February 21st, 2026
649 comments
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Doctor Who The Collection Season 21 Limited Edition
Available to order from www.amazon.co.uk, www.zavvi.com, www.rarewaves.com and various retailers on www.ebay.co.uk
Protective Slipcovers and Sleeves can now be ordered from the Steelbook Central ebay store.
Doctor Who fans can continue to build their own home archive on Blu-ray with a ten-disc box set of the climactic 21st Season, starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and introducing Colin Baker as the Sixth incarnation.
- WARRIORS OF THE DEEP
- THE AWAKENING
- FRONTIOS
- RESURRECTION OF THE DALEKS
- PLANET OF FIRE
- THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI
- THE TWIN DILEMMA
In his final season, the action ramps up for Peter Davison’s Doctor as he faces terrors from his past, invaders from the future, arch enemies and a battle to the death. With companions Tegan (Janet Fielding), Turlough (Mark Strickson), Peri (Nicola Bryant) and robot Kamelion (Gerald Flood) the Doctor journeys from an underwater seabase to contemporary England, from a devastated Earth colony to the beaches of Lanzarote, from a volcanic alien world to the deadly caves on Androzani.
Along the way, the TARDIS crew confront Daleks, Sea Devils, Silurians, Tractators, slug-like Gastropods, the evil Malus and the vengeful Master!
All episodes have been newly remastered from the best available sources – these classic adventures have never looked or sounded so good on home media.
The Collection: Season 21 is also jam-packed with hours of new and exclusive material including:
UPDATED SPECIAL EFFECTS
On The Awakening, Frontios, Resurrection Of The Daleks and The Caves Of Androzani
WARRIORS OF THE DEEP: SPECIAL EDITION
An exciting four-part re-edit with updated special effects and immersive 5.1 surround sound mix
IN CONVERSATION
Matthew Sweet chats to Janet Fielding (Tegan), Mark Strickson (Turlough) and Matthew Waterhouse (Adric)
NEW MAKING-OF DOCUMENTARIES
For Resurrection Of The Daleks and The Twin Dilemma
LOOK WHO’S BOATING
Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton take to the River for an epic adventure.
48 HOURS WITH FIELDING
Toby Hadoke crashes at Janet Fielding’s
BEHIND THE SOFA
New episodes with Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Bonnie Langford (Mel), Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Tara Ward (Preston), Keith Jayne (Will), Jeff Rawle (Plantagenet), Rula Lenska (Styles), director Graeme Harper, Paul Conrad (Romulus) and Andrew Conrad (Remus).
THE DOCTOR WHO ESCAPE ROOM
Two new teams battle it out
BRAND NEW AUDIO COMMENTARY
On The Awakening
NEW SURROUND SOUND MIXES
On Warriors Of The Deep, The Awakening and The Caves Of Androzani.
TALES OF THE TARDIS
A 2023 edit of Earthshock with new linking material from Peter Davison and Janet Fielding
THE FIVE(ISH) DOCTORS REBOOT
With brand new audio commentary
EXCLUSIVE ARCHIVE TREATS
Including never-before-released TV appearances and studio footage
HD PHOTO GALLERIES
INFO TEXT
PDF ARCHIVE
PLUS LOTS MORE!
This ten-disc box set also includes hours of special features previously released on DVD including Documentaries, Featurettes, Audio Commentaries and more.
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Prof Horner
March 17th, 2026 - 11:46amWell I enjoyed Warriors of the Deep special edition. The story is still crap and acting not great. But the new Myrka is quite wonderful! Does The Myrka eat Ingrid Pitt ? He certainly runs off with her in his mouth!
Hopefully we can get the same standard for the Dinosaurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs for season 11.
daz
March 17th, 2026 - 2:16pmI loved the new version of the Myrka.
Rumour is S16 is next so they have more time to work on the dinosaurs.
Rusure
March 17th, 2026 - 3:08pm@daz – is it not more likely to be S11 next ?
Otherwise its been S13 ( tom ), s21 ( davison/colin ) then a tom again if you Are correct ?
daz
March 17th, 2026 - 3:19pmThe order doesn’t matter at this stage. Season 11 needs more work than Season 16 so will be surprised if 11 does drop first.
Just rumours from social media so we won’t know for definite until August when the next announcement/trailer is expected.
Basil Funkenstein
March 17th, 2026 - 3:39pm@rusure
Weren’t the first 3 sets in the collection a Tom, Peter, and then another Tom?
12, 19, and 18?
I don’t really think the ordering matters too much. Makes sense that 16 would be next so Invasion can be given more attention.
Gordon
March 17th, 2026 - 4:34pmLast I heard it was 16 then 11
Prowl 1701
March 17th, 2026 - 4:40pmReally hoping Pirate Planet gets some updated effects, I feel its effects are the only thing really keeping it from being a 9.8 out of 10 for me. If it’s Kroll that gets updated effects I will be disappointed. You guys know how I feel about Kroll.
Scotel
March 17th, 2026 - 5:02pmIf we’re going to talk about patterns, the Pertwees have all been two years apart and that seems to be continuing here.
DAVIDR
March 17th, 2026 - 11:27amDOES THIS COLLECTION HAVE THE OPTION TO WATCH THE STORIES WITHOUT THE ENHANCED EFECTS AND ”AI” ENHANCEMENTS ?.
Mac
March 17th, 2026 - 6:44pmQuite please, no shouting here
daz
March 17th, 2026 - 7:04pmEffects yes. AI enhancements no.
That might be an ‘AI off’ option for the next set after the response from S13 and S21.
D84
March 17th, 2026 - 11:21amMy copy arrived yesterday and wow its a beast
Looking forward to enjoying the stories when I get time to watch them
Babelbro
March 17th, 2026 - 10:18amStop AI being used on Classic Doctor Who. Please sign the petition! https://www.change.org/p/bbc-studios-to-stop-using-ai-to-restore-classic-doctor-who?recruiter=57806873&recruited_by_id=fd2e4b60-d911-0130-b1e1-38ac6f16d25f&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=6391cfa48ce0418aac41942a82049aeb&utm_medium=twitter&share_id=sppSX9HNPP
Bushboy
March 17th, 2026 - 7:48amCan anyone tell me please, are the new SFX on Warriors of the Deep special edition also available to view on the transmitted version?
Gordon
March 17th, 2026 - 8:21amAs it’s a re edit it’s just on the special edition.
ex15
March 17th, 2026 - 7:27amAI is evident on Resurrection of the Daleks (disc 4) and it really shows, waxy faces, general lack of detail.
This is disappointing if this is going to be the continuing trend of the collection releases..
Nb7
March 17th, 2026 - 8:31amAlso evident on Twin Delima. At one point Colin’s face looks mangled!
I’m guessing the two new missing eps are going to get this over the top Ai treatment!
I bought Gerry Anderson’s space precinct blu ray last year and uses a dash of ai, nowhere near the overuse these sets are getting.
Gordon
March 17th, 2026 - 8:32amI wasn’t expecting it to be completely gone. I always suspected it was too late for this. The next one will be the big test to see if they listened. It’s nowhere near as bad in motion as zygons/androids on s13 (I’ve still got planet/caves/twin to go) but it’s still quite noticeable in places. I do think the aggressiveness has been toned down but I don’t think it’s far enough. On the plus side the film sequences do look fantastic and are untouched.
Gordon
March 17th, 2026 - 8:38amNb 7 rumour has it Crocker isn’t doing the 2 recovered eps. Paul Vanezis isn’t either (he’s busy finishing up the tv movie). Someone new. (I suspect it might be at FIF’s request
Nb7
March 17th, 2026 - 9:25amThat’s interesting Gordon. Can the whole doctor who back catalog go missing and be found by FIF lol
daz
March 16th, 2026 - 4:34pmMine just arrived from Amazon.
Lovely squashed corner so going through their returns/replace process which is thankfully easy to do. Definitely damaged in transit as hole in parcel .
Only used them this time as I had vouchers. 7th one I’ve had to get replaced from Amazon .
Checked it in the steelbook collector DW7 case I used for S20. It just fits but I display mine without the J-card so every spine might be slightly different again.
Coleman
March 16th, 2026 - 4:43pmMine arrived Today from Zavvi. They Tried to Deliver it Saturday Morning but I missed the Post so they Redelivered Today. Atleast it’s in hand now. In Good Condition and well packed.
Tom Williams
March 16th, 2026 - 4:59pm@daz that is the case i think as mine is still sealed and got in with no issues it could be amazons ones theres always problems with sizes unless someone has this issue from another website they brought
daz
March 16th, 2026 - 5:16pmI believe the boxes are made in 2 different factory’s so this could be why certain limited packaging have different widths.
This damaged one had no overlap from the front/back cover though but was still able to fit without the j-card.
I’ve ordered another DW7 case in preparation. Just hope my replacement Season 21 has a similar but undamaged spine .
The Time Lord 1944
March 16th, 2026 - 6:45pmThat happened to me once and because it was damaged in transit they gave me a full refund and also let me keep the item. Suddenly I could live with the squashed corner.
Andy
March 16th, 2026 - 8:04pmYeah mine arrived from Zavvi today was well packaged it was only £54.99 at the time I placed my pre-order I only switched to these they used to be Virgin Mega Stores back in the day. And was a few quid cheaper than others.
Yeah Daz I had the same problem with Amazon they sometimes arrived damaged or not arriving on time or if I wasn’t in they would just dump the parcel on the door step. So that’s the reason why I switched to Zavvi and use Royal Mail they never leave a parcel if no answer.
So yeah can’t wait to get stuck in to it.
daz
March 16th, 2026 - 9:30pmThis will be the 7th set I’ve returned to Amazon over the years. As I said thought I’d try again as I had vouchers.
I’ll keep returning them til i get a perfect one.
I still miss Zoom.
Tom Williams
March 16th, 2026 - 9:42pmIn honesty i used too use h but wasn’t very secure with packing now days only till i switched with rare waves and they only sent in a jiffy but used bubble too protect it more which was super glad no damaged happened otherwise i would of switched too h click and collect for my nearest store
Tom Williams
March 16th, 2026 - 9:46pmBut did choose that option of click and collect from h recent for the land of sea steel-book which missed out on last month so hopefully arrives too the store safely
Matt L
March 16th, 2026 - 10:33pmAny recommendations for a good and reasonably priced external blu ray drive so I can see the pdf’s from the blu ray box sets? Many thanks
DPHill
March 16th, 2026 - 10:46pm@ Matt, I used one from amazon called BUNUD, and it is very good comes with a warranty, and when unexpectedly it began not working after several months, I contacted the email in the leaflet, and eventually they gave me another completely free of charge – works quite well
BossMan
March 16th, 2026 - 11:38pmDaz what DW Protecter for this with the J Card in place
Lee
March 17th, 2026 - 2:20amArrived this morning, badly put together at the factory – the whole box is twisted and bent, with disc trays not properly fixed in place and inner damage around the velcro catch. Also, very badly shrink wrapped. Also, the retailer has tried to send this out in a standard size box (same size as all the previous, physically smaller releases) which had split and led to some corner damage in transit. Terrible quality control from both manufacturer and retailer. We should not be paying a premium for these sets, I’ve had better 2nd hand sets from ebay. If I could stand to wait the best part of 2 years, I would honestly ditch these “special editions” and switch to standard. Pathetic!
***end of rant***
daz
March 17th, 2026 - 9:53amBossman.
If you have the DW7 one for your Season 20 try your Season 21 in it. Tom said his fits perfectly so yours might too.
If it doesn’t they plan to make a DW8 but guess we’ll have to make them aware we definitely need one.
daz
March 17th, 2026 - 9:55amLee.
Which retailer did you get yours from? Hope you are returning it.
Tom Williams
March 17th, 2026 - 5:18pm@daz sadly i spoke too steel-book last night and they ain’t planning on a DW8 now so 7 is the only option sadly as they confirmed it on the listing on ebay i did also ask about season 16 if it was next would it be ideal for DW2 but they didnt know as yet but Season 3 they will indeed if it ends up 12 disc be making another DW no matter what lol
daz
March 17th, 2026 - 7:01pmThanks for asking them Tom.
My replacement s21 arrived (in perfect condition) and it just squeezes in tightly without the j-card which is fine for my use as I put the j-cards in a folder.
My new DW7 protector should arrive tomorrow but there is definitely a 1mm difference in the 2 copies of S21 that I’ve got, and that’s without the j-card.
Matt
March 16th, 2026 - 3:59pmHad this on order from rare waves and it’s a no show. Also had some big finish cds that have been in transit for over 2 weeks now. Absolutely no idea what is going on with the postal service in Walsall.
Who?
March 16th, 2026 - 4:44pmPoland?
Keith
March 17th, 2026 - 8:35amMine is the same. The tracking says whistl have handed it to Royal Mail THREE times and still not had it delivered!,,,,,it’s anyone’s guess where it is.
Matt
March 17th, 2026 - 8:11pmFinally received the Big Finish CDs this morning but still no sign of the collection set. Hope yours comes soon.
Tom Williams
March 16th, 2026 - 1:54pmArrived super safe from rare especially better packaging then h did previous very happy with the art work the most looks amazing also anyone stuck DW7 does fit as i found out today
Prof Horner
March 16th, 2026 - 1:37pmMy copy has just arrived from Amazon. It looks gorgeous. Lee Binding has surpassed himself.
As for the season it’s self, I have mixed feelings about it. This was the last original season I enjoyed on it’s original transmission and Peter Davison was the last original Doctor I liked . I have always said that Twin Dilemma should have been an end and a beginning, the end of JNT successful time on the series and the beginning of Colin Baker’s successful time as The Doctor.instead it was the beginning of the end.
Gordon
March 15th, 2026 - 12:59amWatched the Warriors of the deep Special edition.
Improved the rushed produced broadcast version no end and makes it a far more fun experience. Better paced and the myrka is far more threatening and scary and doesn’t look like the obvious pantomime horse it obvious is. Doesn’t fix all the problems but I had a good time
Prof Horner
March 15th, 2026 - 10:00amWell I look forward to watching this when it arrives tomorrow. I have to say that the news of missing episodes recovery has eclipsed this release.
Bob
March 15th, 2026 - 10:42amAnd what of the image quality? Does it look as waxy as it did in the announcement trailer?
Neill Stringer
March 16th, 2026 - 12:16pmMine was dispatched last week but likes like it’s not due to Wednesday this week.
Talk about keeping me in suspense.
Revan
March 14th, 2026 - 5:20pmIs there any news on the US release?
Gordon
March 15th, 2026 - 12:51pmI didn’t see or notice too much on the warriors special edition but it may have been processed differently. For those complaining about The titles in the trailer they look great on disc. The film sequences in the awakening look beautiful and look untouched. The studio scenes do look a little too sharp in places so I do think Ai may have been applied though I’m not ruling out the possibility of a bi product of the dnr of the previous restoration as we do know they do sometimes use the previous dvd masters. There is one shot in the awakening at the ep 1 cliffhanger stage where Peter’s hair seems to morph a little and fingers seem to look weird which is kind of ringing alarm bells a little but at the moment the positives are outweighing the negatives on this release. Nothing as bad as s13 so far.
Gordon
March 15th, 2026 - 12:57pmThis was a response to bob
Gordon
March 16th, 2026 - 6:34am100 percent ai on this. Watched Frontios and it looked way too sharp for it not to be not ai.
DanielM
March 16th, 2026 - 8:51am@Gordon The biggest test will be Resurrection, Planet of Fire & Twin as there was a lot of bits on the Youtube Trailer from those especially Resurrection which appeared to be heavy DNR and detail enhanced on the Studio Scenes like the Planet of Evil and Android Invasion Film Sequences.
Bob
March 16th, 2026 - 6:44pmThat’s a shame, I’ve seen some further images on Twitter and Reddit, perhaps the boxset was too far ahead in production to account for the complaints of the Season 13 release, either way I’m glad I didn’t pre-order. I’ll wait until the next set and if it still has these issues then I’ll get the remaining stories on DVD. Most of Season 21 got fairly late DVD releases so I imagine they’d have some of the better encodes.
RPG74
March 17th, 2026 - 6:22amSad. We all had a nice 72 hours didn’t we, but I guess we had to come crashing down to Earth at some point.
The ergon
March 14th, 2026 - 12:13pmAnybody got their copy today? Mines coming monday.
Gordon
March 14th, 2026 - 12:26pmMine is due any time in the next couple of hours according to my Royal Mail email.
Gordon
March 14th, 2026 - 1:52pmMine has arrived just as I was leaving for work. At least I know it’s there.
Tom Williams
March 14th, 2026 - 2:08pmEnded up missing mine opps as heard a banning on my door but aint got no royal mail tracking seems monday is only day i be waiting in now lol
monsterry
March 14th, 2026 - 2:33pmYep, mine arrived from Z….i at lunchtime. Brilliant and a hefty old package. But sitting on the shelf, it’s the same width as Season 20. Gonna save Warriors of the Deep for tonight’s viewing
K-9stein
March 14th, 2026 - 5:22pmMine arrived in the post today, so I’ve gotten on and watched the special edition of ‘Warriors of the Deep’. A vast improvement in my opinion! The Myrka looks properly terrifying now, and the action scenes are pacier and more engaging than before. 😀
Gordon
March 13th, 2026 - 9:06pmJason Arnopp says on his unboxing that season 21 it’s 60 inches which is 2 longer than season 2 and 20’s 58.
Goody2Shoes
March 13th, 2026 - 9:22pmwhat protector for this set
Prowl 1701
March 14th, 2026 - 12:34amLove the back cover art for the set as well, nice to see it.
Tom Williams
March 14th, 2026 - 4:22amAs i repeated myself too so many people now lol it isnt made yet but DW8 was confirmed by steel-book central on ebay
It’s hard to tell if it will fit until it’s been made, hopefully if now we may have to make another protector for it. But we will make sure we protect every edition that is released 🙂
Regards
Matt
I also messaged them too ask if this will come out in may but not heard back yet
Tom Williams
March 14th, 2026 - 4:36amAlso looks like SCF23 Steel book Protector could fit this set as a alternative currently
SCF23 Protector Dimensions: 190 (h) x 83.5 (d) x 157.5 (w) mm
But depends on the new seasons measures
Gordon
March 14th, 2026 - 5:22amThe back and the inside back where the discs are is really inspired choices. Can see how they are going to tackle season 4
daz
March 14th, 2026 - 12:50pmYeah. Saw the review on youtube and it is definitely the way I’d like Season 4 to be done.
My copy is not due til Monday via Amazon as i had vouchers to use.
Rex F
March 13th, 2026 - 7:17amI keep thinking that one of these days I’ll have to take a look at this social media thing. Then I’m always persuaded not to. Sturgeon’s Law.
Rex F
March 13th, 2026 - 7:18amShould have appeared in reply to Babelbro’s post at the bottom of the page.
Babelbro
March 13th, 2026 - 9:02am@Rex F – No worries, many thanks for the replies this Morning.
Yeah I’m honestly so back and forth on social media myself. The good is that I can connect with my favourite video/music artists that just aren’t in the mainstream. We tend to look at the past with rose tinted glasses and I have to remind myself just how lucky we are to have this close access that just wasn’t technically possible before.
The grey area for me is within the fandoms (eg the Doctor Who Collection sets) where the nature of those conversations quickly go from important, comprehensive conversations to emotionally charged bite-sized tweet slanging matches, both from fans and officials in the range. I find X in particular desensitizes people to that culture and I’ll admit it’s been very easy for me to fall into, so I do my best to refine that side of my writing.
The bad is of course when that sourness increasingly tries to outdo itself – which sadly is what Social Media’s really thrives on since outrage garners the most traffic. Given the context behind the previous with John Barrowman, when I’d first heard about what had happened this week I honestly assumed it was a storm in a teacup, but oh boy I couldn’t have been anymore wrong.
Anyway that’s the dilemma really. There’s something uniquely positive about it in there amidst all the negatives. None of us that use it are perfect by any means but I think if you’re unable to stop to self reflect then that becomes the real issue. I can’t see what John Barrowman might experience that may or may not be goading him into typing what he’s said towards Doctor Who fans, but I also think it’s a shame that across this week no one close to him seems to want to help advise him on the bigger picture, given he’s still very much busy and working in showbusiness. None of that condones any abuse he may be getting online but nevertheless there’s a healthy balance to be had, and it can’t be good mentally to be facing that all day everyday imo.
The ergon
March 13th, 2026 - 4:41amFantastic. I,m so glad it is more from Daleks masterplan. Especially devils planet as we get the death of katerina and more Bret vyon. If it had been the traitors or destruction of time. We could have had the death scenes of both Bret and Sara.
So thankful to Film is fabulous we have these returned.
The ergon
March 13th, 2026 - 5:11amPeter purves will love this.
The ergon
March 13th, 2026 - 7:55amToby Hadoke and Peter Purves attended a private screening in liecester to which Peter was unaware of what he was attending.
He was absolutely thrilled
All over breakfast news
Bookcollector
March 13th, 2026 - 9:03amKatarina’s death occurs in the 4th episode traitors. It does mean we only have two missing katarina episodes myth makers 4 and masterplan 4 though.
The ergon
March 13th, 2026 - 11:08amIts the end of devils planet that bor pulls her into the airlock though but yes the actual death is shown in the opening scenes of the traitors. Would have had 2 deaths in one episode had that been one. I would love the traitors, volcano and destruction of time to turn up at some point.
Gordon
March 13th, 2026 - 12:36amWell we are down to 95 missing episodes
Nightmare begins and devils planet have been found. Will be on iPlayer over easter
Gordon
March 13th, 2026 - 12:44amIn case anybody is asking it’s a film is fabulous find
Bellal
March 13th, 2026 - 12:46amOmg
Absolutely delighted. No iplayer in Ireland though. I will find ways and means no doubt.
Absolutely fair play to all of those involved and thank you
Bookcollector
March 13th, 2026 - 12:49amHopefully it won’t be long until we get a DVD release of the episodes. Not necessarily masterplan itself but even just those two episodes on the next hartnell animation. We waited a long time for galaxy 4 and underwater menace to be released. Great news though
Gordon
March 13th, 2026 - 1:39amId imagine Russell Minton is already thinking and planning on getting it out physically in some form. The problem with animating it is of course it will take a long time. I would absolutely take a part black and white only animation. However Evil which also was a 7 eps animation took 18 months and that’s nowhere near as complex. I’d imagine they would want it out sooner than that so a release on another Hartnell release would be ideal. Alternatively a recon release maybe the quickest way though I do feel it’s a different ball game to having just 1 ep of the web 3 recon.
Bellal
March 13th, 2026 - 2:00amMasterplan surviving episodes plus recons coupled with mission to the unknown remake would still top dvd charts undoubtedly.
Would rather that just be put out then wait until animation at a later date in the future. Porting over other general Hartnell special feature could justify it I’d say
Prowl 1701
March 13th, 2026 - 2:09amThis is amazing news, not only two episodes found, but they are both from DMP as well. Always fun when I have to get out a new YT video on the fly about DW news! I hope US fans get access to the episodes quickly too.
DPHill
March 13th, 2026 - 2:41amThis is amazing news! And I thought it would be 9 & 11 or 4… either way we get to see more of Katarina now at 60% survival rate alongside Hartnell and Courtney! This is wonderfully amazing news that will keep me up all night with excitement!
Definitely think the best course of action is clean up the now FIVE surviving episodes of master plan, and then do telesnap recons for a quicker half-hearted release before animations is the way to go, and then you could include mission in it’s various forms!
Wow! This is amazing!
Babelbro
March 13th, 2026 - 3:39amThis, and finding the TV Movie film negatives has to be the best Doctor Who news in years – this feels like Christmas Day Morning!
Forbes’ news article describes the found DMP episodes as being ‘vcr copies’? Ugh this is just so, so exciting and fascinating at 3.38 in the morning!
Babelbro
March 13th, 2026 - 4:18amEdit: Definitely a film reel copy, not a vcr dupe.
Having watched the video snippet of the footage – I didn’t expect it to visually look so clear, though I think this is hinted towards being a technician’s review copy, so it must surely be as close as you can get before posessing the original broadcast master.
Also equally it must be stressed just how mind blowing it is just how many audio recordings we have thanks to the dedication of the fans. In the possible instance that if there’s a chunk or more of missing audio from the found reel then we always have an audio reference to fall back on to rebuild the original as close as we’re ever going to get, thanks to people that simply genuinely care about this show.
Also I’m loving that Hartnell officially did the messy quiff hair before David Tennant haha!
Rex F
March 13th, 2026 - 6:56amPaul V always said that missing eps tend to turn up in twos.
As for “technician’s review copies”, you have to make an initial print from the negative and that’s what these will be – like an answer print. The film can for ep 1 has an Ice Warriors-style “cutting copy” label, so they’ll have viewed this print to see where they had to cut out any off-locks on the negative, etc. It also suggests that DMP probably had two sets of prints made, as you likely wouldn’t send out the initial review copy to a key broadcaster, they’d want a properly timed fresh print.
So the question now for me is, how many television recoveries were foreign returns and how many were copies made for internal use that never left London? We also need to increase the number of prints made for each episode by one. E.g. The two copies of Moonbase ep 4 or Tenth Planet ep 2 might not both be overseas returns.
Rex F
March 13th, 2026 - 8:04amSomeone’s also written “The Executioners” on the film label – what a disappointment if the can had contained the ep of The Chase instead!
Bob
March 13th, 2026 - 8:18amHaving 5 of the 12 episodes is enough for me personally to only do a partial animation however The Underwater Menace was fully animated despite half the story still existing, they even went a step further and changed character designs which made mixing and matching jarring.
I’m still open to the idea of a split release like they did with the novelisation or how Warner Bros. handled Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and The Long Halloween.
Babelbro
March 13th, 2026 - 8:19am@Rex F –
When you say ‘making an answer print from the negative’, Wouldn’t everything studio have been shot on analogue videotape, with just the outdoor shots have been actual film negatives?
I’m purely wild guessing here but wouldn’t the ‘answer print’ be a reel where that videotape + film neg bits are put together in a rough cut, given to a technical reviewer to then be finely cut + revised, and that then be the final editing blueprint/ref for the video editor to make the trims on the original material, with that final edit then being telecined for UK tv, while being duped onto extra cans of film to go out to overseas broadcasters?
If any of the above is correct then yeah it still sounds like this must be an early generation copy close to the original elements (while still not identical) which, given how this is DMP and how darn super rare this is – this is just even more surreal.
So much of this is completely new to me and I’m not in any way knowledge on this stuff but, being informed this early in the Morning about there being edit draft copies and little intricacies potentially just hidden away right under our noses after all this time just really excites me again as a Doctor Who fan. It’s not even that it necessarily has to be the best physical quality or whatnot, I just find the stories behind them so so fascinating.
Bookcollector
March 13th, 2026 - 9:10amI personally think a reconstruction release would be best in order to get it out. An animation will take some time, as you say Gordon evil took 18 months so unless the seven episodes have been worked on in secret presuming this discovery was known about leading to a partial animation release like the original animation releases (but I don’t think will be the case) then a reconstruction with extras isn’t a bad way of getting these out there.
Gordon
March 13th, 2026 - 10:39amThink the issue with doing 2 solo releases is of course you have the season 3 collection release coming in 4-5 years so it would be 3 releases. If you do a recon release this year is there time to do another solo release with animation before the season 3 release? With how long it would take to animate It doesn’t give a huge amount of time in shops before they would have to start producing the animated version so it’s out in time for both a solo and a season 3 release.
Rex F
March 13th, 2026 - 10:46amBabelbro: Although DMP wasn’t sold overseas, they still film recorded it in the usual way (as in, recorded it off monitor from a playback of the 2″ tape) with the intention of selling it. From that 16mm film negative they make a positive print to review the quality, and decide on any technial edits needed, and that’s what’s turned up now. If you look at the BBC News piece you’ll see the film can with a BBC Enterprises logo, showing it’s an element from the foreign sales department.
What you’re thinking of isn’t too different to what would have happened with some of the episodes broadcast from 35mm film though, like Planet of the Giants 3, or the preparation of film inserts (like the bits of The War Games 1 that turned up recently), so you’re not completely off the mark there with how episodes were prepared.
Bookcollector
March 13th, 2026 - 10:52amA reconstruction would be a great way to do it but I get the limitations of timing for a future animation and eventually season release. I imagine these episodes will appear on the next hartnell animation and I’ll be very happy with that. Just to have the episodes will be great. As I said Gordon I feel the best option would be a reconstruction but I should have said that I understand it’s more likely to be similar to the galaxy 4 situation and the episodes will be on another story. Myth makers would be the obvious one but it depends what’s being worked on really.
Babelbro
March 13th, 2026 - 12:59pm@Rex Ah I’m with you now
Yeah not sure why I didn’t think of that this Morning, of course there would be a foreign sales submission since New Zealand + Australia had declined it.
I was just in an excited haze so early in the Morning and unable to properly think straight. I’ve even got the news on now hoping Doctor Who will pop up again!
That little clip of The Doctor whispering “Daleks!” and that horror chime sound, I’ve legit still got chills from it.
Rory, the original you might say
March 13th, 2026 - 1:08pmAnother possibility is to release the episodes with a recon of the missing parts, which would take care of most of the work required for the Collection set.
Then they could focus their animation efforts on the remaining S3 stories and have a complete S3 Collection set with the recon of DMP.
That would allow them to focus on animating the rest of the missing stories to get those onto Collection sets.
Babelbro
March 12th, 2026 - 9:51pmWell John Barrowman certainly did boost one thing…
Doctor Who’s Social Media engagement on X.
Flipping heck there’s essays upon essays of arguing between so many people you could fill up a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with it.
Then right when you think you’ve reached the end of it, the Type 40 Podcast account decides to bung a firework in there