In the sixties, the concept of domestic videotape recorders was
virtually unknown to the general public. Some did exist, but they were
cumbersome, expensive and rare. Various fans however, decided to concentrate on
recording not what they could see, but what they could hear.
The process of recovering complete audio soundtracks of missing episodes
hasn't nearly been as large as the recovery of visual materials (it wasn't
considered important enough to warrant a search), but with the formation of the
Restoration Team in 1991, the search for missing audios came to the fore.
Five stories affected by the BBC’s junking policy were released on audio
cassette in the early 90s; The Macra
Terror and The Evil of the Daleks
in 1992 and The Tomb of the Cybermen,
The Power of the Daleks and Fury from the Deep in 1993. Jon
Pertwee, Tom Baker and Colin Baker provided the linking narration, with the
releases of Power and Fury being narrated ‘in-character’ as
Tom Baker recalling a memory of his earlier incarnation as opposed to a direct
narration. The release of Tomb was a
contractual obligation as the four missing episodes were recovered and rushed
onto VHS in 1992, the audio release being delayed until 1993.
Beginning with The Massacre
in 1999, the missing episode stories were released on audio CD. The audio was
cleaned up significantly better than the cassette releases. The original
narrations were dropped and replaced by Anneke Wills and Frazer Hines. Usually
a story would be released by itself, others (such as Power and Evil) were
released in a box set with bonus features, though would later become available
singularly. The lost stories were released again on CD in 2010 in five box
sets. In 2006 existing stories began being released on CD, beginning with The Tomb of the Cybermen. In recent
years, stories have become available as digital downloads from online sites
such as Audible.
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STORY
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SUPERIOR QUALITY RECORDIST BY EPISODE
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Marco Polo
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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The Reign of Terror
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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The Crusade
|
David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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Galaxy 4
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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Mission to the Unknown
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David
Butler
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The Myth Makers
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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The Daleks’ Master Plan
|
David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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Graham
Strong
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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David
Holman
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Graham
Strong
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The Massacre
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Celestial Toymaker
|
David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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David
Holman
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The Savages
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Smugglers
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Tenth Planet
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Power of the Daleks
|
Graham
Strong
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Highlanders
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Underwater Menace
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Moonbase
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Macra Terror
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Faceless Ones
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Evil of the Daleks
|
Graham
Strong
|
Graham
Strong
|
Graham
Strong
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Abominable Snowmen
|
Graham
Strong
|
Graham
Strong
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Ice Warriors
|
Graham
Strong
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Web of Fear
|
Graham
Strong
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Fury from the Deep
|
Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Wheel in Space
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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Graham
Strong
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The Invasion
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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The Space Pirates
|
Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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Australian Recording
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RICHARD LANDEN
Richard Landen has one of the largest collections of Doctor Who
soundtracks, starting early in Season Three and finishing with the second to
last story of Season Fifteen – an impressive 12 years of audio recordings. Even
more impressive is all bar one of the episodes still exist. Richard used a
microphone to capture the audio, but from The
Ice Warriors onwards he managed to hook up his recorder to the TV and take
the line output, giving his audio a much clearer sound. Richard’s audio began
circulating within fandom from the late 1970s.
AUDIO HAS BEEN USED IN:
The Evil
of the Daleks – Double Audio Cassette (1992)
The Macra
Terror – Double Audio Cassette (1992)
The
Celestial Toymaker – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 1999)
The
Massacre – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (November 2001)
The
Invasion – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (February 2003)
The
Daleks' Master Plan – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 2003)
The Space
Pirates - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 2007)
The Wheel
in Space - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (August 2011)
The Web
of Fear - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 2011)
The
Celestial Toymaker - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (January 2012)
JAMES RUSSELL
After the discovery of the James Russell’s collection, all soundtracks
were now recovered and complete. It should be noted however that James Russell
secretly retained both The Crusade & Galaxy 4 as bargaining
material should any other high quality recordings be found in the future and
could be used for bartering. As such, they weren't available to the general
public and are technically still missing at this stage. Nothing came of this,
however, as in 1995 David Holman returned higher quality recordings of both
stories to the BBC.
AUDIO HAS BEEN USED IN:
The Reign
of Terror – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (September 2000)
The
Crusade – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 2000)
Marco Polo
– Loose Cannon Reconstruction (February 2002)
The Crusade - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (January 2011)
The Reign
of Terror - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (March 2012)
Marco
Polo - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (January 2013)
DAVID HOLMAN
David Holman began recording his episodes early in the first season and
continued right up until The Three Doctors 4. David edited his episodes
after broadcast and removed the opening and closing titles (plus
cliff-hangers/reprisals) to make the stories flow better. As such, some stories
have the first and/or the last few seconds from each episode missing (it is
rumoured he did this to save reel space, but after examining his footage it was
found there was still several minutes’ worth of tape left at the end of
recordings). David Holman's recordings were of very high quality, though not as
high as Graham Strong's. His collection did contain the highest quality
recording of Marco Polo known to date, and, between David and Graham
Strong, did have the complete collection of missing Doctor Who episodes from
the 1960's. 10” of David Holman’s recording of Marco Polo 7 is missing;
James Russell’s version covers this. Similarly around a minute of David’s
recording of The Reign of Terror 4 is missing; again James Russell’s
version covers this.
AUDIO HAS BEEN USED IN:
Marco
Polo – MP3-CD Release (2003)
The Myth
Makers – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (August 1998)
The
Celestial Toymaker – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 1999)
Galaxy 4
– Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 1999)
The Reign
of Terror – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (September 2000)
The
Crusade – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 2000)
The Enemy
of the World – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (March 2001)
Marco
Polo – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (February 2002)
The
Daleks' Master Plan – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 2003)
The Myth
Makers – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (September 2006)
The
Crusade - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (January 2011)
The
Celestial Toymaker - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (January 2012)
The Reign
of Terror - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (March 2012)
Marco
Polo - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (January 2013)
DAVID BUTLER
Like Graham Strong, David Butler began recording Doctor Who at the age
of 14, starting with The Web Planet 4 and going all the way through to Logopolis
4. David's collection is very "pot-holed"; due to financial
constraints David couldn't record every single episode from a story and was
forced to be was very selective. Usually, David’s collection consisted of the
first and last episode of a story, although there are some exceptions, such as The
Web of Fear, where he was able to acquire enough tapes to record the whole
serial. Much of the Butler Collection stems from the Troughton Era, as by that
time he had a job and was able to afford more tapes for recording (I don’t have
the specific serials David recorded). David Butler’s recording of Mission
to the Unknown is considered the best of the known recordists.
AUDIO HAS BEEN USED IN:
Mission
to the Unknown – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (September 2000)
The Tenth
Planet – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (September 1998 – Later Withdrawn)
The
Invasion – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (February 2003)
The
Abominable Snowmen - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (April 2006)
The Wheel
in Space - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (August 2011)
The Web
of Fear - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 2011)
GRAHAM STRONG
Graham Strong began recording Doctor Who episodes when he was only 14.
To capture the episodes off air, Graham used a poor-quality microphone (albeit
one that didn't pick up the hum of the TV) on a second-hand recorder. He used
this up until The Daleks' Master Plan 7, after which he decided to alter
his way of recording off-air. Graham was interested in electronics, and he used
this to find a way to record the audio signal directly from the TV itself. He
just had to make sure that connecting the recorder to the TV wouldn't blow a
fuse (which apparently it did on early attempts). From The Daleks' Master
Plan 8, Graham's recordings were a huge improvement over previous attempts,
and are considered 'crystal clear' in terms of quality (it should be pointed
out that of all the Audio Recoveries, Graham Strong appears to be the only
individual to record audio in this manner). In 1995 Strong gave some tapes to
fan Paul Lee, who in turn passed a tape onto fan Lee Bagnall. Bagnall was so
impressed by the quality he contacted Peter Finklestone, who knew members of
the BBC's Restoration Team. Bagnall passed on Lee's details and the rest is
history. In fact, the quality was so impressive that at times they were better
than the soundtracks held by the BBC film prints; Graham Strong's recording of The
Tenth Planet 2 was used to improve the quality of the existing episode for
the video release. After developing his crystal clear formula for recording,
Graham archived all of his episodes until he lost interest in the series during
Season Six. There are however some gaps in his collection, including The
Daleks' Master Plan 11 (never recorded), The Gunfighters 1 2 3 4
(recorded but erased), and The Celestial Toymaker 1 2 3 4 (recorded but
erased). Prior to perfecting his crystal clear method of recording, the only
episodes to survive include The Keys of Marinus 1, The Sensorites 1,
The Dalek Invasion of Earth 1 (a small fragment only) and The Space
Museum 1.
AUDIO HAS BEEN USED IN:
The
Daleks' Master Plan / Mission to the Unknown – MP3-CD Release (2003)
The
Daleks' Master Plan / Mission to the Unknown – Five CD Box Set Release (2001)
The Tenth
Planet – VHS Release (2000)
The War
Machines – VHS Release (1997)
The Macra
Terror – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (April 1998)
The Faceless
Ones – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (June 1998)
The
Savages – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (April 1999)
The
Smugglers – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (April 1999)
The
Highlanders – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (July 1999)
The Power
of the Daleks – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (July 1999)
The
Massacre – CD Release - BBC Radio Collection (August 1999)
The Web
of Fear – CD Release – BBC Radio Collection (March 2000)
The Enemy
of the World – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (March 2001)
The
Massacre – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (November 2001)
The
Moonbase – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (September 2002)
The Web
of Fear – MP3-CD Release (with The Abominable Snowmen) BBC Radio Collection
(April 2003)
The Web
of Fear – CD Re-release (Yeti Attack Boxset) BBC Radio Collection (April 2003)
The
Massacre – CD Re-release (Adventures in History boxset) BBC Radio Collection
(August 2003)
The
Daleks' Master Plan – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 2003)
The Ice
Warriors – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (November 2004)
Fury from
the Deep – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (February 2005)
The
Underwater Menace – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (August 2005)
The Macra
Terror – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (January 2006)
The
Abominable Snowmen – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (April 2006)
The Highlanders
- Loose Cannon Reconstruction (August 2007)
The
Savages - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (February 2008)
The
Smugglers - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (August 2008)
The Evil
of the Daleks - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (January 2009)
The
Faceless Ones - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (August 2009)
The
Massacre – CD Re-release (The Lost TV Episodes Collection 2: 1965-1966 boxset)
BBC Audio (August 2003)
The Wheel
in Space - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (August 2011)
The Web
of Fear - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (December 2011)
The Enemy
of the World - Loose Cannon Reconstruction (June 2012)
The Web
of Fear – CD Re-release (The Lost TV Episodes Collection 5: 1967-1969 boxset)
BBC Audio (August 2012)
AUSTRALIAN RECORDINGS
There
have been various orphan recordings spring up over the years, and little is
known of who actually recorded them. Episodes include Fury from the Deep,
The Wheel in Space, The Invasion and The Space Pirates.
They are identified as being from Australia due to the accent of the continuity
announcements at the end of each episode.
AUDIO HAS BEEN USED IN:
The Wheel
in Space – MP3-CD Release (2003)
The
Invasion – MP3-CD Release (2003)
The Space
Pirates – MP3-CD Release (2003)
The Space
Pirates – Loose Cannon Reconstruction (November 1998)
ALLEN WILSON
Allen Wilson only recorded a handful of episodes, from Galaxy 4
to The Daleks Master Plan. All of Allen’s episodes already exist from
David Holman's or Graham Strong’s collections. Allen's copy of Mission to
the Unknown is considered superior to Holman's, and even included the audio
of the continuity announcer prior to the episode trailing a brand new series
called 'The Munsters'. However David Butler’s version of Mission to the
Unknown is superior to this version.
OTHERS
Officially
David Stead provided the copy of The Tomb of the Cybermen to the BBC for their
release in 1993, however the recordings had several owners before reaching
David. Fan Mike Smallman acquired the recordings from a gentleman in
Manchester, and later gave the recordings to David Stead. David restored the
recordings as best he could, as apparently they were running slightly faster
than normal.
AUDIO HAS BEEN USED IN:
The Tomb
of the Cybermen – Double Cassette Release (1993)
--------
Marc
Platt is better known as a Doctor Who writer. Marc didn't start recording
properly until The War Games, although did record segments of earlier episodes.
