Wiped: Doctor Who's Missing Episodes

[Exterminate]

In the 1960s, the BBC screened 253 episodes of its cult science fiction show Doctor Who, starring William Hartnell and then Patrick Troughton as the time travelling Doctor. Yet by 1975, the Corporation had wiped the master tapes of every single one of these episodes. Of the 124 Doctor Who episodes starring Jon Pertwee shown between 1970 and 1974, the BBC destroyed over half of the original transmission tapes within two years of their original broadcast.

In the years that followed, the BBC, along with dedicated fans of the series, began the arduous task of trying to track down copies of as many missing Doctor Who episodes as possible. The search covered BBC sales vaults, foreign television stations, overseas archives, and numerous networks of private film collectors, until the tally of missing programmes was reduced to just 108 episodes.

For the first time, this book looks in detail at how the episodes came to be missing in the first place, and examines how material subsequently came to be returned to the BBC. Along the way, those people involved in the recovery of lost slices of Doctor Who's past tell their stories in candid detail, many for the very first time.

Anyone reading/got/getting this? I picked it up a few days ago and its really good but its not an easy read. The Author gets very technical throughout listing codes and taping registrations and whatnot, but some of the information about what happened to the missing episodes and the liklihood of getting them back is really interesting. Its also really insightful about just what exactly happened when they were junked in the first place. Its a bit like an exposé in parts. I havent finished it yet, but I will update further when I do

[Sandiwich11]

I heard about this book but haven't seen it as of yet.  Wouldn't mind giving it a go, but I have to admit that it's not high on mu list atm as there's so much coming out soon as it is.  Such a shame that they used to wipe old tapes of shows, there must to toons of performances we will never see due to old policies

[Peri-Peri]

The premise of it sounds brilliant, but I have heard from a few places that it is really technical and a bit of a hard read so I think I might give this one a miss

[Vampyros Adric]

I didn't know about this and now I have something new to add to my Xmas list (which currently reads like a Forbidden Planet stock-taking list). As a footnote, the author, Richard Molesworth is the chap who adds the production subtitles to the DVDs released by 2Entertain so there is a weight of knowledge behind this book. I am looking forward to this.

[Exterminate]

Is he the guy who does those? I didnt know that

[Vampyros Adric]

Is he the guy who does those? I didnt know that

They are my hands-down favourite extra on the DVDs This guy might not have done all of them - but he did the lions share.

[Exterminate]

Yea I love to read them, though I usually find myself missing half of the goings on so that I can read them