The President of Zimbabwe apparently possesses tapes of some early episodes of the science fiction series that could be thirty or forty years old, according to The Sun.
Some Doctor Who programmes were deleted by the BBC in the late sixties and seventies to make room in the Beeb’s film library for new shows and Zimbabwe is thought to have bought the first season of the time-travel series when it was still the British colony Rhodesia.
But because of poor diplomatic relations with the country, UK researchers are unable to look in Zimbabwe’s TV vaults and cannot know for sure if President Mugabe owns the missing 1963 and 1964 series starring William Hartnell.
The BBC, which is missing 108 of 752 Doctor Who episodes and wants to recover lost episodes to release on DVD, also suspects that some later programmes not held anywhere else in the world may also be in Zimbabwe.
Over the decades some previously lost episodes have been relocated as far away as Hong Kong and New Zealand.
A BBC source apparently told The Sun: “We have looked all over the world for missing Doctor Who episodes but there are still some broadcasters we have not spoken to. Zimbabwe could prove a problem as there is so much red tape.
“There is a fear that we may never get our hands on the footage and that would be a real shame for fans.”
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