Two long‑missing episodes of Doctor Who are finally returning to fans more than six decades after they first aired, with “The Nightmare Begins” and “Devil’s Planet” set to join the BBC iPlayer Whoniverse this Easter, according to Deadline. The installments come from the third series serial The Daleks’ Master Plan, a sprawling sci‑fi storyline written by Terry Nation (Survivors, Blake’s 7) that originally aired in the mid‑1960s. Long believed to be lost, the episodes were recently unearthed in a private collection and handed over to the BBC.
The discovery was made by Film is Fabulous!, a charitable trust run by film collectors and television enthusiasts, which located the Doctor Who reels and then contacted the BBC archive team, per Deadline. The corporation restored the episodes from their original 16mm telerecordings, upgrading them to modern broadcast quality so they can sit alongside the rest of the classic catalog on BBC iPlayer. The Whoniverse hub already houses stories from across the show’s history, including the most recent season starring Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education, Barbie).
“The Daleks’ Master Plan” originally starred William Hartnell (This Sporting Life, The Mouse That Roared) as the First Doctor and Peter Purves (The Desperate People, The Wild Affair) as companion Steven Taylor, according to Deadline. The serial also featured Nicholas Courtney (The Avengers, The Champions) as Bret Vyon, Adrienne Hill (The Avengers, Emergency – Ward 10) as Katarina, and Kevin Stoney (The Prisoner, I, Claudius) as villainous Mavic Chen. Their performances have been largely inaccessible for decades due to the missing material, making this recovery a major event for long‑time Whovians and archive TV fans alike.
BBC Archives Director Noreen Adams celebrated the find and the restoration work in an official statement highlighted by Deadline. “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,” Adams said. “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 Easter drop arrives as the franchise stands at a transitional moment. The next Doctor Who installment will be a Christmas special penned by current showrunner Russell T Davies (It’s Sin, Queer as Folk), even as the show’s longer‑term future is being reassessed following Disney’s exit from its co‑production deal, according to Deadline. Still, BBC drama leadership has stressed that Doctor Who “isn’t going anywhere,” and the return of these classic episodes underlines how central the series remains to the broadcaster’s identity and to generations of science‑fiction fans