2026
January
1 - Getting things off to a light start, on MEF member John Wall looks at the prospects for finds in 2026. Given FIF's success in recent years, John feels that 2026 could be "the best year in a very long time". The consensus in the thread is generally positive.
Downthread John doubles down with a prediction of The Myth Makers, episode 2 and The Smugglers, episode 3.
5 - On PMF, Scot Ferre says that there are "missing items" with Australian collectors.
7 - On PMF, discussion on the chances of films being with Australian collectors leads to Servorobot re-posting the two quotes from Paul Vanezis, regarding his dealings with the alleged "timewaster" from Australia who supposedly held Marco Polo, The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks.
19 - In Hobart, Tasmania, a cache of BBC films is found offered for sale in a tip shop. The find was posted on the Missing Believed Wiped Facebook page.
Several items are identified, all existing BBC material (non-Doctor Who), but many items were not able to be identified.
On PMF, Servorobot says the haul was acquired by the National Australian Archives.
23 - On GB, member The Evil Dalek speculates that the two missing Hartnell episodes in private collections may be from The Reign of Terror, The Crusade, The Celestial Toymaker or The Savages. Evil Dalek also quotes an old post showing the reasoning behind this.
30 - On their FB, FIF reveal they are working with R3store Studios to clean, repair and restore found films.
February
2 - On their FB, under a post about inspecting found film, FIF answer a comment about Doctor Who, stating they expect to provide an update on this subject "very soon".
6 - On their FB, FIF post that they are "currently in discussions with the families of two deceased former industry professionals about the acquisition of their collections, and the preservation of the rare films." There are up to 8,000 films in the collections.
According to FIF, one gentleman was "a prominent BBC editor" - they further state that he directed a seminal series in the early 1979's [sic?]. The other was an editor at Thames Television. However "...[s]adly, both of the households have been left in ‘distressed’ circumstances" and FIF are appealing for donations to assist in the acquisition of the collections.
They will provide a further update on these two collections "next week".
7 - On whether there is any Doctor Who in the collections, FIF respond that there are not currently aware of any Doctor Who episodes in either of the collections. However they continue to liaise with "other former industry professionals about cataloguing their entire collections, and several missing episodes of Doctor Who".
11 - Not necessarily Who related but as an item of curiosity - The Revival House Cinema in Perth, Western Australia posts on their Facebook that they have uncovered a cache of 16 and 35mm films.
