Oh, my giddy aunt...The rumors were true! Well, at least to some point.
For the past year, various websites have been posting unsubstantiated rumors of a huge treasure trove of missing Doctor Who episodes, known in some circles as the Omnirumor, only to have them denied and scoffed at by the BBC. The skepticism by Whovians was perfectly understandable, considering that several years would go by before one or two would be recovered, but a large stash? Sadly inconceivable.
Well, in possibly the biggest 50th anniversary present that longtime Doctor Who fans could ever dream of, the Radio Times announced today that not only have two episodes, "both believed to be from the Patrick Troughton era," have been recovered, they will be made available for purchase digitally on platforms such as iTunes starting Wednesday.
According to the article, the episodes are believed to originate from a haul discovered in Africa and have been digitally remastered for sale, but specific details about the episodes were not made available. Officially, a BBC Worldwide spokesman refused to confirm the discovery or speculation concerning additionaly missing episodes. Other episodes have also been found, but there's no information yet when those will be made available.
The Mirror now reports that BBC Worldwide has called a press conference for Tuesday in a London hotel, and journalists will be informed specifically which old episodes have been recovered and shown some of the previously missing footage.
They quoted a senior BBC source, who said, "There will be big news this Tuesday regarding lost Doctor Who episodes. It is great that in the show’s fiftieth year, fans will now be able to look back with classic episodes as well as looking to the future with the new film-length episode ["The Day of the Doctor"] in November. For some fans watching their lost episodes will be like going back in time."
To be continued. Cue the Doctor Who cliffhanger sting music...