Following the discovery of episodes of The Daleks’ Master Plan by film collector preservation team, Film is Fabulous!, its founder has stated that they do not have any more episodes of Doctor Who — but more could certainly turn up in the future.

John Franklin told fans that the charitable trust categorically does “not have any missing episodes of Doctor Who“, though he explains that some private collections are so large that more might be found but will take some time to get to. He says:

“The thing is, some of these collections are so large it’s not even necessarily what the individuals might want to do; it’s how we can actually align with their ideas and thoughts as well. Taking a collection where there’s 16,000 films would currently take us two years to catalogue. I mean, it’s a lot of work. So we work on the basis that as long as we know things are safe… we can come back to them when it’s right for the collector and it’s right for us.”

He adds:

“It’s my hope — my expectation — that we will be in a position soon to take some of those collections, to identify some of the missing items that those people have, to return them to the BBC.”

It’s a fair assessment of the situation and a solid angle to take: any reels that aren’t stored securely or being properly protected have to be prioritised, no matter what films they include. Doctor Who fans are just a tad eager for more missing episodes to be found.

Still, we’ve waited this long; it won’t harm us to wait a little longer!

We’re certain, at least, that more unfound episodes of Doctor Who do exist, so let’s all be patient.