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Missing stories animations to continue, more Hartnell likely

Missing stories animations to continue, more Hartnell likely

Doctor Who Galaxy 4 William Hartnell

Plans are afoot for more animated revamps of missing episodes following the release of The Underwater Menace.

Good news for Doctor Who fans in the BBC sci-fi’s 60th anniversary year – more missing stories are set to receive the animation treatment.

Out of 253 episodes from the show’s first six years, 97 remain lost in their original form, due to the BBC’s policy of junking archive programming between 1967 and 1978.

As a result, numerous adventures of the First Doctor (played by William Hartnell) and the Second Doctor (played by Patrick Troughton) are either incomplete or missing in their entirety.

However, a number of these stories have been restored with new animated visuals accompanying the surviving soundtracks.

Speaking at a BFI screening of the latest animation, The Underwater Menace, executive producer Paul Hembury confirmed there are plans for more – indicating that the ambition is to complete the canon and cover off all of the missing stories.

“As long as there’s an audience out there who want to see them, then we will endeavour to continue,” Hembury said.

However, he cautioned:

“The DVD and Blu-ray market isn’t getting any bigger and it was a significant contributor to the financing that we used to make these, so it’s really incumbent upon us to say, ‘OK, if we’re going to be seeing less revenue from that source, we need to be able to replace it’ – and more, because our budgets have gone up pretty significantly. So we just need to be able to make it balance out.”

Despite confirming that at least one more animation is in the works, Hembury wouldn’t be drawn on which story was next on the slate, despite rumours that 1966 serial The Smugglers could be in the offing.

“I would love to be able to say yes – I can’t at this stage. We don’t have a five, 10-year plan to work through. We do them one at a time.  “In all truth, I don’t know whether we’ll ever get to a situation where we’ve done every one. [But] there is something coming.”

Polly, Ben and the Doctor in Doctor Who: The Smugglers
Polly, Ben and the Doctor in Doctor Who: The Smugglers

Hembury and The Underwater Menace animation director AnneMarie Walsh did however touch on how they decide which lost stories to animate, explaining that the selection process is “quite complicated” with the length of the stories, the quality of the surviving audio, and animated challenges posed by the story all being taken into account.

Of the 14 stories to be animated since 2006, 11 have been stories featuring Troughton’s Second Doctor, though Hembury and Walsh hinted that fans can expect more restorations featuring William Hartnell as the First Doctor in future.

“If we can keep going, then we will be a little more diverse in terms of the stories we select,” said Hembury.

“We weren’t necessarily trying to complete the [Troughton] series, but it made sense to do that as long as the sound was good enough and the stories made sense within the budgets we had and everything else,” added Walsh.

“But that doesn’t mean that we’re only going to do Troughton stories, or we’re going to do all the Troughton stories first. We are open to whatever makes sense.”

Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace is available on Blu-ray and DVD from 13th November.

Missing adventure ‘The Underwater Menace’ to be animated in 2023

Missing adventure ‘The Underwater Menace’ to be animated in 2023


The Second Doctor’s partially missing adventure will be animated with four new episodes in colour and high definition, releasing on DVD and Blu-ray.


BBC Studios continues to offer Doctor Who fans the opportunity to extend their at home collection by announcing the latest release DOCTOR WHO: THE UNDERWATER MENACE on DVD and Blu-Ray. The two-disc box set contains the fourth series story as well as special features. This classic series stars the Second Doctor Patrick Troughton and co-stars Anneke Wills as Polly, Michael Craze as Ben and Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon.

The original 1967 master recordings of all except episodes two and three of THE UNDERWATER MENACE were lost soon after the programme’s original transmission. However, audio-only recordings of the missing two episodes have survived and have been used to create a brand new fully animated presentation of this lost classic.

This story sees these characters navigate through their adventures in the underwater city of Atlantis where they meet with Professor Zaroff, who plots to destroy the Earth by draining the oceans. Fans can expect a super jam-packed series bursting with unseen exclusive content. All episodes have been animated in colour and black and white, whilst including original film elements.


DISC ONE (Main Feature)


  • Episodes 1-4 – Animation – Colour
  • Episodes 1-4 – Animation – Black and White

DISC TWO (Special Features)


  • Episode 1 – Reconstruction
  • Episodes 2 & 3 – Original 1967 Episode
  • Episode 4 – Reconstruction
  • A Fishy Tale – Making of Documentary
  • Australian Censor Clips
  • The Man from Miditz
  • Frazer Hines Introduction for Episode 2 as per the original VHS release
  • BBC News Report (South Today)
  • BBC Radio Solent Piece (audio only)
  • Photo Gallery
  • Animation Gallery
  • PDF material including camera script

DOCTOR WHO: THE UNDERWATER MENACE is available to order on DVD, Blu-ray or Blu-ray Steelbook.


DOCTOR WHO: THE UNDERWATER MENACE will be available for fans to buy from November 2023.

PRE ORDER YOURS NOW.

The Underwater Menace comes to vinyl!

The Underwater Menace comes to vinyl!

Demon Records presents the narrated TV soundtrack of a vintage four-part adventure set in the legendary city of Atlantis, starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor.

In The Underwater Menace the TARDIS arrives on a volcanic island above the lost city of Atlantis. Underground, the Doctor learns of Professor Zaroff’s insanely dangerous plan to raise the city once more above the waves. Whilst Ben and Jamie are put to work in the mines, and Polly is set to be transformed into one of the strange, enslaved Fish People, the Doctor must do everything he can to prevent Zaroff causing the end of the world.

Doctor Who The UnderWater Menace

This vinyl release is made up of the 1967 TV soundtrack (two episodes of the television episodes no longer survive as film recordings, but only as audio), with added linking narration by Anneke Wills. This half missing serial only survives in full on audio, giving fans a unique opportunity to re-experience this lost part of Doctor Who’s expansive history.

Patrick Troughton voices the Doctor, who co-stars with Anneke Wills, Michael Craze and Frazer Hines as the Doctor’s companions Polly, Ben and Jamie. Among the supporting cast are Joseph Furst, Colin Jeavons, Paul Anil and Noel Johnson (radio’s Dick Barton). Incidental music is composed by Dudley Simpson, and the familiar strains of the Doctor Who theme are courtesy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

The Underwater Menace is presented across 2 x 140g vinyl discs, in a Volcanic Eruption Amazon exclusive edition. These coloured vinyl LPs are presented in a fully illustrated gatefold sleeve showing cast and credits, and inner bags featuring complete episode billings.

Pre-order the Volcanic Eruption Vinyl version here, ahead of its release on the 29th May 2020.

Doctor Who – The Underwater Menace (Volcanic Eruption Vinyl) [VINYL]