2019 - 2020

2019

February 2019 

6 - On MEF, in response to a question from Charles Daniels about the possible existence of Marco Polo in Tehran, Paul Vanezis reiterates that "an engineer" personally witnessed Doctor Who film cans on the shelves of the State broadcaster. Paul says that the films "could" be Marco Polo, as the first two episodes were sent there, but the chances of a repatriation are "slim" due to the state of relations with the country.

2020 is mostly taken up with discussion of statements by both Paul Vanezis and Philip Morris that a smattering of episodes (2 according to Paul, 6 according to Phil) still sit with private collectors.

2020

February 2020

14 - On AZ, member Theodore J Flicker alludes to speculation that the two episodes in private collections are Hartnells: Galaxy 4, episode 4, "The Exploding Planet" and The Celestial Toymaker episode 3, "The Dancing Floor".

April 2020

5 - On MEF, member Luke Sherlaw posts that Fantom Films has posted to YouTube a four-hour interview with Philip Morris. 

At 3:11:07, Morris reiterates his claim that in response to Morris' query about the missing Web 3, the NTV station manager at Jos, Nigeria merely replied "I don't know anything about missing episodes" - leading Morris to believe that his recovery efforts had been "infiltrated". Morris further claims to know precisely who has the episode and says he hopes that person will return it. In fact, Morris is emphatic that "every missing episode" will work its way back to the BBC in due course. Hmm.

Furthermore, at 3:14:49, Morris explicitly states that "at least six" missing episodes sit with private collectors. The reason these individuals are hesitant to return the episodes are they are uncertain how they will be treated by the BBC. And Morris thinks there "probably" are episodes in private collections in Australia.

Finally, Morris says he is "not done" on the Doctor Who front - and that he wants any future returns to be "a surprise".

11 - Tim Burrows and Paul Morris kick off The Doctor Who Missing Episodes Podcast, discussing in depth each serial that currently lacks episodes, the production of each, the bicycling chains and the relevant rumours.

18 - Fantom publishes to YouTube a video interview (recorded in 2017) with the members of the Restoration Team, a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion on the process of restoration and the issues the team face.

During the course of the interview, Paul Vanezis states that it took only a week from Galaxy 4: Airlock being returned to film collector Terry Burnett, before he came forward with The Underwater Menace: 2. Paul says that despite Burnett's claim that it was "a fluke" that he'd found it, it seems clear that Burnett already knew he had it in his collection. The implication is that Burnett was waiting to see if the BBC could be trusted in the first place: an interesting insight into the difficulties in establishing trust with collectors and ensuring all such dealings run smoothly.

August 2020

1 - On the The Myth Makers edition of The Doctor Who Missing Episodes Podcast, guest Toby Hadoke relays what Paul Vanezis has recently said about Sierra Leone: that the stories purchased by the country - which are Galaxy 4, The Myth Makers, The Massacre, The Ark, The Celestial Toymaker, The Savages, The War Machines and The Smugglers - were no longer there by the 1980s. The most likely outcome for these stories is that they made their way firstly back to BBC Enterprises and from there into the hands of private collectors.

This comment would now seem to corroborate what Philip Morris - who was there in 2011 - has previously said: that all the episodes held in Sierra Leone were sent back the the UK in 1974. And it would seem to be a backtrack on Paul's previous comments about everything having been destroyed in the civil war.

23 - ABC News publishes an article on their website featuring Darran Jordan, Vice-President of the Doctor Who Club of Australia, and Paul Vanezis. Paul alludes to The Daleks' Master Plan not passing the Australian censors and being stored away in their Gore Hill facility in the late 1960's. This facility was then sold in 2003, and the whereabouts of the film prints are unknown. However Jordan goes on to suggest they may be in the hands of private collectors.

December 2020

24 - The Type 40 Podcast publishes a lengthy interview with Richard Molesworth, author of "Wiped!". The topic of missing episodes is canvassed in a general way, but at 42 minutes Richard states his belief that episode 3 of The Web of Fear was stolen by the Jos station manager and destroyed. Richard also states that he is not sure whether the reports of episodes in private collections are true.