Mark Gatiss hopes more Doctor Who episodes will be found

Bang Showbiz

11 October 2013

Mark Gatiss hopes more missing episodes of 'Doctor Who' will be found in the wake of the discovery of nine long lost instalments at a TV station in Jos, Nigeria

Mark Gatiss is hoping more lost 'Doctor Who' episodes will be found in the wake of the discovery of two adventures in Africa.

The 46-year-old writer - who has penned several episodes of the BBC sci-fi series - is as thrilled as anyone that nine missing episodes from the 1960s adventures 'The Web of Fear' and 'The Enemy of the World' have been unearthed at a TV station in Jos, Nigeria.

The incredible find - which was made by Phillip Morris, Director of Television International Enterprises Archive - makes Gatiss believe the remaining 97 missing instalments, which were wiped from the BBC archive, are out there at more foreign TV stations.

Speaking at a press conference to announce the find in London on Thursday (10.10.13), life-long 'Doctor Who' fan Gatiss said: "I'm overwhelmed really. I never thought I'd live to see the day, particularly 'The Web of Fear', I think it's thrilling. 'The Enemy of the World' is going to be such an exciting story to see, it's sort of lost and unknown as a story in a way. I'm very excited about seeing that. I can't really believe it. To think they were just gathering dust on a shelf it gives you hope that somewhere out there, there are more. "Every single avenue seemed to have been absolutely exhausted but every now and then something turns up. To have two virtually completed stories out of the blue is absolutely incredible."

Gatiss has his own personal wish list of lost 'Doctor Who' episodes he'd like to see recovered, and the adventures he pines to most see both contain the Doctor's most famous foe The Daleks.

The actor - whose writing credits on 'Doctor Who' include 'The Victory of the Daleks' and 'Cold War' - said: "It would be amazing to find anything, but I guess the one I'd like to see is 'The Power of the Daleks' because it's Patrick Troughton's introduction, it's the first regeneration. So I think that one, or going back earlier [to William Hartnell] I think 'The Daleks' Master Plan' - things with Daleks in, it seems! But this is such a gift in this anniversary year."

Only episode 1 of 'The Web of Fear' was in existence in the BBC archive but now instalments 2, 4, 5 and 6 have been found of the story - which features Second Doctor Patrick Troughton battling the Great Intelligence and iconic monsters the Yeti robots.

'The Enemy of the World' is a six-part storyline which again stars Troughton as the Doctor and Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling as companions Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.

Episodes 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 had been missing from the BBC archive and now they have been discovered the complete serial can be viewed again for the first time since December 1967.

All the recovered episodes will be available to download exclusively from iTunes (iTunes.com/Doctorwho) from today (11.10.13) and both adventures will be released on DVD.