2006
January 2006
11 – A discussion that took place on the old Outpost Gallifrey forum is discussed on Digital Spy Forums – that fans including Ian
Levine were considering hiring a psychic to locate the missing episodes of Doctor Who!
13 – LanceM posts on MEF enquiring as to whether the search effort has
begun and what is the current status of people’s research. No-one from the RT
responds to his post.
June 2006
2 – Six Britons – including one Philip Morris – and an American and a
Canadian are kidnapped from an oil rig off the Nigerian coast. They are held at
gunpoint in the jungle for four days and released. It later becomes apparent
that this was the same Philip Morris from the MEF thread, and that he was
engaged in his regular line of work when he and others were taken.
July 2006
19 – The Liverpool Echo reports that Philip Morris is getting ready to return to his
job on a Nigerian oil rig. The Nigerian Government apparently paid a $200,000
ransom to free Morris and his fellow captives.
October 2006
16 – ITV launch their own missing TV shows campaign, and give
a comprehensive list of shows with missing episodes – including Doctor Who!
2007
January 2007
ITV begins a campaign called ‘Raiders of the Lost
Archive’; despite being an ITV campaign they are also looking to find Doctor
Who and other BBC shows.
February 2007
15 – Champion News reports more details on Morris’ kidnapping, including that he
received “a large settlement” from the oil company. Morris further states that
he had a very difficult time on his return to England, and that he suffered
from post-traumatic stress disorder.
April 2007
1 – The Scotsman reports on the Nigerian oil rig kidnapping. In their
version, six Britons including Philip Morris were held at gunpoint but released
two days later.
6 – Douglas Wulf and Brian Wilson of the Lost Dr Who Forum publish a
fascinating and in depth interview with Sue Malden, the BBC’s
first archive selector and the person responsible for saving many film prints
of 1960’s Doctor Who from destruction. Sue recounts her version of those days.
August 2007
3 – The thread ‘Africa Progress’ on the Missing Episodes Forums states
that the global search for missing episodes of British
television has begun. The search is co-sponsored by BFI and the BBC, and is
principally being conducted by Philip Morris of TIEA, with research and support
being supplied by Paul Vanezis of the Doctor Who Restoration Team ‘and others’.
Paul further states that communication lines are being established and an
exchange of information is taking place.
September 2007
6 - Fan-site Doctor Who Online (DWO) reports a rumour that the missing six-part 1968
serial The Web of Fear has been found in its entirety. This eventually turns out to be a
hoax (allegedly!) and Sebastian Brook, owner of DWO, admits that they
were taken in. Brook stresses that they had always maintained it was merely a
rumour until proven otherwise.
Seb goes on to say that DWO would be launching their own missing episodes recovery campaign shortly - but apparently this never comes to fruition despite Brook registering and beginning design work on the domain http://www.missingepisodes.co.uk.
In light of future revelations to
come, however, doubt is cast on whether this really was a hoax after all…
(Please note: you must be a registered DWO forum member to access the links in the paragraph above.)
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