ABC in Australia has released archive footage of Fourth Doctor actor, Tom Baker, being interviewed by children about Doctor Who – a lovely clip which sees him explain core elements of the series. The most astonishing thing, however, is that this clip hasn’t been seen since the 1970s!

The Doctor Who Restoration Team‘s Paul Vanezis was investigating a film from the National Archives in Australia, simply entitled “Doctor Who“, which it was hoped contained a missing episode (as 97 episodes of the First and Second Doctors’ era are currently absent); instead, he stumbled across this charming footage, in which Baker – then the current Doctor – fields questions from a classroom of children.

Vanezis enthused:

“What Tom Baker is doing is cementing interest in the series to perpetuate sales of Doctor Who in Australia. But ultimately, that’s a complete side issue, because what you see is really happy kids meeting their hero for the first time.”

Episodes were sold to ABC, which has now released this 5-minute clip as part of its RetroFocus program, opening up the channel’s fascinating archive.

This interview was filmed for Australia’s Behind the News show in the 1970s.

You can see the footage of Tom here.

Also of interest is this brief segment with sci-fi writer, Arthur C. Clarke claiming that computers will one day be small enough to sit on your desk at home, and from it, you’ll be able to work and bank from the comfort of your own house.