2016

Editor's note:
During 2016 I took a year off from the forums. The content of this post is only what I was able to find upon my return to the forums and playing a little bit of catch up. There may well have been more rumours discussed throughout the year.

2016

January 2016

22 – The Radio Times announces that Steven Moffat will step down after series 10 of Doctor Who, to be replaced by the writer of The Hungry Earth/Cold War and The Power of Three, and creator of TV series Broadchurch, Chris Chibnall. 

However, series 10 will air in 2017, with only a Christmas special to air in 2016.

October 2016

2 - On MEF, a now-deleted member with handle thelost106, posts snippets from an Amazon review of the official animated Power of the Daleks release. The reviewer named "Paz" claims to have seen Power when he was 11: his school principal supposedly showed the story to students at the time. Paz says this happened "40 years ago". (See also October 5.)

5 - Regarding the lead on Power in Singapore, member Dave Crichton offers to investgate. (The investigation is later taken up by member A Barron: see March 1, 2021.)

16 – On GB, Nth Doctor quotes someone on the FB ME group who reportedly posted that an individual who previously worked on the Doctor Who DVD special features told him that two episodes of The Wheel in Space have been found.

18 – Ian Levine takes part in a Q&A session on the DWME Group’s YouTube channel.

November 2016

10 – On MEF, member Lou Singh makes some extraordinary claims about seeing missing Doctor Who material that are worth quoting in their entirety:

“As I have said before: "The Traitors" - from Kirksen grabbing Katarina through to the two bodies floating in space; "The Power of the Daleks", episode 1 - from the opening titles through to the Doctor playing his jig on the recorder.

I am one of several eyewitnesses to one 40-something BNF attempting up a 23 year old woman at a con with the temptation of seeing the missing episodes he brought with him to the con.  He and his cronies twice tried to pick up other people I know very well (one was 21 at the time; the other was 13 [thirteen]).  I had warned them about this ruse.  These women they both said that his friends who tried to pick them up had claimed to have over half the missing episodes at the time in their possession and had seen more.  (That would have been 66/132, for those who want to know when this was.)

The then-21 year old is now a Republican political operative and businesswoman in the Pittsburgh area.  The then-13 year old has since joined the USAF and has done 2 tours in Iraq and 2 more in Afghanistan.  As friends of mine for 30 years, I trust them without question.  Indeed, the former 13 year old compared Trump to these clods last month when I told her about the animation of The Power of the Daleks.

Make fun of me all you want.  I know that it has been tried at least three times.  Just because it sounds ridiculous to you doesn't mean it didn't happen.

That's aside from the other unsubstantiated claims I know about with "The Myth Makers", "The Savages", "The Highlanders", and "The Wheel in Space".”

December 2016

25 – On GB, a poster called evil johnny claims that the same source who told him about Power animation and the return of Enemy and Web in 2013 has now told him that two missing episodes are “back”. He is ignored for two days!

26 – Fantom Films publish an interview with Philip Morris. In this fascinating piece, Morris says that the search for missing episodes is not straight forward; things that people think happened, didn’t. Morris says he tries to look at things from multiple angles, speaks to multiple persons and to create a 3D view of problems. Furthermore, he is confident of finding “anything” that is missing.

Morris reiterates that Web 3 was stolen by a bribed employee of the TV station where he found Enemy and Web. However, he says he is now getting close to resolving this issue.

He also states that Sierra Leone held no Doctor Who episodes when its archive building was destroyed. The episodes were all returned to London, however he does not know if anything was destroyed or otherwise.

He also answers Toby Hadoke’s question – that if there are any more Doctor Who episodes to be returned and released to the public, he will not say one way or the other, because he wants them to be a surprise. Anything that happens he will make sure it comes completely out of left field. He ends with a reassurance that he will leave no stone unturned in the search for missing TV.

28 – In a later post, evil johnny states that his contact gave him the heads up on Enemy/Web in July 2013. (Although this is possibly contradicted by a post on MEF in which it is claimed the post was from September. But, see 29 December 2016.) He then says that his contact belives that it’s “2 Hartnells” that are back, with the rest of the story being animated. 

This could make it Marco Polo, The Myth Makers, The Daleks’ Master Plan (which would now have 5 episodes), Galaxy 4, The Massacre, The Savages, The Smugglers or The Tenth Planet.

28 – On GB, Richard Smith makes a fascinating post about one earlier by PV, which is that he said that The Web of Fear arrived in the UK before December 2011, and Enemy shortly after that. He points out that PM’s claim that he found Enemy/Web (never seen this?) in late 2011 is questionable.

29 – In response to a query, evil johnny posts on GB the full text of his post from 4 September 2013:

Hi everyone,

For your information:

I've heard from a very reputable source (someone well-known in fandom - not a writer) that Web and Enemy are being worked on. No mention of Marco though. Obviously, I can't tell you who this is.

I tried to confirm this with another source who admitted he'd signed an NDA and couldn't talk about it.

For what it's worth...

2015

2015

March 2015

12-13 – Industry group Archiving Tomorrow screen the Kaleidoscope/BFI documentary, The Native Hue of Resolution. Sue Malden, former BBC lead archivist, attends the two day industry event.

June 2015

22 – On PMF, Tom Spilsbury comments that he had heard the rumours for some time before the reveal in October 2013, and that he initially believed them and in fact even helped spread them. He claims not to be aware of the origin of the rumours, however. He further says he eventually realised his error as more and more time went past, and so he tried to “dampen” people’s expectations by posting on forums.

Tom further said that he expects no animations will take place again, as every company who has done them has either gone out of business or made a loss.

27 – However, on Twitter, Chris Chapman responds to Tom’s statement about animations, stating categorically that Qurios – a company Tom mentioned – was never commissioned to provide animation for Doctor Who DVD releases and therefore didn’t go bust because of a cancellation. He further states that Planet 55 were the ones commissioned.

The tweets are here:

https://twitter.com/ChrisChapman81/status/614497151666794496

https://twitter.com/ChrisChapman81/status/614497480445685760

https://twitter.com/ChrisChapman81/status/614498780138872834

July 2015

17 – Rich Johnston appears on PMF to clarify once more the source of the rumours as far as he is concerned: from radio engineers working in unrelated recording sessions overhearing Doctor Who production staff gossiping about the rumours.

24 - The boys from 42 to Doomsday release a podcast feature an interview with journalist and author Dave Hoskin, about his forthcoming book “Chasing Shadows” delving into the entire the saga of the omnirumour.

In it, Dave is questioned on which rumours he believes are true. He says that from his research and discussions with his sources, he believes a screening of The Power of the Daleks at the BFI happened, and that Marco Polo may well have been going to be released in 2013 as well as season 1 and 2 boxsets. He also says that those who originated the rumours did not expect them to become so widespread and are “embarrassed” at how prevalent they have become.

When asked if there will be “a final reckoning” of the omni, i.e. will fans ever be told the real and full story of Phil Morris and the missing episode recoveries, Dave says that Charles Daniels told him that Phil’s book was going to come out at the end of 2014 and there will be a documentary at some stage. 

Despite the non-appearance of these, Dave feels this is all still happening.

Stuart Douglas of Obverse Books announces the upcoming title on GB.

24 – Meanwhile, MB1 member shuz/nospaces draws attention to a thread on MEF and an article on BBC News. A lost two-part BBC documentary on the man behind the Peter Sellers Gang Show – narrated by Sellers himself – has been found. In the thread on MEF, Richard Latto (who was originally searching for the doco) thanks Phil Morris and TIEA for “transferring” it.

24 – An article on BBC News announces that a lost album of songs by Micky Dolenz – the drummer from The Monkees – has been found. The find, by “massive” Monkees fan Iain Lee, came about as a result of interactions on social media, and a mysterious email from a man who wrote: “I cannot tell you who I am, but I think I know where the master tapes are.”

August 2015

20 – In a surprise announcement, Fantom Films reveal that Philip Morris will attend the Bristol Pandorica convention over the weekend of 25-27 September 2015.

September 2015

2 – Members of various fora point out that the much-delayed and formerly cancelled DVD release of The Underwater Menace is now listed on BBC Shop with a release date of 26 October 2016.

News site DWN later tweet to say that BBC Worldwide have confirmed to them the R2 release is genuine. There is still no word on whether episodes 1 and 4 will be animations, recons, or the found episodes themselves.

8 – Chris Chapman tweets again in relation to animation studio, Qurios (see 27 June 2015). He says that three serials were going to be test animated in full colour: The Daleks’ Master Plan, The Tenth Planet and Evil of the Daleks. He supplies link to a 51-second clip of the test animation for DMP. Chris clarifies that there was a hope at one stage that they would animate the entirety of DMP.

9 – In a comment on the Kickstarter page for 'The Native Hue of Resolution' DVD, creator Chris Perry states that the release date for backers is now 12 September.

11 – After personally emailing all major retailers, including the BBC, the ABC and others, as at today’s date no-one can supply any further information about The Underwater Menace other than its already-known R2 release date.

Update: in an email response from the Australian distributor Roadshow Entertainment, the R4 release date for The Underwater Menace is confirmed as 2 December 2015.

12 – MB1 forum runner, The Space Pirate, is told personally by an acquaintance that all six episodes of The Wheel in Space have been sold back to the BBC by a Sydney film collector who is an ex-ABC employee. (Unfortunately this story later turns out to be false.)

15 – Pam Roston announces via the MEF that the recovered comedy classic, the formerly missing episode of At Last the 1948 Show, will be shown at the Radio Times Festival later this month.

17 – BBC Director-General Lord Tony Hall, in an announcement about a BBC streaming service being made available in the US, confirms that the BBC Store will open “next month” (i.e., October 2015).

22 – The 60^th anniversary of ITV comes and goes with no missing material being announced.

23 – A new member on GB, Ken Sanders, posts that a friend of his who works at BBC Home Entertainment told him that the DVD for The Underwater Menace will contain passwords for “downloadable content”. Sanders wonders whether this content could be the missing episodes of the serial. Further, he adds that the reason for the delay on the DVD release has been due to the delays of the iPlayer service (read: BBC Store) coming online, as this will be the platform on which the DLC will be available.

29 - On MEF, Paul Vanezis weighs in on the debate over the date of episode 3 of The Web of Fear. He doesn't believe it was sold into the hands of a private collector; rather, someone at the station was curious why someone was interested in all these "old films", and took it in order to do more research. Once he realised the worth of the item, he kept it and denied all knowledge. Paul doesn't think we'll be seeing it "any time soon".

Paul also says this is why he stopped updating the Africa Progress thread.

30 - GB publishes a news article quoting Philip Morris at the Pandorica Convention about the loss of The Web of Fear: quotes reproduced here in full:

"This is a little bit of a revelation here now. There were twelve cans there, The Web of Fear was complete, the Enemy of the World was complete. I photographed them, the items were recorded, I knew exactly what was there. I said to one of the guys that was there with me, who works for me “make sure you put these films somewhere safe”. Because normally when you find something, you know it might disappear. I certainly didn’t want that to happen. So he put the films somewhere but as he was doing so the station manager came up and said “I’ll take that” and took one can, which was Episode 3, to his office. I didn’t know about this until later on. [...] When they were sent back episode 3 was missing. I highlighted it to the head of the NTAs and he said "are you sure? It was there". I said "there’s the photograph, it was complete". He then went back to the head of the station who said "Oh I put it back on the shelf. He said it must have gotten sent back up again and I didn’t believe that. Because it would have been there, it really would. It broke my heart that this piece was missing and I wanted to know why. Now I had let somebody know that I had found it, it was a big mistake, I realise that. And obviously that information leaked out. So, episode 3 was missing.

I went back to Nigeria this year to chase this one down. I spoke to the guy who was the station manager. He said "I put it back on the shelf". I said "I’ve got a photograph here, it was there". I said if it was there it would have been sent back. And then he just said “Well I don’t know anything about missing episodes". And I thought what a strange thing to say. And two days later after that Jos Station was on fire. [...] When I produced the photograph he was "oh dear, he's got proof that this was here." So the strangest thing was when he said to me "I don't know anything about the missing episodes" and I said "well I never mentioned missing episodes" and that was the big cat out of the bag, really so someone's obviously said "that's a missing episode" and offered him money.

It was completely the wrong thing to do, it should have come out with the rest of the story. That's why, you know, we have a sort of long recovery, getting it back to the UK, restoration, waiting on part 3, for that, because it should have been there and I thought it would come back.

And looking at it, this is what I personally think: Somebody rang up, they offered him money, he has taken that, it's been sent by courier, which you would have thought would be within Jos' area, it would be one of the courier companies. I have somebody actually looking at that now for any records... I'm not saying I'm going to print somebody's name online or anything like that, but if I get some kind of contact details I will be writing to the guy and asking them to do the right thing, but we'll see where that leads. Hopefully he'll do it on his own. So that's basically what happened. When you go to a station, you're not allowed to remove programmes, you've got to catalogue what you see, photograph what you see, and then, obviously you go back to the head of the station and you say "this is there, that's over there", and he'll just say "ok" then it goes back to Central, in Nigeria it goes back to Abuja, everything is catalogued so we know what's gonna leave the country, and then it's sent back to the UK.

(Question from an attendee) Do you think it's still in Nigeria, or did it actually make it to the UK? Do you think it's in the UK somewhere?

Phillip Morris: Hmmmmm, no, maybe not in the UK. It might be in Australia, somewhere like that. I don't know, it might be in the UK, but it was somebody - I trusted somebody. And within the space of a week the information was out there, as in someone had mentioned the station, this station had purchased Doctor Who, which it hadn't, and I thought "well hang on a minute, every single state in Nigeria has a newspaper to give you the programme listings, why has this one been pinpointed?" When the whole system worked, everything moved around someone obviously is not aware of that you can only find those details if you're actually aware of them. So it wasn't helpful, and with the project going forward people think "well, he's really secretive" but I have to be. I have to protect those things that come forward until we can tell the story.

(Question from attendee) Do you think that one has been taken because it was the Brigadier's first story?

Phillip Morris: No, it was coincidence. You've got to say, when that guy intervened, and went "I'll take those", it was random. I wish it had been episode one, or Enemy of the World episode three! It really must have been the luck of the draw."

October

11 - GB posts a follow-up news story quoting Phil Morris from Facebook, and a picture purporting to be of the 12 films cans Morris checked in the storage room in Jos where the episodes were found. Morris says that "No undue attention was drawn to the Doctor Who prints by myself or any of my staff, however I instructed one of my trusted team to ensure the Doctor Who prints were hidden until authorisation for retrieval could be obtained."

2014 - August to December

August 2014

1 – On Outpost Skaro, Eddie posts that the “small thing” is still viable, and that it is indeed ME related, but no announcement is coming this week.

2 – On PMF, Mr. Ron goes on record to say that he believes Morris withheld Web 3 after initially promising to hand it over with the rest of the story.

Meanwhile Scot Ferre posts that he has heard that “most” recovered Who has been restored, and that the BBC wants to “get a lot ready in one go”. Cardiff is apparently involved, and that things are well underway despite delays being caused over the last three years by ALL parties (BBC, BBCWW, PM).

Subsequently, Mr. Ron re-posts one of his own from a year ago, in which he indicated he knew of the Capaldi Marco intro rumours then (see 5 August, 2013).

3 – Still on PMF, puquimark posts that he does not believe as much Who has been restored as Scot does. He also thinks intros have been recorded, definitely for Marco and perhaps as many as 12 titles. He does however also think things are progressing well despite “hiccups”. He believes an announcement “soon” could see two Who titles revealed. He also believes the upcoming Out of the Unknown DVD set will contain previously missing material.

Further on non-Who, puquimark says some of the best but “not all” OOTU are back, together with Z-Cars (found in Africa), and Callan which has “all been found”. He also says Adam Adamant “all back”, as well as “Beachhead” (OOTU). Ace of Wands and series one of The Avengers he’s not so sure of.

Puquimark goes on to give some ballpark figures from low to high of Doctor Who episodes he believes may be back. Figures range from 89 including Enemy and Web (that would make 80 still outstanding after last year’s reveal) but he believes more found since then. 

87 (excluding Enemy and Web) is a likely figure, which would leave 10 episodes still missing, but puquimark thinks it’s more in the vicinity of 94 (excluding Enemy and Web). This leaves 3, 4 or 5 still missing or unrecoverable due to damage, and he believes that it’s episodes of DMP and the late Troughtons (season 6) that are the likeliest candidates.

Further he does not believe the rumours of The Daleks’ Master Plan being found in Ireland, but rather it was found in Australia as audition prints after being stored away due to non-purchase. Found via a Damian Shanahan lead. He believes the Ireland rumour was an attempt to discredit the omnirumour.

In addition, there may have been a good find of most of season 6 missing eps in Singapore either late 2013 or early this year. Found by Phil and his team, shipped back to UK early this year.

Answering more questions about non-Who, puquimark says he hasn’t heard of any Doomwatch finds.

Interestingly, he adds that he believes Mission to the Unknown was found in Singapore!

Puquimark also gives ratings out of 10 for the latest rumours. He gives 8/10 for Marco Polo intro by Capaldi; 8/10 for MTTU found in Singapore; 7/10 for season 6 also found in Singapore; 6/10 for both DMP found in Australia and other intros for recovered serials being done.

He believes the odds of any colour Pertwees being found are low, despite hearing rumours. However, he believes some better B&W copies of existing Pertwees held only in B&W have been found so this could assist the colour recover process for these episodes (here, puquimark could be referring to any of Invasion, Planet of the Daleks 3, or The Mind of Evil).

Mr. Ron adds that he believes things like Invasion if found would be from private collectors, but lumped in with the overall TIEA finds. Puquimark agrees with this, saying he has heard similar.

Finally, Puquimark states that he believes his middle option from earlier (5 eps remain missing) to be the most likely, but with no episodes being beyond recovery.

3 – Meanwhile on OS, friendsofderek weighs in on the intro discussions, saying they’d heard this months back but were protecting their source. He agrees that it’s for Marco, but adds Jenna Coleman into the mix. They’ve also heard that Smith, Tennant and Dan Starkey (Strax) have also done intros for recovered stories.

He also speculates that August could see release of at least one story, possibly as many of three being Marco Polo/Power of the Daleks/Evil of the Daleks.

4 – Also on OS an intriguing post appears from member GollyGTFC to the effect that he wouldn’t be surprised if Marco Polo and 1 or 2 others were announced at an “after show special”, and that we get something back “when the new series starts broadcasting”.

Immediately after this, friendsofderek says it’s possible as Cardiff “definitely has a hand in the MEs”.

Then, moderator SpringheelJack states that Who is to be completely rebranded, as per the re-released new series boxsets, as one brand with consistent logos, etc. (This later proves correct, with the advent of the Jodie Whittaker era.)

4 – Eddie then adds that “modern Doctors have recorded commentaries” for the returned stories, most likely as Easter Eggs (as with The Five Doctors special edition). Further he states that there has been movement on the intros during the last couple of weeks and that he has access to sources “right in the heart of Cardiff”!

In response to a question about when the next announcement will be, Eddie says one minute he is told nothing happening; the next there are all these intros recorded and there is “movement”. The initial movement, he says, may well be “just” The Underwater Menace, but he is also told that Marco and Power are ready to go “or thereabouts”. As he readily admits, the situation is “confusing”.

Later, Steve Freestone adds in that he heard at London Comic Con a few weeks ago that The Massacre and The Power of the Daleks are both “done and ready – including covers”. Eddie responds that he has indeed seen a DVD cover for Power and “it looks the business”.

Going back to the intros, Eddie says Starkey filmed his (Galaxy 4) whilst in full Strax makeup during filming of Deep Breath. Peter and Jenna filmed theirs (Marco) back in March, and Tennant and Smith did one together (Toymaker?) during filming for Day of the Doctor. Smith recorded a separate piece (Power?) at the end of last year (2013).

Eddie later says that he saw the cover via “a non-fan route”.

However – later, Eddie completely backtracks on his earlier remarks, saying that the intros were for the special edition of Day of the Doctor. He says the confusion may have arisen over there being mention of a “missing adventure” included on the boxset, rather than a missing now returned serial.

5 – On PMF, Eddie’s backtrack is discussed and while Scot Ferre agrees, and that the Strax intro is for “projects unknown”, he says his sources did provide info that backs up “a few other things”. He will update later.

Just to add to the confusion, puquimark reiterates that he spoke to Phil Morris at the 50^th celebrations and that he said “there are more episodes coming”. He adds that someone he knows that regularly speaks to Morris says Phil does indeed have “most” of the missing episodes.

Puquimark goes on to say that he too heard that Capaldi and Jenna did “a secret bit of fliming” earlier this year, which was indeed for a trailer for Marco Polo. Further he was told it featured “scribbling on blackboards in the TARDIS”. His source confirmed that people were talking about filming trailers for Toymaker and Power. He again states that he believes “we will get every episode, either as the real episode or some kind of recon/animation”.

However in light of discussions, he says he is glad he shared his info as the filmed intros for MEs rumour could now be “put to bed”.

On MEF, Lou Singh says that “several people” on the forum have seen “nearly flawless” colour copies of Terror of the Autons and The Daemons, and implies that he himself has seen “bits” of The Daleks’ Master Plan and The Power of the Daleks.

7 – Incredibly, animation studios Planet 55 in Australia make a Facebook statement that the only Doctor Who projects they have worked on are The Reign of Terror, The Tenth Planet and The Moonbase. Fandom reacts to this on forums, pointing out that we were all under the impression that they had been commissioned to do work on The Underwater Menace.

8 – On PMF, in response to a question about Marco Polo, puquimark says the Australian-found copy is the best quality, with others in various states, a combination of all making the best possible copy.

9 – On PMF puquimark says that the PM documentary will be interesting, showing the arrival of the 64,000 film cans arriving in the UK. He says the footage will show that PM hit the motherlode.

Later he says that he believes announcing everything in one “big bang” is the easiest approach; just a nightmare getting all parties to agree on a date.

September 2014

2 – After no news in August, a new month kicks off with Philip Morris making the claim on the Facebook group that Anthony Horowitz is to take over from Steven Moffat on Doctor Who. He further posts that he does not like the current direction of Who under Moffat. 

Moreover, he states that The Web of Fear was indeed found prior to The Snowmen going to air – implying Moffat wrote the story based on information that Web had been found. Morris further says that he knows who leaked this information to Moffat.

In other posts now deleted but quoted on places like PMF, Morris also takes aim at one fan calling him an “entitled cretin”. All this seems to add fuel to the notion that Morris refuses to hand back episodes until Moffat is out of the picture. 

Bleeding Cool publish a new article to cover the incident.

Incredibly, Tony Horowitz responds to a query about the matter on Twitter with “Unlikely” – which would seem to be open to all manner of interpretation.

November 2014

9 - In a rather heart-breaking eventuation, Eddie from OS posts that the episodes may not have been recovered, as previously thought – only located (a range of episodes moved for storage into an African hub facility). However Eddie does believe that “some” episodes ARE back, albeit in varying condition with Marco being the best. He further says that no-one can give a date as to when this will all be resolved.

In another post, Eddie says that Morris managed to get “some” back “before the doors closed”. And Friendsofderek weighs in with an email he got that explains things in more detail:

“Phil approached the BBC with news of a massive find, but wanted funding.

They gave him in on condition. He gave them Web, Enemy and Marco. Promised hundreds more. That gets leaked to DWO who go WHAAAAA and are then told to shush.

The BBC gave Phil funding

Meanwhile the source of the eps realised they were worth money and changed the goal posts. Getting them became tricky.

The Beeb pushed Phil. He said he had them all but didn't so stalled. And stalled. And stalled.

He then started mouthing off about stuff, surmising and assuming. He told WW, the BFI, actors, the RT. He HAD this stuff, of course he does! People start to talk. We get wind of it from various avenues.

But he doesn't have it. Not really. In the meantime the Beeb are pointing every lead at him, because in their eyes he's the ME Guy. He's forced to precure shit copies of Power, Massacre and DMP but it's grainy and some of its soundless. Useless. HE reckons his source has better copies. So he stalls. Starts a small RT of his own to clean up what he had. It'll be better than nothing.

Web and Enemy come out. Actors go mental. It's not cleared properly. It stalls Marco.

An estate of an actor in that doesn't play ball. They've seen the popularity of the others and wants a bigger cut. Legality entails.

The BBC go for Phil. Does he have the stuff? Cos if not they need their money back. Or they could absorb TIEA into BBCWW?

Phil panics. Aarrgh. He's promised this stuff. He's told the BFI. He's tried to arrange Press Conferences. He's even showed Mark Gatiss bits of Power to prove it. But he doesn't have the majority of it. So he goes online in a charm offensive. The winds in the right direction. Stay tuned. Don't panic Captain Manwaring... etc etc

Meanwhile, he still tries to procure the remains.

So, in affect, everyone is RIGHT. And wrong.

This is actually what happened. We've all been listening to various amounts of Phil's spin.

Do you see? It all makes sense. No one has anything of worth. Power is in limbo. UM was halted for the same thing - Phil thinks he will get a better copy. Same with Massacre and DMP. Marco's in legal limbo. And no one can say whats what because until the RT get a hold of this stuff no one knows for sure if they have the Holy Grail or tins full of Balsamic.

The BBC and BFI have lost patience. Phil has started paying funding back. His only way out is to get these things back from Africa. He WILL, he's confident... but when? Could be tomorrow, could be 2019, could be in 100 years. He's not lying, no one is. He's just not being 100% truthful.”

10 – Puqui adds that Web was indeed held up by “rights issues”; one of the actors playing a UNIT soldier had not approved the DVD release.

12 – BC run the story of the “leaked email” but don’t add anything to the story.

                 

18 – After a post from King Womble on PMF mentioning four companies that could potentially be restoring or handling the recovered episodes, John Long posts that a friend of his works at one of those – Deluxe Digital Studios. Further he says that “they have assets for the missing DW material”. 

John also says they are “most likely performing simple film preservation services” and NOT restoration of the stories. John advises everyone not to call this company as they will not answer any questions. He does believe they hold Marco, possibly Power “and a few odds and ends”.

As for numbers, he says he doesn’t believe it’s anywhere near 90 but really it’s anyone guess.

December 2014

8 – In a subsequent post, JL clarifies once again that it’s “film services and asset management, not…authoring”.

Ssorguk then posts the following:

Deluxe Film Services is the parent company of Deluxe Digital. DFS are mainly involved with the physical handling , conservation and stabilisation of original film reels. DD transfers film to the digital domain and also offers digital restoration and DVD/BluRay authoring.

For the record, I first got wind of Deluxe Film Services being involved over a year ago. I mentioned it to Dano who then made a cryptic post here.

Effectively, John Long naming Deluxe Digital is independent corroboration of this, so personally, I believe his information is 100% kosher.

JL comes back with his belief that Deluxe has more than likely been performing “stabilisation” and “manual fixes” on the films, because they have the facilities. In his opinion, TIEA do not.

Ssorguk supports this by saying that Deluxe Films Services (DFS) would have done the initial conservation and stabilisation work before passing the films on to Deluxe Digital to transfer the films to digital. Restoration would only occur once this next step in the process is authorised. Ssorguk further backs up his claims by saying he “works in the industry”.

28 – BBC Radio 4 publishes a documentary by Shaun Ley about who the missing episodes came to be lost (see 27 December 2009).