One Of The Lost Doctor Who Episodes Is Being Revived In Animated Form

If you’re a Doctor Who fan, you’re most likely familiar with the whole ‘lost episodes’ phenomenon. Basically, old BBC archival policies meant that the earliest episodes of the show were wiped, resulting in the loss of nearly 100 episodes. Some episodes have turned up here and there – nine were found in a storeroom in Nigeria – but it’s assumed that most will never be recovered.

However, many enterprising fans recorded the episodes on tape, so the audio survives where the video footage does not. This has enabled the BBC to pair this recorded audio with animated footage and recreate the lost episodes.

The BBC has already done it with ‘Power of the Daleks’, Patrick Troughton’s first serial as the second Doctor, and now they’re doing it again with ‘The Wheel in Space’.

There are six episodes in ‘The Wheel in Space’, and only two have survived. The serial served as the introduction of the second Doctor’s companion Zoe Heriot, played by Wendy Padbury. Now, thanks to the wonders of animation, a ten-minute clip from the missing first episode is being prepped for screening at next month’s ‘Missing Believed Wiped’ program at the British Film Institute.