July 2014
1 – C21Media.net publish an article about the BBC axing its stand-alone
digital arm, as the division’s chief leaves to join a fashion brand. It is
unclear what effect this could have on the rumoured download service for
newly-discovered Doctor Who stories.
4 – On DWW, Scot Ferre again quotes DuffHimself from GB: that “all post-2011 finds
have been non-TIEA, including The Power of
the Daleks, The Daleks’ Master Plan
and a few more Troughtons”.
4 – The BBC media site and the St. David’s Hall, Cardiff both announce that ahead of
its showing on BBC1 on 23 August, the world premiere of series 8 opener “Deep
Breath” will be held at the Hall to kick off the Doctor Who World Tour. Tickets
for the screening will go on sale from 7 July, and Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman
and Steven Moffat will be in attendance. The interesting thing about this is
that the premiere is being held in association with the BFI’s Sci-Fi: Days of
Fear and Wonder program program (see 10
June)…
6 – On PMF, one of Scot’s sources posts for the first time, as Hannibal
Pearce, to say that he knows a friend who told him he was working on animations
for missing episodes of Dad’s Army, commissioned (HP believes) by the BBC and
that as the missing episodes were found in Africa, the animation work was cancelled.
Wow!
6 – Chris Perry of Kaleidoscope
Publishing, launches a kickstarter campaign to fund a double-disc DVD
release of The Native Hue of Resolution (see
December 21, 2013). Crowd funding is required in order to fund rights clearances
for music appearing on the second disc. According to the thread on MEF, this extra disc will include rare
TV gems that we may otherwise never get to see. Backers will be invited to a
special event launch for the DVD in November 2015.
7 – PMF site owner Mike Nuttall re-posts something from the PMF staff room –
that this week he has been told that Morris definitely has more episodes and
that he has heard this almost from the horse’s mouth.
7 – Scot Ferre posts that he has been
told that rights issues around the Daleks, particularly as
concerns the Nation estate, could also be part of any hold-up in announcing and
releasing eps. Mr Ron concurs saying it could also be coming from
the Whitaker-penned stories.
7 – J.R. Southall may have dumped
Philip Morris in the shit with the posts I’ve quoted in my post here. J.R. says that it should be Philip Morris who
determines when the next announcement of recovered episodes happens – but as
I’ve pointed out, in agreement with Ford Timelord (yeah – I know), exactly what
legal basis is there for J.R.’s statement – that the BBC cannot make an
announcement unless Phil Morris gives them the episodes? Are they not BBC
property? What allows Morris to hold on to these episodes until such time as he
sees fit to hand them back?
7 – the BBC reports on the leak of six Series 8 scripts
which occurred via the BBC Miami office as they were uploaded to a public
server in preparation for adding Spanish language dubbing to the episodes for
broadcast in the Americas. One item of interest is that episode 2 is known by
those who downloaded the scripts to be titled “Into The Dalek” – and the
episode also features a Victorian-looking gentlemen who bears a very strong
resemblance to Maxtible from currently mostly missing 1967 serial, The Evil of the Daleks…
8 – On PMF, puquimark says that the reason the mooted Easter
announcement was let slide is because Morris kept coming across more and more
leads, and wanted to finish the search before the final reveal. Further,
puquimark believes that we will definitely get the big reveal sometime this
year.
10 – On PMF, member nonotthemindprobe
says he received this response from the BBC to his enquiry about
searching for missing episodes:
“Many thanks for getting in
touch and for your interest in Doctor Who.
Searching for lost episodes of Dr Who and indeed other programmes is an ongoing
investigation and as soon as anything is found we will make an announcement.
In the meantime we're keeping things close to our chest!!
Kind regards,
Paul Carson
BBC Enquiries Team”
10 – On GB, member DuffHimself says that his contact says “series 8 isn’t the
only thing you should look forward to in August”.
11 – On OS, moderator friendsofderek states there should be something of a small
or medium nature coming up “in the next few weeks”. Scot Ferre adds there
should also be something small to go with it…
11 – On PMF, based on a close
analysis of the postings of Paul Vanezis here, here, and also here, member DouglasWulf believes that the following
stories were recovered from Sierra Leone as film prints:
Galaxy 4
The Myth Makers
The Massacre
The Savages
The Celestial
Toymaker
He also believes these were the only
season 3 episodes found there.
Also, in either 2011 or 2012, a new
and “substantial” haul of episodes turned up at the ABC in Australia. Doug
allows for the fact that The Power of
the Daleks or some episodes of The
Daleks’ Master Plan could be among them.
11 – In a subsequent post on OS, friendsofderek says “no Hartnell on the immediate
horizon”, but then corrects this to say that their contacts are
saying Harntell serials could be “part of different possible announcements”.
Further he says there is “one concrete event” with no confirmed scope or time
that OS has been invited to and that “chatterings” have now become “jungle
drums”.
11 – On OS, friendsofderek goes on to clarify that the event OS are invited to is
“smaller” than Easter was supposed to be, but it “could be the start of
things”. He further says these will be non-TIEA finds,
despite the fact that Phil has found a vast hoard.
“And when I said no
Bill that's more in relation to the current movements that have been slowly
kicking into life. Others do think things are bigger than I've heard they might
be but even if that comes later we should have a few nuggets of joy to power
our faith for a bit longer.”
To “power our faith”?? Power of the Daleks, of course,
previously having been rumoured to be a non-TIEA find.
12 – King Womble returns to PMF, with the statement that the Australian transmission
prints of three serials – including possibly Power of the Daleks – “might” have been found. Further he says
there may have been small censor cuts, but “nothing to worry about”. He
reiterates what others have speculated, that these were not Philip Morris
finds. In a further post in response to an enquiry, King says
it “seems” they were Australian finds, and further that the Hartnell “might” be an historical Hartnell (so
either Marco Polo, The Massacre or The Smugglers).
12 – On OS, moderator springheeljack says that Marco will not be in the next
batch announced, as it would give too much weight to the omnirumour. Rather
they will release the non-TIEA stuff to take the pressure of revealing more off
Philip Morris.
12 – King Womble elaborates saying that the Australian finds were
“privately held transmission prints” and that “cash may have changed hands” for
them. King goes on to say that the statements by stampy (see June 26, 2014) that Marco Polo had been
acquired from an Australian collector by Damian Shanahan agrees with what King
has heard.
In a subsequent post, King almost spells it right out and
says that Marco Polo, Power of the Daleks and a Trougton
serial were among the Australian finds. By process of elimination and after
cross-checking with the Preddle list, that means the other found was either The Highlanders of The Invasion.
Before a final sign-off, King says that the third serial found references the philosopher’s stone…and
other posters have said this relates to Evil
of the Daleks.
13 – On DWW, member shuzbot points
out that Damian Shanahan found two suppressed field copies of The Keys of Marinus in Australia
(date?). This followed the discovery of an unedited copy of The Dominators episode 5 at the ABC
while a vault was being cleared in 1995. This was the same year that four clips from episodes 4 and 5 of Power of the Daleks were
found.
13 – On PMF, Mr. Ron implies that Womble’s information may be
incorrect and says that he is skeptical about Evil of the Daleks being found in Australia.
13 – Mr. Ron further explains his post: during the mid-1970’s a
certain BBC production crew member, out of the public eye, was known to have
the means to show material and to have had their own collection of films. Ron
says this person lived locally to Television Centre and to where the BBC
archives were located.
Ron says this person’s production
credits feature prominently in the haul of Australian film prints returned in
1975. It’s therefore possible that this person on seeing much of his work up
for destruction took it upon themselves to save a few films.
After working with the BBC this crew
member spent some time in Sweden. Apparently there was a 1993 rumour of returns
from Scandinavia that included The
Smugglers, Power of the Daleks, The Highlanders, and The Macra Terror.
This crew member also apparently
worked on the story The Tenth Planet
– Ron’s point being that these delayed returns are being explained away as Tenth Planet 4 being found at BFI and
the rest as Australian returns, which they technically are but this is being
used as a cover to protect the identity of the person who has (allegedly) held
them since the mid 1970’s.
Ron does not discount the notion that
other copies of these stories plus Evil
of the Daleks have been found elsewhere; and also that his observations are
at this point a hypothesis.
·
Likely that an ex crew member had, at very least, some of Evil of the Daleks and that's been
recovered and used to create "best version possible" (with other
copies found);
·
PV has revisited every old UK or ex pat lead and if he can secure, uses
those where applicable in partnership with recent discoveries of copies found
overseas (Oz);
·
Where that's the case Ron doesn't expect us to hear about it; if copies
were found in Oz - that's good enough for public consumption. “Keep those uber
skeletons buried and "PC" identities secret”;
·
Tenth Planet 4 found forgotten at BFi to be utter
hogwash;
·
Most likely a copy of Marco Polo
WAS stolen; and
·
No matter where the material hails from - Broadwcast blew it big time
last year.
In one further post, Mr. Ron clarifies his point of
“composite restoration” – that the best possible versions of certain stories
are being created from multiple finds (Sweden, Australia, etc.) In support of
this hypothesis, member ChickeNES posts a link to an article from 2010
detailing a find of missing program The 1948 Show – found in Sweden.
13 – PMF member ChickeNES posts the initials DM, someone who
recently passed away – meaning of course, Derek Martinus.
13 – Mr. Ron draws attention to an article in the Mirror, published just before the Enemy/Web
reveal (see October 9, 2013) at the
bottom of which Derek Martinus’ late wife Eivor posted that she and her husband
would be “very grateful for information about ‘lost’ episodes”. Ron speculates
that this is Eivor’s way of making an enquiry?
13 – On OS, friendsofderek says he is hearing 40’s and 80’s in terms
of number of episodes recovered (this could simply relate to previous forms of
the rumours).
14 – Now joining the discussion on
PMF, friendsofderek stands by his small/medium comment adding
that the small should be “soon”, and a time is being sorted out between a few
parties. The “medium” should by July/August. He further says things are more positive than
they’ve been in ages, just still taking time to get things sorted.
14 – On PMF, pianist states that the ‘official’ story behind the
recovery of episodes 5 and 10 of The
Daleks’ Master Plan could be bunk. Rather than being found in a Mormon
church, they could have been from a private collector or an ex-BBC employee who
took the print in the 1970’s.
15 – On the Twitter feed of the
Electric Cinema, Birmingham, they posted: “Doctor Who fans, prepare for a very exciting
announcement this week…”
15 – Over a series of several brilliant
posts, Mr. Ron and moody1 analyse the information relating to the return The Tomb of the Cybermen from Hong Kong
and other material that apparently came with it ex-Cyprus.
Here, Mr. Ron refers to an article by Adrian Rigelsford
about the Tomb return and says AR might have “muddled up” two stories relating
to two separate but later linked batches.
Rigelsford, writing in DWM, says that
Tomb was returned from Hong Kong via Cyprus; but Mr. Ron’s point of contention is
that Tomb was originally held by Hong Kong. And as per an article on missing
episodes by Paul Lee, other material – possibly including Marco Polo - was sent to Hong Kong from Cyprus just prior to an
armed conflict in that country in 1974.
According to Lee, this material then accompanied
Tomb back to the UK in 1991; but there seems to be no accounting for the
whereabouts of the original Cyprus-held material after that.
Mr. Ron refers to the article by Paul
Lee here – scroll down to just after footnote 13 – and moody1 posts the relevant section which reads:
“Just before their TV station came under rocket attack during the
invasion by Turkey in 1974, Cyprus quickly sent off a whole batch of early BBC
material onto Hong Kong; this material included Marco Polo; however, it is no
longer held by Asia TV (in Hong Kong), because all the BBC material that
they possessed were returned along with Tomb in December 1991. All that was
left in Cyprus was some episodes that were already held by the BBC, plus the
first three episodes of Reign of Terror. It is possible that copies of the
outstanding episodes (4 & 5) do exist in the occupied northern sector of
Cyprus... but it is more probable that the episodes were destroyed in the
attack.”
The question Mr. Ron poses is – where
did the Marco prints go?
In a further post, Mr. Ron proposes that perhaps the
cover story known to have been used at the time – that the return was in fact a
redundant copy of An Unearthly Child
– was in fact to ensure security around Tomb, as the Marco prints had already
gone missing from the BBC…
There seems to be an implication here
that George Rainey may have acquired these prints “in good faith” from Adrian
Rigelsford in the first instance – making Rigelsford, a known and convicted thief of archive material (see May 28, 2004), one of those fans
with access to the BBC. Mr. Ron later bumps a post by pianist – which mentions Rainey and “a
certain researcher”.
15 – On PMF, harfyyn posts that on 30 March 2013, Electric
Cinema in Birmingham held a showing of the newly-recolourised Pertwee serial The Mind of Evil. In attendance for a
Q&A session were Paul Vanezis, Steve Roberts and Peter Finklecrocker.
15 – Friendsofderek drops into PMF to clarify “small to medium” – the “small” should be happening
soon but doesn’t know exactly when. It was supposed to be either last week or
this week but isn’t running to schedule due to coordinating various parties.
The “medium” is likely to happen next month. He will update if he hears it has
to do with Electric Cinema or BFI.
15 – PMF member Grafty pastes a tweet from Electric Cinema in reply to
Sammi Carter – their announcement is apparently “not missing episodes” related.
16 – In their podcast, Outpost Skaro say there are still
negotiations ongoing for the 90-odd episodes they believe Phil Morris still
has. Nothing is likely to come from that in the next month or so. However they
do expect a small announcement “soon” that may not get people too excited but
it will at least be a sign that there is “movement”. In addition they think
that a non-TIEA find, The Power of the
Daleks, which is said to be made up of orphan episodes from different
sources, may be announced soon – hopefully within the next few weeks.
“…a friend with a contact who claims contacts with the BBC says an
announcement, mainly of ITV material - Callan, Avengers, will occur this Friday
(18 July) UK time. A BBC announcement is also claimed to be occurring, of what
is unknown.”
In a later post, Rob clarifies that it does indeed
relate to formerly missing episodes of the named programs, while cautioning
that it is only a rumour at this stage until confirmed.
16 – Friendsofderek posts on OS saying that by the time their
next podcast is in the can, “hopefully” there will be a missing episode
announcement “or two”…
17 – On PMF Mr. Ron posts that as far as “the search
continuing” goes, the search can go on as long as there is not an offer on the
table that all parties agree to (and see
above, July 16). Also he says that if one party felt coerced into a deal they
were unhappy with, one strategy might be to release ITV material first to try
to spark a late compromise.
17 – In response to an enquiry on
their Twitter, Electric Cinema state they are under BBC embargo – but it
does not relate to “missing” episodes…
17 – In response to a magazine
writer, Mr. Ron states that the RT members knew full well
“where trails previously went cold, where it is suspected or perhaps even known
where material rests – and in who’s (sic)
hands”.
· His friend has had an update from his
contact with contacts at the BBC, that the Friday announcement, UK time, is ITV
programs recovered by Philip Morris;
· BFI overseeing much of this as they
stumped up cash to assist Phil Morris in his search;
· Network DVD are clearing their
schedule and releasing some of the ITV material, with higher-profile stuff like
The Avengers released separately;
· The BBC have now bought TIEA and will
take ownership of the stockpile of BBC films. The BBC will make a separate
announcement about any releases “in due course”;
· Rob’s friend’s contact’s contact is
“adamant we’re not far off from Marco
(Polo), however”;
· Among the recoveries not under the aegis of TIEA there has
been a ”significant” find in Australia (no details on that as yet).
17 – Steve Roberts tweets he is at the National Film Theatre
for the launch of the BFI’s season of sci-fi.
17 – The BFI announce their sci-fi program, the main part
of which commences in August, and then runs from October through December. As
well as hosting the Cardiff premiere of series 8 opener ‘Deep Breath’, they
will also host the London premiere at BFI Southbank.
17 – The website Broadcastnow.co.uk reports on a new digital file delivery and archive
system being introduced by the BBC.
17 – On OS, friendsofderek says there’s no news on the “small” and
that he’s not expecting the “medium” until August. Further he expects nothing Who “tomorrow” (i.e. Friday 18 July).
18 – The Electric Cinema tweet that their announcement will have to
wait until next week as it is still under embargo.
18 – On their Twitter feed, Network DVD say they will “definitely” have news
coming up this month.
19 – On PMF, quickfixformula states that the wait is “indefinite” at the
moment as Phil Morris will not release the episodes until “everything is
concluded” and all parties are ready. He cites a conversation Steve Roberts had
with a TV contact of his “a while back”. He also says that when the wait if finally over it will be
worth it.
19 – In a brief post, Mr. Ron indicates the situation may have “flipped,
then flipped again very quickly”.
Some forum members speculate that the tragic crash in Ukraine of Malaysian Airlines
flight MH17, in which all 298 international passengers and crew lost their
lives might be a reason for a delay in the mooted announcement today.
Robert Mammone’s information about a reveal of recovered ITV episodes
does not eventuate.
19 – Scot Ferre posts on PMF to say that things tend to be
darkest before the dawn, and that things are still on track.
19 – Mr. Ron posts to repeat that the 17 July
program announcement by the BFI was just that, nothing more. He does however
believe that “private discussions” are taking place over how, if any,
screenings could take place of newly recovered episodes. He again refers to the
BBC using non-TIEA material to try to ensure Morris’ cooperation. Mr. Ron
speculates that Morris having been in a good place is not so currently, and so
further delays are being experienced.
20 – On OS, reilly2040 says that Peter Capaldi was seen “dripping wet” at
filming recently, and hints this could be a tie-in to The Underwater Menace.
20 – Mr. Ron’s theory would seem to
be confirmed, with Morris getting involved in an extraordinary discussion in the Facebook Missing Episodes
Discussion Group (FBMEDG) page. At a mention of Jon Preddle, Morris states that
while he does know Jon, he is not privy to the workings of TIEA – which
inadvertently lends weight to the Preddle list of last year, which seemed to
revolve around non-TIEA finds like The
Tenth Planet and The Power of the Daleks.
Later, after an absence from the
thread, Morris returns to say he is offering a Q&A session, live at 9pm UK time (6am AEST, 4pm
US Eastern). Ian Levine tweets to say he would not “dignify that
with my time”.
The official Q&A thread is here. A separate thread for discussion of the Q&A
is here.
21 – The Q&A takes place on
Facebook, and Phil Morris perhaps surprisingly supplies many clear answers to
questions, not however answering directly the question does he have any more
episodes of Doctor Who or other lost TV. He strongly implies however that he
does indeed possess more, while saying that “there are no announcements in the
pipeline”.
21 – On PMF, puquimark says he remains confident we are nearing
the “endgame”.
21 – DWO reports on the Q&A, with site owner Sebastian Brook
again affirming their belief in the omni:
“The 'omni-rumour'
surrounding missing episodes has been going on for some time now, with many
fans believing more episodes of Doctor Who will turn up. DWO also believe more
episode discoveries will be announced in the not too distant future, but as
Morris suggested, we all have to be patient.”
21 – BBC Worldwide release their annual report for 2013/2014,
stating that the BBC Store will enable users to buy content. The store will
replace iPlayer and will launch in 2015.
22 – On the MEF, Paul Vanezis confirms Phil Morris’ Q&A statement that
the junkings of BBC programs continued up until 1981 - including Doctor Who. He also claims to have found
episodes of The Reign of Terror in
Cyprus first, despite Ian Levine’s recent claims that it was in fact himself.
Further, Paul says that he knows of first-hand accounts
that now-missing episodes of Doctor Who, possibly The Savages, were being screened in Sierra Leone in the mid-1980s.
He also gently contradicts Morris’ claim on the Q&A that all SL prints were
returned in 1974, saying that evidence points to missing episodes being in SL
around 1992.
22 – Puquimark says he believes Power
of the Daleks to have been found, not by Phil or TIEA, but either Paul
Vanezis or Damian Shanahan (in line with what Mr. Ron has said previously, that
PV knew of “trails gone cold”). Australia seems likely as the location.
Further he says that “most” of The Space Pirates has been found, if not all, either in Australia
or Asia. His most optimistic scenario for The Invasion missing episodes is one
found badly needing repair, the other OK. He seems to imply that these are TIEA
finds.
On Evil of the Daleks, again he says a non-Phil find, either in UK or
Australia, leaning towards a Paul Vanezis-UK find.
22 – The mainstream media begin to
report on the Q&A session, the Mirror and the Liverpool Echo both posting articles (owned by same
conglomerate, Trinity Mirror plc).
Note: some of the following entries relate to the Moonbase One Forum, which I started and which no longer
exists. As such, no links to that site will work.
26 – On Moonbase One (MB1), shuzbot quotes Puqui from PMF: that the ITV stuff has to
wait for the BBC stuff, so any announcement likely to be BBC first.
26 – In response to a query on OS, Eddie says he has been
invited to a “concrete event” in relation to missing episodes. However it is
“still to be planned” and he won’t comment further until they can make a “song
and dance” about it. In a further post, he says there are no announcements
planned.
28 – On the Facebook group, Colleen Hawkins says that actor Julian Glover confirmed
“to a couple of people” that one of the lost episodes of The Crusade had been found. He would not be drawn on which one. A
poster Terry Ronald Francis says he was at the Stars of Time event, and
qualifies Glover’s words as being that a find was looking “very hopeful”.
Further details on these panels are
available here.
30 – On PMF, Mr. Ron points out that Planet 55 are now on Facebook, and Moody1 provides the url. After an
enquiry from a fan about their still-vacant domain, Planet 44 respond that their website is being updated and will be
live “very soon”.
On MEF, Neil Lambess confirms his account of the screening of The Macra Terror and says that Jon Preddle has found listings that confirm a 5-minute short was screened before the episode, matching what he saw on the film print the day of the cancelled school event.
