SOUNDTRACKS

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.

STORY
SUPERIOR QUALITY RECORDIST BY EPISODE
Marco Polo
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman





The Reign of Terror
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman






The Crusade
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman








Galaxy 4
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman








Mission to the Unknown
David
Butler











The Myth Makers
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman








The Daleks’ Master Plan
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
David
Holman
Graham
Strong
The Massacre
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong








The Celestial Toymaker
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman
David
Holman








The Savages
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong








The Smugglers
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong








The Tenth Planet
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong








The Power of the Daleks
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong






The Highlanders
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong








The Underwater Menace
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong








The Moonbase
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong








The Macra Terror
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong








The Faceless Ones
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong






The Evil of the Daleks
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong





The Abominable Snowmen
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong






The Ice Warriors
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong






The Web of Fear
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong






Fury from the Deep
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong






The Wheel in Space
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong
Graham
Strong






The Invasion
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording




The Space Pirates
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording
Australian  Recording






               
 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)       

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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.