Audio recordings of missing Doctor Who episodes have been found, many of which are an improvement on what’s previously been available.
The discovery comes from Kaleidoscope, a non-profit organisation specialising in finding missing TV shows; these audio reels had been passed on to one of the company’s volunteers, Robert Wyn (who typically works with glass photo negatives). Kaleidoscope’s Chris Perry says:
“Kaleidoscope transfers hundreds of hours of radio and TV soundtracks every year that are quietly returned to us without any fuss. We know many audio experts including Keith Wickham, Ted Kendall, Alys Hayes, and Mark Ayres. Where possible, we try to give them full access to all our archive so they can create the best CD and DVD projects possible for commercial release… As with all Kaleidoscope projects, we returned the material to Mark Ayres and the BBC free of charge so all may enjoy in the future.”
Why are these tapes so significant? Ayres explains:
“These tapes are the real deal. Original off-air recordings.
“The first half of the first episode recorded (The Nightmare Begins [part of The Daleks’ Master Plan]) was not captured, so it starts with the second half. That aside, uniquely these recordings include opening and closing music with all cliffhangers and reprises intact. No surrounding presentation was captured, but some episodes have back-announcements on the closing titles…
“A couple of Graham [Strong]’s Master Plan episodes are trumped by these, but we now have some cliffhangers and reprises that we’ve been missing due to all of them being intact on this new collection. For instance, Graham’s tape ran out a couple of minutes before the end of The Highlanders ep 1, and the best (not very good) patch we had was far inferior. We now have that. And Graham recorded over The Celestial Toymaker so we only had roomy microphone recordings – this trumps those. (These are probably mic recordings, but using a rather good, close mic)…
“It’s amazing these have never come to light before.”
The reels are known as The Randolph Tapes, and consist of 3x 3/4″ reels of 1/4″ tape. The third set concludes with episode 1 of the Second Doctor serial, The Moonbase, implying that further reels existed at one stage. Their quality is the most consistent of any collection discovered so far, meaning they’re now the best source for any future remasterings.
The Randolph Tapes also include segments of The Sky at Night episodes.
Here’s the full list of what’s included; it’s especially notable that, unless otherwise stated, episodes include cliffhangers, reprises, and themes:
TAPE 1 – TRACK 1
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 1 – The Nightmare Begins [second half only]
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 2 – Day of Armageddon
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 3 – Devil’s Planet
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 4 – The Traitors
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 5 – Counterplot
The Sky at Night – 111 – THE MOONS OF JUPITER, tx 14.1.66 (complete)
TAPE 1 – TRACK 2
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 6 – Coronas of the Sun
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 7 – The Feast of Steven [microphone recording]
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 8 – Volcano
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 9 – Golden Death
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 10 – Escape Switch
TAPE 1 – TRACK 3
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 11 – The Abandoned Planet
Doctor Who – The Daleks Master Plan Ep 12 – Destruction of Time [with closing continuity announcement]
Doctor Who – The Massacre Ep 1 – War of God
Doctor Who – The Massacre Ep 2 – The Sea Beggar
Doctor Who – The Massacre Ep 3 – Priest of Death
TAPE 1 – TRACK 4
Doctor Who – The Massacre Ep 4 – Bell of Doom [with “next week” continuity announcement at end]
Doctor Who – The Ark Ep 1 – The Steel Sky
Doctor Who – The Ark Ep 2 – The Plague
Doctor Who – The Ark Ep 3 – The Return [contains two large faulty-connection dropouts]
Doctor Who – The Ark Ep 4 – The Bomb
TAPE 2 – TRACK 1
Doctor Who – The Celestial Toymaker Ep 1 – The Celestial Toyroom
Doctor Who – The Celestial Toymaker Ep 2 – The Hall of Dolls
Doctor Who – The Celestial Toymaker Ep 3 – The Dancing Floor
Doctor Who – The Celestial Toymaker Ep 4 – The Final Test [with apologies to Frank Richards Estate at end]
Doctor Who – The Gunfighters Ep 1 – A Holiday for the Doctor
TAPE 2 – TRACK 2
Doctor Who – The Gunfighters Ep 2 – Don’t Shoot the Pianist
Doctor Who – The Gunfighters Ep 3 – Johnny Ringo [no end titles]
Doctor Who – The Gunfighters Ep 4 – The OK Corral
Doctor Who – The Savages Ep 1
Doctor Who – The Savages Ep 2
TAPE 2 – TRACK 3
Doctor Who – The Savages Ep 3 (recorded at 3.75 ips)
Doctor Who – The Savages Ep 4
Doctor Who – The War Machines Ep 1 [end continuity announcement: later time next week]
Doctor Who – The War Machines Ep 2
The Sky at Night – 114 – MAN ON THE MOON, tx 11.3.66 [final 3m36s]
TAPE 2 – TRACK 4
Doctor Who – The War Machines Ep 3
Doctor Who – The War Machines Ep 4
Doctor Who – The Smugglers Ep 1
Doctor Who – The Smugglers Ep 2
Doctor Who – The Smugglers Ep 3
“Out of Time” (Chris Farlowe) (part) (recorded at 3.75 ips)
“Get Away” (Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames) (recorded at 3.75 ips)
TAPE 3 – TRACK 1
Doctor Who – The Smugglers Ep 4
Doctor Who – The Tenth Planet Ep 1
Doctor Who – The Tenth Planet Ep 2
Doctor Who – The Tenth Planet Ep 3
Doctor Who – The Tenth Planet Ep 4
TAPE 3 – TRACK 2
Doctor Who – The Power of the Daleks Ep 1 [voice-over credit for Terry Nation at end]
Doctor Who – The Power of the Daleks Ep 2 [voice-over credit for Terry Nation and Tristram Cary at end]
Doctor Who – The Power of the Daleks Ep 3 [voice-over credit for Tristram Cary at end]
Doctor Who – The Power of the Daleks Ep 4
Doctor Who – The Power of the Daleks Ep 5
TAPE 3 – TRACK 3
Doctor Who – The Power of the Daleks Ep 6
Doctor Who – The Highlanders Ep 1
Doctor Who – The Highlanders Ep 2
Doctor Who – The Highlanders Ep 3
Doctor Who – The Highlanders Ep 4
Unknown US comedy clip (recorded at 3.75 ips)
TAPE 3 – TRACK 4
Doctor Who – The Underwater Menace Ep 1
Doctor Who – The Underwater Menace Ep 2
Doctor Who – The Underwater Menace Ep 3
Doctor Who – The Underwater Menace Ep 4
Doctor Who – The Moonbase Ep 1
You can find out more about Kaleidoscope on their website – so if you know of any further recordings of missing TV shows, that’s where you need to go!
