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Long-lost Doctor Who episodes discovered in Nigeria

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2013-10-11 Times.jpg

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Nine missing episodes of Doctor Who, which had not been seen since they were broadcast 45 years ago, have been discovered in a storeroom in Nigeria (Patrick Kidd writes).

The episodes, from the era when Patrick Troughton played the Doctor, were feared to be lost for ever, having been wiped by the BBC after transmission, but copies that were initially sent to Hong Kong were discovered in a television relay station 100 miles northeast of the capital, Abuja.

They include all five missing episodes from the six-part story The Enemy of the World, set in 2018, in which the Doctor is mistaken for a global dictator called Salamander, and four of the five missing episodes from The Web of Fear, which features an invasion of yetis on the London Underground.

Phillip Morris, director of Television International Enterprises Archive, found the missing episodes.

"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," he said.

Both series star Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling as the Doctor's assistants, Jamie and Victoria.

There are still almost 100 missing episodes but the rediscovered ones will be available to buy from iTunes today and released on DVD next month for the programme's 50th anniversary.

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  • APA 6th ed.: Kidd, Patrick (2013-10-11). Long-lost Doctor Who episodes discovered in Nigeria. The Times .
  • MLA 7th ed.: Kidd, Patrick. "Long-lost Doctor Who episodes discovered in Nigeria." The Times [add city] 2013-10-11. Print.
  • Chicago 15th ed.: Kidd, Patrick. "Long-lost Doctor Who episodes discovered in Nigeria." The Times, edition, sec., 2013-10-11
  • Turabian: Kidd, Patrick. "Long-lost Doctor Who episodes discovered in Nigeria." The Times, 2013-10-11, section, edition.
  • Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Long-lost Doctor Who episodes discovered in Nigeria | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Long-lost_Doctor_Who_episodes_discovered_in_Nigeria | work=The Times | pages= | date=2013-10-11 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=28 March 2024 }}</ref>
  • Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Long-lost Doctor Who episodes discovered in Nigeria | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Long-lost_Doctor_Who_episodes_discovered_in_Nigeria | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=28 March 2024}}</ref>