Highlights
- Doctor Who has a rich history spanning 60 years, with many episodes from the early years missing or incomplete. 97 episodes are currently missing.
- While the original video footage is lost, complete soundtracks recorded at the time of broadcast exist for every missing story, which can be accessed by fans.
- Missing episodes are gradually being reconstructed through animation, with recent releases featuring fully animated serials in color and black and white. Fans can watch these animated episodes to experience the original stories.
Doctor Who has been around for an astonishing 60 years. The story of the Doctor, the Time Lord traveler through time and space, is one of the most flexible and unpredictable shows ever made. It can change genre, setting, and even lead actor from one week to another. The story of its production is almost as interesting as the stories that have made it to the screen, with all sorts of quirks adding to its legend. Unfortunately, part of that legend is the junking of episodes throughout the 1960s and 1970s, when repeats and home media weren’t even a dream.
The Best Doctor Who Complete Blu-Ray Series In 2023
Looking to add to your Doctor Who Blu-ray collection? These are the best of time and space in feature-packed Blu-Ray sets.
The first six years of Doctor Who have been torn apart by missing episodes, with 26 serials incomplete. While ardent fans and TV collectors have tracked down many lost episodes thanks to international sales and original home recordings, 97 remain missing.
Fortunately, Doctor Who’s avid fan base started early; while the video may be missing, complete soundtracks recorded at broadcast exist for every lost story. The BBC has made these available to fans and used them to back a growing collection of animated replacements. These are currently the best way for fans to catch up with early adventures.
Missing Episode Soundtracks Available On Audiobook
The BBC has bundled up the existing soundtracks for fans to pore over the original audio. Many missing episodes survive in telesnaps — still photos taken from original broadcasts. Until there are animations, these soundtracks and telesnaps help fans get as close as possible to the original broadcasts. However, fans should bear in mind these 1960s recordings.
Story | What’s Missing? | Where To Listen |
Marco Polo | The fourth serial of season one is missing all seven episodes. Its legendarily beautiful production values, as the TARDIS crew meet the legendary Venetian explorer, mean it's high on fans’ wishlists to be recovered. | |
The Crusade | Two of four episodes are missing from this second season story that took the TARDIS to meet Richard the Lionheart during the Crusades. | |
"Mission to the Unknown” and The Daleks' Master Plan | All of the prologue and nine episodes of the epic Masterplan — the show’s longest Dalek epic — remain missing. The lengthy soundtrack is available | |
The Myth Makers | The First Doctor and companions headed to Troy for this now entirely lost story from the show’s third season. It’s known among fans for criticism upon broadcast that it was too brutal for children. | |
The Massacre | Originally known as The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, this historic trip to 16th century France rocked by religious violence is intriguing for featuring a lookalike for the Doctor, although the two never meet. | |
The Celestial Toymaker | Three out of four episodes marking the Doctor’s first encounter with the cosmic menace are lost from the advice. Fans can catch up with the complete ahead of the Toymaker’s return during the show’s 60th anniversary. | |
The Savages | This serial, missing all four episodes, plays with sci-fi tropes as the TARDIS encounters two tribes in the far future, one sophisticated and the other apparently savage. | |
The Smugglers | In the first serial of the fourth season, the Doctor and new companions, Ben and Polly, stumble into a pirate plot. All four episodes remain missing. | |
The Highlanders | All four episodes that introduce long-serving companion Jamie McCrimmon are missing. The TARDIS’s trip to the Jacobite Rebellion remains the final wholly historical Doctor Who story. | |
The Space Pirates | The last story to have lost episodes, only one part of the six-part space opera exists. Fans are craving to recover the first serial to involve future producer John Nathan-Turner and the second written by legendary Who writer Robert Holmes. |
Where To Watch Missing Episodes As Animations
The Doctor’s lost adventures are gradually being rebuilt with animation. While early reconstructions slotted animated episodes between surviving footage, recent releases have seen complete serials animated in color and black and white.
Story | What’s Missing? | Where To Watch |
The Reign of Terror | The two episodes missing from this 6-part trip to the French Revolution from the show’s first series were animated in 2013. | Buy on DVD at Amazon |
Galaxy 4 | One episode from this serial was recovered in 2011. However, 10 years later, the BBC released a fully animated version, which can be viewed in color or era-authentic black and white. | Buy at Prime Video |
Buy on Blu-ray at Amazon | ||
The Tenth Planet | Infuriatingly, the last episode of this four-part adventure that ended the First Doctor’s run is missing. In 2013, an animation completed the story, showing how the Doctor first regenerated in the South Pole. | Buy on DVD at Amazon |
The Power of the Daleks | All six episodes of the first adventure to feature the Second Doctor are missing. Fans saw one of the most anticipated missing stories for the first time in decades when it was animated in 2016. | Stream at BritBox and BritBox at Prime Video |
Buy at Google Play, Vudu | ||
The Underwater Menace | An entire animation of all four episodes (two of which are missing) was released for the show’s 60th anniversary. One of the most famous villain performances in the Whoniverse awaits the TARDIS when it lands in Atlantis. | Pre-order on Blu-ray at Amazon |
The Moonbase | This classic siege story sees the Second Doctor and companions help a human moonbase repel a Cyberman assault. The two missing episodes were animated in 2014. | Buy on DVD at Amazon |
The Macra Terror | The giant crab-like Macra made a surprise appearance in the third series of the New series. Fans finally saw the giant and creeping menace when the episodes were animated in color and black and white in 2019. | Buy at Prime Video, Google Play and Vudu |
Buy on Blu-ray at Amazon | ||
The Faceless Ones | Despite two of six episodes remaining in the archive, this serial that saw the TARDIS crew tackle the attempts of the identity-stealing Chameleons at Gatwick Airport was fully animated in 2020. | Buy at Prime Video, Google Play, and Vudu |
Buy on Blu-ray at Amazon | ||
The Evil of the Daleks | Another particularly sought-after serial, intended initially to be the Doctor’s final battle with the Daleks. One episode remains, but the full seven were finally animated in color and black and white in 2021. | Stream at Prime Video and Vudu |
Buy on Blu-ray at Amazon | ||
The Abominable Snowmen | This is another second Doctor base-under-siege story, which finds the time travelers in a Tibetan monastery under attack from savage Yeti. All six episodes were animated in 2021. | Buy at Prime Video |
Buy on Blu-ray at Amazon | ||
The Ice Warriors | The first appearance of the Martians, who would become recurring villains and friends in the series. The two episodes missing from this 6-parter were animated in the show’s 50th anniversary year, 2013. | Buy on DVD at Amazon |
The Web of Fear | The Web of Fear achieved a mythical status before the BBC recovered five lost episodes in 2013. The final missing piece, episode 3, was animated in 2021. | Buy at Prime Video, Google Play, and Vudu |
Buy on Blu-ray at Amazon | ||
Fury from the Deep | All original episodes are missing from this 6-part Second Doctor adventure, which saw the TARDIS crew take on infectious weeds in the North Sea. The complete serial was animated in 2020. | Buy at Prime Video, Google Play, and Vudu |
Buy on Blu-ray at Amazon | ||
The Wheel in Space | Another lost adventure featuring the Cyberman. Only two episodes remain of the 6-part finale of Doctor Who’s fifth season. Episode one has received an abridged animation, included with the release of The Macra Terror. | Animation on The Macra Terror Blu-ray at Amazon |
Stream as telesnaps at BritBox. | ||
The Invasion | This iconic serial gave the fandom incredible images of Cybermen invading London and the first appearance of the Doctor’s legendary allies, UNIT. It was a natural choice to be the first story to receive animated reconstructions. The complete story, with episodes 1 and 4 reconstructed, was released in 2006. | Buy on DVD at Amazon |