades, the opening movement of a pivotal Hartnell-Dalek confrontation will be watchable in sequence—restored, preserved, and ready to stream.
