An early Christmas gift for Doctor Who fans worldwide surfaced this past week as two previously ‘missing’ episodes were returned to the BBC archive having been in the unknowing possession of a film collector, Terry Burnett, who purchased the missing episodes near Southampton in the early 80’s. Found were episode 3 of the William Hartnell adventure “Galaxy 4” and Episode 2 of Patrick Troughton’s “The Underwater Menace”.

Surprisingly, according to the BBC, over 100 episodes of Doctor Who, the iconic science-fiction series from the 1960’s, still remain missing. While it’s hard to imagine in today’s age of endless DVD’s and video on demand, production tapes from broadcasters and production companies around the globe were routinely wiped once the rights to repeat them had expired. The two Doctor Who episodes were part of Sunday’s British Film Institute’s annual “Missing Believed Wiped” event at the National Film Theatre in London, hosted by Mark Gatiss. The BBC has generously released clips of the two missing episodes for fans worldwide to see and enjoy. Watch below or click here for your early Christmas present.

Clip from ‘lost’ William Hartnell episode – Galaxy 4, episode 3

Clip from ‘lost’ Patrick Troughton episode – The Underwater Menace, episode 2