The story of the week is the recovery of nine episodes starring Patrick Troughton as the second Doctor, as BBC Worldwide finally confirmed, bringing the total missing from the archive down from 106 to 97! The film prints were discovered in Nigeria by Phillip Morris, director of the Television International Enterprises Archive.
These are two (almost) complete Patrick Troughton six-parters: The Enemy of the World (in which the Doctor has an evil double, Salamander – all six episodes were recovered) and The Web of Fear (the Yeti invade London via the Underground – 5 episodes recovered, episode 3 still missing, but a version has been constructed using photos and the surviving soundtrack and is included in the iTunes package). The serials were transmitted consecutively over 12 weeks in the winter of 1967/68.
From today fans can download the two adventures via iTunes, priced £9.99 each. This includes people in the USA, Canada, Australia, Germany and France and in the UK (excluding the Republic of Ireland).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Ckdpvg22w] Download The Enemy of the World
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPm6zcy_6j0] Download The Web of Fear
The first episode of The Web of Fear (read the story guide of the series) and the third episode of The Enemy of the World (read the story guide of the series) have long existed in the BBC archive.
Additionally, The Enemy of the World will be released on DVD on Monday 25 November – the disc is available for pre-order now from BBC Shop. The Web of Fear will follow in early 2014.
