The Tenth Planet

In 1993, BBC1 broadcast a somewhat controversial mini-documentary before that nights thrilling repeat of "Planet of the Daleks", based on the missing episodes of Doctor Who. I thought it was great, if not particuarly enlightening (being an age-old scholar of torched Doctor Who footage, I knew most of it already). I loved the way they'd filmed those negatives burning away before our eyes (presumably it wasn't actual Doctor Who episodes but some other, lesser, show that was being incinerated to prove the point) and I didn't even get offended by the guy who'd "kill" to get them back or the cryptic assertion that all the missing episodes are "out there, somewhere". All part of the fun, of course.

But of particular interest was the part of the documentary concerning the "one Doctor Who episode every fan would like to see returned" - Tenth Planet Part 4, apparently. Its elevation to the new holy grail of lost episodes was probably just invented to lead in to the bit about Roger K. Barratt and that almost-returned tape. But they had a point. Say you were allowed any one episode back. You'd be tempted wouldn't you?

The irony is that the episode itself is probably quite boring and of completely limited interest to the Doctor Who fan, let alone anyone else. There are no "classic scenes" bar the one we've got already thanks to Blue Peter, and the first three parts give us an ample example of the Cybermen, South Pole setting and all the other characters, were proof of Robert Beatty's dialogue-churning performance required for historical reference. Above all, we've as good as got the wretched thing already. No, we have!

I've got a recon of Part 4 somewhere which attempts to cobble together visuals for Part 4 from tiny clips taken from the rest of the story. As DWM pointed out back in the mid-eighties (in an amusing two page April Fools gag that made out the episode had been rediscovered and colourised) there is only one set and one character that hasn't already been seen in an early episode at the end of episode 3 point. And if you watch the recon, squinting to cover up the crudely edited clips and people speaking words that haven't yet emanated from their mouths, it's right there in front of you. Tenth Planet Part 4, that precious thing that has caused such a fuss by its absence for all these years.

In truth, the age of being able to utilise the material we do have to the full in such a way has pretty much killed off the big push to find this missing episode. Either that or nobody cares anymore. Still, I bet it's remained at the top of someone's wishlist. The final Hartnell episode, the closing of that magical adventure in the snow and, don't deny it, there's still an excited shiver to be had from the prospect of seeing Hartnell actually stumble into the TARDIS for the last time to regenerate, rather than having to join the moment just as its about to happen, devoid of any momentum or atmosphere.

And yet when you actually stop to think about it, we'd have nothing really to gain but completeness if Roger Barratt's tape had really contained that magical missing episode.