Wetlook World Forum

>but the first Dr's shows are lost forever!  They never repeat those as they have lost a lot of the tapes!

FYI...the earliest Dr Who shows from 1963 to 1965 (the 1st Dr - William Hartnell) are all there.....it was the disasterous BBC policy enacted betwen 1966 to 1968 during the 2nd Doctor's seasons (Patrick Troughton) that are mostly lost forever. Over 150 episodes from the 700 shows are mostly missing from that 1966 to 1968 period. Some missing episodes have been found in far off places like New Zealand and Hong Kong tv stations....cos while the BBC were erasing and recycling their tapes in that period...they had sent copies to New Zealand and Hong Kong and some of those shows were found on copies of old tapes in vaults in foreign countries.

The real problem is...many of thos 150 missing episodes are not actually missing....but held in the hands of some collectors who acquired copies of those video tapes or film reels....so they own those tapes...and here is where the BBC really shot themselves in the foot. The BBC were greedy...cos in the last 10 years they held campaigns to recover some of these lost episodes that were in private collectors hands...and some collectors kindly donated their tapes to the BBC...and then the BBC only gave those people a nominal 100 quid or so for their trouble...and then they went and re-packaged those lost shows into new DVD and VHS releases...and made miillions in sales by marketing those lost episodes in all the major video stores in the UK and overseas. So...the BBC made millions in sales...while the collectors who sent in their private tapes only got a few hundred quid. So now....none of the collectors want to turn over their tapes to the BBC any more...cos the BBC did not compensate them fairly in the past. So....if the BBC wants to recover those lost shows now...they will have to offer the collectors a decent percentage of the sales they make...and you know what the BBC is like....they have anal thinking and will not do that.

Ironically....I am one of the few people who has actually seen all those lost episodes from the 1966 to 1968 period....cos I vividly remember seeing several epiosdes in that period that had some nice wet scenes...i.e. there was one serious of shows about these aliens who lived under the sea...and they would turn the local villagers into zombies and they would wade in and out of the sea all the time. I think I already mentioned to you before...another reason I know a lot about Dr Who is because my Uncle was a bit part actor who worked in hundreds of UK tv shows in the 1960's and 70's....everything from Dr Who to Z Cars to Benny Hill and Morecambe & Wise. He never became famous...and he rarely had speaking parts...he was always playing some guy in the bar on Coronation Street etc. Anyway...while he was not a great actor...his trademark was that he stood 6 feet 7 inches tall...so he was always getting hired for acting work when they needed a tall guy....or...a Dr Who monster.....so he played a monster in several different series of Dr Who....everything from being a Marsh Man to a Cyberman and a Sea Devil etc...so I used to watch that show cos my Uncle was normally playing one of the monsters on that show.

>Also reminds me of "Blakes Seven", I wish they would remake that as well!

Blakes 7 was basically an unofficial spinoff from Dr Who...cos it had the same writers and production team. I liked that series a lot too. But then I tend to like shows that have cheesy sets....but are very well written shows.....thats why I liked Red Dwarf series too.....cos if you have good scripts and great writing....then you don't need multi million dollar special effects....a good story with interesting characters...is all you need. Anyway....they have finally captured the essense of the Dr Who character with David Tennant....his is the best series I have seen in decades.

MK