2014 - January to June

2014

January 2014

3 - Starting the year on a sombre note, on the Hive LadyLusiphur posts that her source had expected an announcement about Marco Polo prior to Christmas, with "a couple of others" announced early in 2014. She suspects a delay but doesn't know the reason.

February 2014

16 – Paul Vanezis tweets a picture of a Dalek model and diorama resembling the planet Vulcan from missing serial, The Power of the Daleks.

Meanwhile on the Radio Free Skaro podcast #408, the lads publish an interview with Steve Roberts of the Doctor Who Restoration Team. Roberts says that if Philip Morris does have anything beyond Enemy and Web, then he hasn’t told the members of the RT. However he DOES believe that PM has more eps – but the RT don’t know what he has as PM is “a very secretive guy”.

However Roberts believes that PM “definitely” has Marco Polo. He has no evidence to back up that claim, he has not told anyone in Roberts’ circle what he has. Further, Roberts doesn’t know what PM’s game plan is but he does feel he will return more “when the time is right”. PM has to deal with the BBC to monetise his investment, and he doesn’t want to be seen as a hoarder.

Roberts says he knew in March 2013 that Enemy and Web were coming back, and at that time Paul Vanezis went to TIEA to do a film report on the condition of the episodes for the BBC. The films were delivered to the BBC archive facility at Perivale on 31 May 2013.

Also interviewed is NZ-born, Australian-based fan Damian Shanahan. He says that he has travelled extensively around Australia, through ABC vaults but also through vaults overseas in places like Guam, Sinagapore and Hong Kong. He also states that he assisted Philip Morris in this capacity, and that the credentials he acquired from TIEA gave him access to these kinds of places.

On GB, member EntropySoup makes a lengthy post reporting on the missing episodes panel at the Gallifrey One convention. He talks about the operation of TIEA and the Restoration Team and the circumstances of the return of Enemy and Web, but also makes intriguing mention that Damian Shanahan is aiming to search a “sealed vault” in Australia that may contain missing material (link not available).

26 – Journalist and fan Patrick Mulkern publishes a story on the Radio Times about the release of The Web of Fear on DVD. Patrick interviews Philip Morris about it, who claims he still hasn’t seen the serial!

PM goes on to say that:

“…TIEA had been working on a very large project in Nigeria called Project Genesis, alongside the Nigerian Television Authority. The first phase involved checking every station countrywide to ascertain conditions and storage of materials. It was while visiting one station in Jos [a city in central Nigeria], during a careful catalogue of materials with my staff, I noticed a piece of masking tape on a shelf, which after closer inspection read ‘Dr Who’.

“I immediately pulled down one of the film cans. It read ‘Dr Who QQ5’ [the official code for The Web of Fear episode 5]. From TIEA records, I knew it to be a missing Doctor Who story. Wow! I thought and I must admit my heart skipped a beat.” He’d found The Web of Fear alongside cans for The Enemy of the World. “These films were the last survivors of two classic Patrick Troughton tales, which should have been destroyed years ago according to contract.”

When Philip contacted the Nigerian programme purchaser, “He informed me he had instructions to burn them. I informed him it was not necessary and the BBC would be delighted to have them back.”

Unfortunately, although Philip found all six episodes of The Enemy of the World and five of The Web of Fear, the film can for episode three of The Web of Fear was not among them. “Eleven were retrieved in total, but who knows, maybe out there another copy exists somewhere; we live in hope.”

Morris also says that he and his team are currently working in South America, South East Asia as well as a whole host of larger and smaller countries – as well as lots of private film collectors around the globe – transferring old domestic video recordings from old reel-to-reel tapes and other obsolete formats.

The interview closes with this statement from Morris:

“To the fans, never give up hope. Be patient. People are working very hard in lots of very volatile and dangerous corners of the globe, sometimes paying with their nervous systems, which is a hard thing to give. As always, TIEA are out there. Expect the unexpected.”

27 – On PMF, stevefreestone says he has heard a reliable report that The Daleks’ Master Plan was found complete in Ireland.

28 – JR Southall publishes an article on Starburst website about the wait for more recovered episodes of Doctor Who. JR speculates that PM may well have found more but that any announcement might have to wait until, for example, restoration is complete or, indeed, until the project is “over”.

March 2014

As part of their March cover story, Central Coast Business Review report that Planet 55 Studios (the folks who provided animation for the classic DVDs of The Reign of Terror and The Tenth Planet) are working on an upcoming series called Prisoner Zero, supposedly a new 26-part animated series.

Meanwhile, the Whovention website reports that Gary Russell, former script editor on revived Doctor Who, is moving to Australia to head up the project. Interesting.

1 - On PMF, Richard Molesworth says that in the mid 1990’s it was he who almost began the search for missing episodes, based on his research as to where Doctor Who episodes were sold around the world. This was to be in conjunction with Sue Malden who was arranging his accreditation, with Paul Vanezis, and Ian Levine, who was offering to finance his efforts. It turned out that Ian would help only if Richard could guarantee he would find missing episodes. When Richard could not guarantee success, Ian (allegedly) withdrew from the project, although RM left his notes with IL. Later in about 2006-2007 (“7 or 8 years ago”), Richard gave all his notes to Phil Morris.

11 – Austen Atkinson, project leader and owner of Planet 55, states before Federal Parliament that they have a ‘top secret’ project to work on for the BBC. Also, that they have “partners in Ireland” to where they ship hard drives.

12 – Doctor Who News (DWN) reports that animation studio Planet 55 are considering moving to Cardiff due to lack of reliable broadband on the Central Coast, NSW where they are based.

13 – Website What Culture posts an article in which the author, Chris Swanson, claims to have been told by “a confidential source” that the 1966 serial The Smugglers has been recovered. This could relate to the information revealed on broadwcast.org last year. On MEF, the dedicated thread has to date (9 Jul 2014) not seen an official debunk of this rumour from a moderator.

17 – On MEF, Dan Hornby relates a rumour doing the rounds that of all things, the original versions of 1964 serial Planet of Giants, episodes 3 and 4, have been found. Dan does not reveal the source of this information, but Richard Bignell agrees that it is possible. A set of film trims of the excised material from episodes 3 and the now non-existent 4 could exist, he says. Moderator Rob Moss chimes in to question whether the original negatives could also exist; Bignell agrees this is possible as well, although he feels there is less chance of these surviving than the positive film trims.

April 2014

10 – Philip Morris makes another post on the TIEA Facebook page:

T.I.E.A understands the passion felt by Doctor Who fans and that looking for missing episodes of Doctor who plus many other shows is an important but tiny part of the work that T.I.E.A does.The main aim of this organisation is to assist those archives whose own cultural heritage is under threat.If any programmes do still exist T.I.E.A will endeavor to recover them safely as with web of fear and enemy of the world.T.I.E.A are not sponsored by any organisation we are a completely independent body we work alongside many organisations such as the B.F.I .

However as much as people want specific programmes found wishing them into existence or starting rumors will not magically return them .Individuals trying to extract information which does not exist or is commercially confidential will be deleted unread any legitimate inquires for T.I.E.A LTD services are welcome.

Stay Tuned…
Executive Director
Philip Morris.

This post is VERY similar to one he made last year, on 15 September 2013. This was made just under 4 weeks before the reveal of Enemy and Web.

10 – On PMF, Ian Levine posts that the reason Enemy and Web were handed over was that these were the only episodes that Morris would let anyone see. Further, despite Morris having in his possession more than one set of cans for Marco, he never let anyone see them and so held on to them.

16 – Eddie McGuigan of Outpost Skaro posts a detailed piece on his blog about the current state of play. The “bottom line” as he says is that the missing episodes DO exist, “en masse”, the BBC don’t have proof of them yet and some are being restored by a “new RT”. Various strategies are being discussed to procure the episodes but no-one in the BBC has seen actual evidence of the episodes.

Eddie also mentions a potential buyout of TIEA by the BBC as one possible solution to the current stalemate.

24 – In an article by the Telegraph, former BBC1 Controller Alan Yentob states that “covetous” BBC employees would have taken programmes home with them that were about to be wiped. He goes on to say that “there needs to be an amnesty” and all the missing material would probably come back. (Originally found on Missing Episodes Forum here.)

May 2014

6 – On PMF, Ian Levine says that he believes that since the return of Web and Enemy, Morris has returned no more missing Who, but Ian is 100% certain he holds Marco Polo and is almost as certain of The Power of the Daleks. In another post, Ian says that his first reaction on hearing that Morris would return nine missing episodes was “Is that all ????”.

Levine then responds to a post from Richard Molesworth, alleging that Morris has been “hoarding for at least four to five years”.

7 - Ian then posts a copy of the BBC Radio Wiltshire email on PMF:

Ian Levine wrote:

I have decided, for the first time ever, to release the BBC Radio Wiltshire letter. I send it to you complete untouched and as I first saw it in March 2013.

Remember this is not my letter, I was merely shown it, so have nothing to do with its contents. I know for a fact the DWM cover bit was untrue, and Tom Spilsbury, to whom I showd this letter in 2013, assured me that was just plain wrong.

SENT TO ME ON THE 4TH MARCH 2013

Apparently 90 episodes have been found, but Philip Morris is nuts and obsessive compulsive, and as such we may never see them.

Well this is the full story about this chap who we have to thank for everything:

http://www.champnews.com/html/newsstory ... a3vk0DFX5g

There have been SOME episodes back in the country for over a year now. DWM has had a front cover ready to be used for nearly 12 months. But contracts still haven’t been signed.

Philip wants the films/tapes to be properly treated – full resoration (sic), vidFIRE, etc. However, Worldwide just wanted to grab them and rush-release them, which horrified him. After all, it was the BBC that lost the tapes in the first place – why should they be trusted now?

Essentially, the poor guy KNOWS that they need to be released. He wants to hit the anniversary deadline. But everything that people do to try and get him to sign them over just panics him and triggers off his PTSD.

So, the BBC decided it would be in the programme’s best interest to assign someone really important to the job of negotiating the return of the episodes. And they gave the job, back in round about January this year, to Caroline Skinner.

So cue initial reply from RTD when he found out that Caro had been “erased from Doctor Who”…. “Who’s going to negotiate with Philip over the missing episodes now!??!”

Basically, if any evidence of people KNOWING that these missing episodes have been discovered ends up on GB/Outpost Skaro/Roobarbs (or ANY of the online forums) it will almost certainly delay, if not completely scupper, the return of them again.

So essentially we’ve no idea when we’ll see any of them, no clue as to when they might see the light of day. However, the contract that has been drawn up between Philip and WW is for Marco, Enemy and Web to be returned, as those reels have been checked and definitely exist. But that only accounts for seventeen of the ninety missing episodes which Morris has found, and gives no explanation whatsoever of what he intends to do with the other remaining seventy three that he now has in his possession. On top of all this, there are hundreds of duplicate cans of Doctor Who episodes which DO exist but may be much better copies than the ones the BBC have in their possession. Morris has apparently so far found four different complete sets of Marco Polo, and two of The Massacre, plus second sets of many others as well.

But it does appear that Morris has had a serious meeting with BBC Worldwide high-ups, during which he clearly stated to them that he held ninety of the missing episodes, leaving the suits totally frustrated and bemused at what to do to progress the situation.

It’s such a bizarre story that it’s almost impossible to believe, but it’s entirely true.

It’s this Bicycling Hub thing. Basically, although the BBC and ITV sold shows to other countries, they didn’t do any of the actual distribution. They used a company to do that. “Television International Enterprises” was the firm that sold everything overseas in the 60s and 70s, and it is – of course – now completely defunct.

So Philip set up his own company called “Television International Enterprises” and went round Africa saying, “oi, have you got any of my company’s property?”. There was a storage centre where copies of the prints were ‘bicycled’ between different countries to be screened on different channels – and so consequently, although many missing prints remained in various specific broadcaster’s archives, it also turns out that there WERE lots in this central office as well. Including some prints which were never supposed to have been actually sold to Africa at all.

Apparently there’s lots of other stuff been found too, not just DW and BBC stuff. Lots of ITV stuff as well.

http://televisioninternationalenterprisesarchives.com/

Unfortunately, Philip told a close colleague that he was going to delay the return of these prints as long as he possibly could.

He even looked into the length of copyright situation, to see if he could hold them long enough until the BBC lost their broadcasting rights into public domain.

So at this moment in time, no-one knows if he will return the initial seventeen as promised, sometime soon, or what will happen to the other seventy three that he is holding.

Ian follows up with his now infamous Category A, B and C post on PMF. He says that the biggest hurdle to the return of more episodes is the BBC refusing to buy the films in Category C, which he says are of no value to them but big value to Morris. He won’t part with Cat A (the missing episodes of Doctor Who) until the BBC agree to also purchase Cat C.

8 – On PMF Scot Ferre says he is STILL expecting the three M’s – Marco, Massacre and Macra (presumably) – to come out at some stage.

8 – Also on PMF, Ian Levine alleges that he was told Marco Polo was going to be broadcast on BBC4 in time for the 50^th anniversary. But Ed Russell, then brand manager of Doctor Who, caused Philip Morris to withhold Marco by “blabbing” about it. 

Ian does not make clear exactly what he means by his allegation, but says he heard it from ‘several people’.

Ian further goes on to state that:

“One day I'll tell you all about the BBC Wordwide (sic) temporary secretary who, about fourteen years ago, refused to accept a complete set of seasons one and two, including a full Marco Polo, back from a station in Africa, and ordered them to be destroyed instead, because she told the station in no uncertain terms that they had no right to still have the prints, and the BBC didn't need them, because they were all on DVD already.

ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY.”

This is corroborated by LollipopOpera, who believes the story based on who told it to him. Ian further says that Paul Vanezis and Steve Roberts “hushed it up” or there would have been a “fan uproar”.

9 – In response to another post by Ian Levine, PMF member Mr F makes a number of allegations concerning Ed Russell, former Doctor Who brand manager, and Philip Morris. Ed had to reapply for his own job, and failed and was demoted. Morris loaths Ed and refused to deal with him after Caroline Skinner was canned. Caroline is “still involved” in the TIEA negotiations to some degree. Mr F says he also heard the “secretary” story some years ago.

Further, the TIEA site says there is no upfront charge for transport of foreign archive materials, but once its value is calculated there can be massive fees involved for repatriation! Also that Morris wants no upfront fee, but a percentage of the gross from ALL formats and releases.

11 – The website Warped Factor publishes an article in which the author says he truly believes Morris found a massive haul of missing Doctor Who episodes, but we can’t get to see them because of protracted financial negotiations with the man himself.

12 – Eddie makes a post on OS to clarify his position as previously laid down in his blog; that episodes are “semi-restored” by another RT but negotiations have broken down. He reiterates that there is a very large haul of recovered episodes and that the BBC still don’t have proof of them.

He further says that as far as how many episodes are back, his best guess is just about all of them, albeit in varying condition.

15 – Network DVD post on Facebook about an exciting new venture in July. Unfortunately, the post has now been deleted – but a tweet they made on the same date still remains, with nothing corresponding to it on their FB page despite their tweets usually feeding through. (See also June 30)

24 – Kasterborous reports that a two-part film, Power of the Daleks: Reimagined, has been taken down from YouTube. The news site speculates this may be omni-related and could precede an official release of the story.

June 2014

2 – The website Tvshowsondvd.com reports that despite Amazon having The Underwater Menace on pre-order, Steve Roberts of the Restoration Team says: “We don’t have a clue what’s going on with TUM now. From where we’re standing, it’s looking like the range is dead.”

10 – The BFI announces their summer of sci-fi season, including open air screenings of classic sci-fi films. Full details to be announced 17 July (and see June 30).

16 – On the Facebook ME Discussion Group page, Scot Ferre starts a thread in defence of Philip Morris.  Ian Levine makes posts once again accusing Morris of hoarding. Then, Philip Morris himself shows up to make the following comments:

“Hi guys .I dont usually get involved in these things but here it is Ian knows nothing exept causing hysteria among fandom for his own ends.If Ian knows something he should produce the evidence to back it up.I can assure you he knows nothing.Best advice believe it when you see it warm regards to everybody.”

“Ian .if you claim to know so much produce the evidence and stop winding people up and lying .produce your evidence ian put up or shut up.”

“Sorry to everyone here.The task at hand is far more important.
Thats recovery of every thing possible so it gets back so everyone can enjoy it whatever that show maybe.Thats what T.i.e.a does and shall continue .
Im sorry if in some quarters that upsets some but im here for the majority.”

21 – On GB, Scot Ferre says that the reason the reveal happened in October last year was due to the need to have the DVD release of The Enemy of the World ready by the golden anniversary.

21 – On PMF, Mr. Ron states that high level leaks were deliberate in order to “lever” Morris into releasing more episodes. In a subsequent post he gives Paul Cornell (as well as mentioning Nick Briggs) as one of the ‘sources’ for the omnirumour.

21 – Meanwhile on Panopticon, Mr. Ron further goes on to say that it was “top level” in Cardiff as well as RT members and associates themselves causing the leaks. Also says Cornell was talking to Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool.

22 – On PMF, a poster boysandgirls, whose posts seem to consist entirely of speaking up for and defending Morris and TIEA, states that “you know full well that when Phil is finished we will get to see all episodes found”. Poster further states that they would like to think “no more than a year” for a full reveal.

23 – Scot Ferre posts on DWW that DuffHimself on GB has said:

"Just tossing in a few tidbits from my friend, take it all with a pinch of salt as usual:

- DMP negotiations completed in May - all 12 episodes handed over.
- All 97 episodes have been recovered, but four of them are severely damaged and will require extensive reconstructions and repairs if even salvagable. Two of the four are from The Invasion.
- The plan is still to release it in phases, but the announcement will be for all of them. Last batch of DVDs expected in Jan 2016 and will include Power of the Daleks and The Highlanders.
- There will be box sets for each Doctor, but not individual seasons. First sets (Third and Fourth Doctors) coming this year, then Fifth, Sixth and Seventh in spring 15, First doctor in fall 15 and finally Troughton in spring 16."

24 – Meanwhile on PMF, Mr. Ron believes he is seeing positive signs that an announcement may be imminent – and that this is the reason for Ian Levine’s recent forum noise.

24 – Scot Ferre says that the search is pretty much done.

25 – On PMF, shuzbot quotes DuffHimself posting on GB, that one ep of The Abominable Snowmen (3 or 5) is damaged, and so is The Underwater Menace 1 along with the two recovered eps of The Invasion.

25 – On PMF, Scot Ferre says after consulting sources he believes that the primary search by TIEA is over. He expects one big announcement, and when asked for a timeframe he gives between now and December – 6 months.

26 – Member stampy on PMF states that it was an unsuppressed-field copy of Marco Polo that was part of the original Phil Morris / BBC deal, along with Enemy and Web. The collector in possession of all 7 episodes was allegedly from Victoria, Australia. Member also says he spoke recently to Damian Shanahan (DS) who had been in contact with the collector.

26 – In a later post, Stampy says that the collector still has the story, as the amount of money he asked for precluded a sale. In his next post, Stampy confirms he believes this was indeed the “time-waster” referred to by Paul Vanezis.

26 – Mr. Ron mentions Arrow Films as a possible second RT. The March 11 Parliamentary hearing states that Planet 55 were sending their animations to Ireland, where Arrow – highly experienced and skilled in film restoration – apparently have an office.

26 – Member Pat’s fur coat points out a job ad on Seek that shows Planet 55 were in fact still hiring on 27 May 2014.

27 – Responding to a question on PMF, Scot Ferre says there are several very good sources for Marco Polo being restored by a 2^nd restoration team.

27 – Further he says that The Tenth Planet episode 4 was one of those episodes not found by the Morris search, and was located in the UK.

28 – On DWW, Aron Challinger calls it “the calm before the storm”, and that he is hearing sources say “I can’t say anything” and “It would be a brave person who said anything right now”, which he characterises as something positive. (dead link)

28 – The Fifth Dimension blog states that there are to be “very special guests” at the BFI’s program reveal on 17 July. Heather Stewart, BFI Creative Director, will be the keynote speaker at the event. Further, the blog states that some of the film presentations will be via the BFI Player.

29 – On GB Scot Ferre says he has heard from DVD retailers frustrated over the non-appearance of ME-related releases, and that these have been postponed several times.

30 – On DWW, Mark Simpson says he has heard “from other fora” that 44 episodes – predominantly Hartnells - are coming in the next announcement; and that it could be as early as July! (see June 10) (dead link)

30 – On PMF, Scot Ferre says that his latest info indicates that all four episodes of The Myth Makers have been found (it was rumoured previously that one episode was not found/damaged). In a further post, Scot says that his sources are saying “it would take a very brave person” to leak any information at this time.

30 – On PMF, Mr. Ron rather enigmatically posts: “17 July”! (see June 10)