Two long-lost episodes of 'Doctor Who' have been found. Fans will soon
be able to watch them
[March 14, 2026]
By JILL LAWLESS
LONDON (AP) — Over six decades of “Doctor Who,” the intergalactic
adventurer’s adversaries have included evil robots, rampaging Yeti — and
the BBC, which erased many early episodes of the now-iconic sci-fi TV
series.
A film charity announced Friday that it has found two previously lost
1960s episodes in film cans wrapped in plastic bags among the
possessions of a deceased collector. They have been restored by BBC
archivists and will be available next month on the broadcaster’s
streaming service.
The discovery leaves 95 episodes still missing from the adventures of a
galaxy-hopping alien known as the Doctor that debuted in 1963.
“Doctor Who” — the “who” is an existential question, rather than the
character's name — has become a television institution with millions of
fans around the world. But the BBC’s attitude to the show in its early
years was careless. Scores of episodes were lost because the broadcaster
threw out film recordings or wiped video tapes for re-use.
“The main broadcasters in the U.K. in the 1960s, 70s, up to the 80s
really, junked quite a lot of content," said Justin Smith, a cinema
professor at England’s De Montfort University and chair of trustees of
Film is Fabulous!, which works to preserve cinema and television
history.
“In some ways finding missing ‘Doctor Whos’ is the holy grail" of
classic TV discoveries, Smith told The Associated Press.
Smith said the charity found film cans containing the two rediscovered
black-and-white episodes, “The Nightmare Begins” and “Devil’s Planet,”
among the collection of a film aficionado who had died. The collector’s
estate wishes to remain anonymous.
The episodes aired during the show’s third series in 1965 and feature
William Hartnell, the first of more than a dozen actors to play the
Doctor, in a story involving archvillains the Daleks – pepperpot-shaped
metal aggressors whose favorite word is “Exterminate!”
Smith said that for “Who” fans, “it’s got it all, it really has. It is
intergalactic, it’s got some great performances. It stands up really,
really well.”
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Two full size Daleks from the BBC TV series Doctor Who, dating from
the late 1970,s to 1988 and used in the series 'Remembrance of the
Daleks' at Bonhams auction house in London, Monday, Aug. 2, 2010.
(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, file)
 The newfound episodes feature Peter
Purves, who played the Doctor’s sidekick Steven Taylor in 46
installments of the show.
“Twenty-seven of mine still are missing, but I’m delighted that two
have been found,” 87-year-old Purves told the BBC. “It’s rather sad,
but it’s great when some turn up.”
The discovery is the first since 2013, when nine missing “Doctor
Who” episodes were found in the storeroom of a television relay
station in Nigeria.
The newly recovered episodes form part of a 12-part storyline, much
of which is still missing. Smith said he is hopeful more instalments
might turn up.
“We know that other episodes are in existence," he said. “We don’t
know where they are or who’s got them — otherwise we’d be knocking
on doors. But, yeah, I think there are more. The only question is
when and where they will come to light."
“Doctor Who” ran from 1963 to 1989 and was revived in 2005. Its
longevity is due partly to the flexibility of the premise. The
Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, can travel to any
point in space or time and can regenerate into new bodies, allowing
the character to outlive any particular star.
The most recent series, starring Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, aired in
2025. The show is due to return with an as-yet undisclosed actor in
the role.
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