Is The Missing Episode Rumour Just Blowing Smoke?

Nick Kitchen is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

And here we go again! A little while back, Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool ran with the rumors that several of the missing Doctor Who episodes had been returned to the BBC, which forced the BBC to publicly say that there was nothing to report at this time.

However, Rich also initially reported that along with those long sought after episodes of Doctor Who, there were also missing episodes of Dad’s Army and Morecambe and Wise in the reported findings. Where it gets really interesting is that Bleeding Cool is reporting that the BBC’s site for Dad’s Army’s second series has a teaser that indicates the missing three black and white episodes from series two are coming soon.

Where does this leave us? Is this Rich’s smoking gun? Maybe, maybe not. The question that really needs to be asked is what would benefit would come from denying the finding of the lost episodes, if in fact, they have been found?

A couple of initial thoughts; firstly, being the big 5-0 year for Who, a finding of this magnitude should be cause for celebration at the BBC, especially if these episodes can be restored in time to air before the end of the year, not to mention the revenue from subsequent DVD releases. Secondly, isn’t it possible that this a coincidence and that even though they were initially rumored to be tied to the haul allegedly containing the Who episodes, the Dad’s Army episodes are returning from a different source? Given that the website teased that more information would be forthcoming, hopefully we’ll know more soon. Lastly, if the BBC is staying mum on the fact that these episodes have returned, is the silence another (and rather cost effective marketing) way to keep Doctor Who in internet news and speculation while we barrel towards November? Given the problem with leaks and unintentional early shipments lately, you can only hope the payoff is worth the work that they would be putting in to keep it under wraps.

You can read the whole thing over at Bleeding Cool. What do you think? Smoking gun or blowing smoke?

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