Doctor Who: The Missing Years (1998)

In the 1970s, the BBC destroyed many of the early episodes of Doctor Who and, despite the efforts of fans and later, more enlightened, BBC regimes, 110 episodes are still missing presumed lost forever.

"The Missing Years" assembles practically all of the surviving clips from these missing episodes, ranging from about 6 minutes of an episode of serial 3.1 'Galaxy Four', to many clips of only a few seconds duration (many of which were saved by the Australian censors when they were cut from the series in the 1960s and '70s, so that ironically the censored scenes are sometimes all that now remains of some serials).

The video is hosted by Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling, who played Jamie and Victoria in the mid-60s, and many of whose episodes were destroyed. Fortunately, the commentary is short and to the point, allowing the clips themselves -- which are what we really want to see -- to dominate the production, and minimising the impact of Ms Watling's... "eccentric" performance. It also includes interviews with some of the fans responsible for finding missing episodes and clips.

This video, a labour of love for ther BBC's "unofficial Restoration Team", is a must-see for anyone interested in the early years of Doctor Who.