For fans of the long-running science-fiction series Doctor Who, Easter 2026 will bring a surprise as two long-lost episodes, presumed missing for over six decades, are set to make their return. The episodes, titled "The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil's Planet," both from the show's third season and part of the epic 12-part arc The Daleks’ Master Plan, have been discovered in the most unlikely of places—a private collection donated to a Leicester-based charitable trust, Film is Fabulous! (FIF).
The rediscovery marks the first confirmed find of lost Doctor Who episodes since 2013, ending the longest gap in the show’s history without a recovered installment. According to BBC News, the episodes were unearthed while FIF catalogued a massive archive of home videos and film reels bequeathed by an anonymous collector after his death. Among hundreds of tapes—many chronicling trains and canals—were two reels that would delight television historians and fans alike.
The episodes in question, "The Nightmare Begins" (originally aired in November 1965) and "Devil’s Planet" (aired two weeks later), feature William Hartnell as the First Doctor and Peter Purves as his companion, Steven Taylor. Also appearing are Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon, Adrienne Hill as Katarina, and Kevin Stoney as the villainous Mavic Chen. The story arc, penned primarily by Daleks creator Terry Nation, is renowned among fans for its dark and gritty tone. It follows the Doctor and his companions as they uncover a conspiracy between the Daleks and Mavic Chen, the self-styled Guardian of the Solar System, who plots to conquer the solar system using a powerful weapon known as the Time Destructor.
In a statement to the Press Association, Noreen Adams, Director of BBC Archives, expressed her excitement: "We're thrilled to have worked with the team at Film is Fabulous! to bring these lost Doctor Who episodes to viewers on BBC iPlayer this Easter. BBC Archives has been working to restore the original recordings and update these to broadcast quality, ensuring fans can enjoy a little extra treat with their Easter Eggs this April." The restoration process involved converting the original 16mm telerecordings to modern standards, allowing a new generation to experience these slices of television history.
The significance of this find goes beyond mere nostalgia. As Forbes reports, the BBC’s archival practices in the 1960s and 1970s led to the loss of 95 of the 253 episodes from the show’s first six years. During that era, the BBC routinely erased tapes to reuse them, a cost-saving measure that inadvertently erased large swathes of television history. While the number of missing episodes has shrunk over the years thanks to the efforts of fans and international broadcasters, the tally still stands at 95. Every recovered episode is a small miracle—especially those from The Daleks’ Master Plan, a storyline that was never aired in Australia or New Zealand due to its violent content and thus was not widely syndicated overseas.
Justin Smith, professor of cinema and television history at Leicester’s De Montfort University and chair of trustees at FIF, told the BBC: "These are gems in what was an eclectic and ramshackle collection, a lot of which hadn't been looked after as well as the Doctor Who had. The collector did recognise what he had, but how he acquired them has been lost to time." Smith added, "A debt of gratitude is owed to the anonymous late collector, whose films—largely focused on his love of trains and canals—were donated to FIF after he died."
The emotional resonance of the find was not lost on Peter Purves, now 87, who played Steven Taylor alongside Hartnell’s Doctor. Purves was invited to the Phoenix Cinema in Leicester under the pretense of participating in interviews about 1960s television, only to be surprised with a screening of the newly recovered episodes. After viewing them, Purves quipped to the BBC: "My flabber has never been so gasted. I've never forgiven the BBC for losing those episodes – it would be really nice to get a few royalties." He went on to reflect, "It was the fourth appearance of the Daleks and it'll be exciting to fans for a lot of reasons. The fans of Doctor Who are legion, and they seriously love the classic times."
To celebrate the restoration, a special screening of the episodes is scheduled to take place in London on April 4, 2026, with Purves attending as guest of honour. The episodes will then be made available to the public on BBC iPlayer, joining a growing catalogue of Doctor Who content known as The Whoniverse. This Easter, fans both old and new will be able to stream these once-lost treasures, experiencing the suspense and intrigue of The Daleks’ Master Plan as viewers did more than sixty years ago.
Notably, while the video for 95 episodes remains missing, the audio for all lost episodes survives. Dedicated fans recorded the original broadcasts, and in recent years, several missing stories have been animated using these audio tracks and production stills. This creative workaround has kept the spirit of the classic series alive, but nothing quite matches the thrill of finding the original footage.
The original Doctor Who series aired from 1963 until 1989, before being rebooted in 2005. The latest season, featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor, aired in 2025. The finale of Gatwa’s second season was a notable event in its own right, with his Doctor regenerating and being replaced—at least temporarily—by Billie Piper, who played Rose Tyler, the Doctor’s first companion in the rebooted series. Jodie Whittaker, the 13th Doctor, also made a guest appearance, with the episode’s credits reading: "Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor. Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. And introducing Billie Piper."
The rediscovery of "The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil’s Planet" comes as a reminder of both the fragility and resilience of television history. As the BBC and organizations like Film is Fabulous! continue their search, fans can only hope that more lost episodes will one day see the light. For now, these two restored adventures offer a rare glimpse into the early days of a series that has spanned generations, inspired countless imaginations, and, against the odds, continues to surprise its audience.