Doctor Who In Thailand?

This is a bit of a non-story since nothing has actually been discovered but yesterday the Daily Telegraph reported that 9 missing episodes from the William Hartnell era may be found in Thailand.

It's been widely reported that the BBC used to junk old episodes of series they no longer had use for or perceived a value. This was in the days before satellite and cable reruns or sales on VHS and DVD you understand, in order to make space in their archives. It was not just the adventures of the Time Lord that were affected but many once-loved series are no longer in existence.

However the BBC did often sell Doctor Who to other broadcasters, who didn't always return their copies after transmission. Obviously the BBC didn't actually see any value in demanding these copies back from Australia or the US for example, so they often got thrown out but occasionally archived by the local broadcaster. Once in a while dedicated fans have been successful in locating missing copies and negotiating to buy or copy and return them to the BBC.

Check out the good fellows at the Doctor Who Restoration Team who have done wonders cleaning up, restoring and splicing together old episodes bringing up to broadcast standard and ready for retail. These guys all have full time jobs and do this mostly for the love of the programme.

If the Telegraph story does turn out to be true I for one will be very pleased but the Restoration Team will certainly have their work cut out!