It depends on the condition of the film. Is it good enough to watch (even taped together?) I'm a Dr Who fan myself (oh you sad git Gee) so I'd like to think the BBC would pay for the missing episode. Of course it does depend on how much money he's asking.

As someone with a lot of experience of acting as a 'go between' to allow collectors to return material to the BBC 'no questions asked', I have to say that this is an extremely difficult area.

Personally, I believe that there should be some payment to the person who returned the film *if* BBC Worldwide put it out on video for commercial gain. Take the situation with 'The Lion', the Doctor Who episode that was returned at the beginning of 1999. This was put out on video very quickly and sold well, but the person who owned the film did not receive any payment from the BBC. He did however sell the print for profit as a result of all the publicity... Perhaps the best idea would be that the BBC would pay a finders fee for the print, but it would be for the purchase of the print and the owner would then become the BBC?

I must reiterate at this point that if you wish to return a film to the BBC, then we would wish only to take a copy of it - the film is yours to keep, along with a tape copy.

In reply to 'Gee's' point about is the print watchable, yes I would say, but whether the BBC would consider it 'transmittable' is another matter .. Obviously they 'clean' up the film. I think it depends on how many "jumps" the film has, which I think it didn't suffer too badly (unlike the copy of 'The Faceless Ones' which is so jumpy that the BBC consider it unbroadcastable. I actually have a copy of this (albeit a poor copy) and I quite agree that they could never really repeat this, even as a video sale.

>As someone with a lot of experience of acting as a 'go between' to allow collectors to return material to the BBC 'no questions asked', I have to say that this is an extremely difficult area.
>
>Personally, I believe that there should be some payment to the person who returned the film *if* BBC Worldwide put it out on video for commercial gain. Take the situation with 'The Lion', the Doctor Who episode that was returned at the beginning of 1999. This was put out on video very quickly and sold well, but the person who owned the film did not receive any payment from the BBC. He did however sell the print for profit as a result of all the publicity... Perhaps the best idea would be that the BBC would pay a finders fee for the print, but it would be for the purchase of the print and the owner would then become the BBC?
>
>I must reiterate at this point that if you wish to return a film to the BBC, then we would wish only to take a copy of it - the film is yours to keep, along with a tape copy.


..Steve, just out of interest, do you work at the archives in Brenford ?

Film collectors rightly wish to protect their investment in their collections, but it is difficult for the BBC to justify buying back material which does not complete a set. BBC Worldwide would not be able to make a great deal of money on a single episode, but if the others turned up, it would be a different story. In the meantime, the film should at least be cleaned and if it is in a poor condition, not run on a projector. If anyone wants to talk about this in confidence, mail me at [email protected]

Just to add also, Steve is right that we only take a copy of the film. The original is still owned by the collector. We have negotiated with many collectors over the years and have earned their trust, because we believe in the preservation of the material. In the past six years we have recovered about 12 hours of lost BBC material and the collectors have kept the originals. This includes DW material.

>..Steve, just out of interest, do you work at the archives in Brenford ?<

No, but I do work for the BBC and have close links with Windmill Road.

For more info on the sort of work I'm involved in you can check my website:-

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/steveroberts/restorat.htm

>I think it depends on how many "jumps" the film has, which I think it didn't suffer too badly (unlike the copy of 'The Faceless Ones' which is so jumpy that the BBC consider it unbroadcastable. <

That's an old wives tale... just a myth. Yes, it's in poor condition, but it could be made a lot more presentable. It's a damn sight more transmittable even in its present condition than those Steptoes that were recovered off domestic open-reel video and transmitted on BBC2!

That's superb news. I played Sergeant Arnold in that serial, I was even on the Target book cover, and I've got episodes 3,4,5 and 6, plus part 4 of "The Tenth Planet" in my garden shed... I bought them in a car boot sale in Market Harborough in 1974. Do you think the BBC would be interested in having these back?

Lots of Love,
Jack Woolgar

>That's superb news. I played Sergeant Arnold in that serial, I was even on the Target book cover, and I've got episodes 3,4,5 and 6, plus part 4 of "The Tenth Planet" in my garden shed... I bought them in a car boot sale in Market Harborough in 1974. Do you think the BBC would be interested in having these back?
>
>Lots of Love,
> Jack Woolgar

..somehow "Jack" - something tells me you may be having us on !!!!!!!!
>

How can you tell?

He sounds so genuine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've always wanted to see episodes 5 and 6 of The Tenth Planet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No idea how I sussed that one out ! ..can't think ...

>A person I know recently advised that they had a "contact" who had a copy of a 'missing' Dr Who epsiode from 1968 - Part Two of the 'Web of Fear'.<

Mark, if you wish to get in contact, we can pursue this further... If it's a hoax, then it's a hoax. If it's genuine, then we will probably be able to come to an equitable arrangement with your contact fore the return of a copy. Please drop me a line - [email protected] or [email protected]

I've done this sort of thing loads of times before and there's no risk to your contact.

>>I've always wanted to see episodes 5 and 6 of The Tenth Planet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I said 3,4,5,6 of Web of Fear, plus part 4 of Tenth Planet. I've also got part 1 of Enemy of the World and parts 1 and 3 of The Moonbase.... Those last two were sold to me by Bob Monkhouse, a fanatical collector of old TV shows.... Anybody know a cure for Munchausen's Syndrome?