UPDATE: BBC Worldwide have called a press conference on Tuesday. As of now, Bleeding Cool has not been invited.

As I was writing this piece, The Radio Times made it official. Missing Doctor Who episodes, originating from the Patrick Troughton era have been discovered, and will be made available digitally this week. I have been told to expect they are from Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear.

They are believed to originate from a haul discovered in Africa and have been digitally remastered for sale, although exact details remain sketchy. A BBC Worldwide spokesman refused to officially confirm the discovery or the "speculation" around further missing episodes. It is understood that other episodes have also been found, although it is not yet known whether these will be made available.

Original article:

Well, the article in The Sunday People certainly tickled a few backs-of-knees yesterday, even though it was basically based on a friend-of-a-friend report. But it may have spurred the BBC into action of sorts regarding the Doctor Who Missing Episodes Omnirumour.

The thing is, even by the wildest rumourmonger's imagination, lots of it was wrong. They didn't get a confirmation on the story, it was just rereporting the Omnirumour. They mixed up film and tape. They mixed up 16 mm and 16 inch when measuring film. Their TV insider… wasn't. And it is impossible for all 106 missing episodes to be returned from Ethiopia and only 77 went out there. And subsequent news reporting of the story has been reporting what the Sunday People says.

But, and here's the thing, even though what they reported and how they reported was wrong – it doesn't mean they are wrong. It just means they have no new information. Though there was one thing they didn't report…

I was given the following this morning from BBC Worldwide;

As my colleague said to the journalist at the People, there are ongoing rumours about missing Doctor Who episodes and we can't confirm these finds.

Which is a nice non-denial denial. But The Sunday People didn't bother running it. Those behind the massively successful and well regarded Dr Who Online website have tweeted;

There is definitely some misinformation with the #DoctorWho Missing Episode rumours in todays @DailyMirror. We will finally break our… — Doctor Who Online (@DrWhoOnline) October 6, 2013

…silence on subject by saying missing episodes HAVE been found and some official news will be released within the next month! #Yay! — Doctor Who Online (@DrWhoOnline) October 6, 2013

Can't say anything further, but it seems various outlets are reporting this now. As far as we've been told, it's not as many as 100. — Doctor Who Online (@DrWhoOnline) October 6, 2013

Nothing further will be reported from us until the official BBC announcement. What a great 50th Anniversary this will be! #DoctorWho — Doctor Who Online (@DrWhoOnline) October 6, 2013

Bleeding Cool's original report, also with a number of classic errors, may have put a fire under some people's bottoms, but being in an actual proper tabloid newspaper may have done the trick. I understand that those wondering about any truth behind the recovery of a job lot of missing Doctor Who episodes, improved copies of existing episodes and lots of other BBC footage from other shows, should get an answer one way or another this week.

And, since I'm flying to New York Comic Con on Wednesday, and I seem to be the person who kicked a lot of this coverage off, albeit in a rather haphazard fashion, I expect the BBC to choose to reveal the information when I'm incommunicado, half way across the Atlantic. Just because.