Telesnaps

A few posts back we looked at missing episode reconstructions and the use of 'telesnaps', together with surviving audio soundtracks, to rebuild lost episodes.

Audio soundtracks exist for all the missing stories, which have now also all been released on CD with supporting narration.

Telesnaps exist for the majority, but not all, missing episodes. No original telesnaps are known to exist for the first Doctor stories The Reign of Terror, Galaxy 4, The Myth Makers, Dalek Masterplan, The Massacre, or for the later second Doctor stories The Invasion and the The Space Pirates.

Some stories are incomplete - no telesnaps are known to exist for the fourth episode of Marco Polo, The Wall of Lies, although records indicate that they were taken. Telesnaps aren’t known to exist for the fourth episode of The Enemy of the World.

Many telesnaps were published in Doctor Who Magazine (DWM), and their Classic Comics (DWCC) spin off magazine, and also appear on the Beeb's classic series website in the photonovel format (here).

First Doctor

Marco Polo - DWM 342 – 347 (missing Episode 4)
The Reign of Terror - no telesnaps surivive
The Crusade - DWM 280 and BBC Website
Galaxy 4 - no telesnaps surivive
Mission to the Unknown - no telesnaps surivive
The Myth Makers - no telesnaps surivive
The Daleks' Master Plan - no telesnaps surivive (remade for Episode 2, on BBC Website)
The Massacre - no telesnaps surivive
The Celestial Toymaker - no telesnaps surivive for episodes 1-3
The Savages - BBC Website
The Smugglers - DWM 217 and BBC Website
The Tenth Planet - DWM 207


Second Doctor

The Power of the Daleks - BBC Website
The Highlanders - DWM 233 – 236 and BBC Website
The Underwater Menace - DWM 220 – 223 and BBC Website
The Moonbase - BBC Website
The Macra Terror - DWM 251 – 254 and BBC Website
The Faceless Ones - DWM 260 – 264, 266 and BBC Website
The Evil of the Daleks - DWM 237 – 243 and BBC Website
The Abominable Snowman - DWM 224 – 229 and BBC Website
The Ice Warriors - DWCC 24 – 26, DWM 217 – 219 and BBC Website
The Enemy of the World - DWM 273 – 277 and BBC Website (missing Episode 4)
The Web of Fear - DWCC 18 – 20, DWM 211 – 213 and BBC Website
Fury from the Deep - DWCC 15 – 17, DWM 208 – 210 and BBC Website
The Wheel in Space - DWCC 21 – 23, DWM 214 – 216 and BBC Website
The Invasion - no telesnaps surivive
The Space Pirates - no telesnaps surivive

There's an excellent detailed article on Who telesnaps here.

Troughton Screensavers

Hidden amongst the photonovel recons for the missing episode stories on the Beeb's classic series website, there are downloadable screensavers for several Troughton stories - apparently the whole tale told in around forty telesnaps.


Visit the main photonovel menu here, and click through to the story you want. Scroll down to the bottom and you should see the link through to the screensaver.

The Power of the Daleks
The Moonbase (Cybermen)
The Macra Terror
Abominable Snowman
Fury from the Deep

The screensaver is only available for PCs, running Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME and NT.

Missing Episode Reconstructions

Audio sountracks exist for all the missing episodes, which has allowed the BBC to release the audio soundtracks on CD, with supporting narration. The odd surviving episodes from these stories, known as 'orphaned' episodes, were released on video in the Hartnell Years, Troughton Years, Daleks - The Early Years, and Cybermen - The Early Years compilations, and on DVD as the 'Lost in Time' compilation, both of which included many of the surviving clips from lost episodes.


In addition there also exist still photographs taken off-screen by photographer John Cura. Cura was hired by the BBC, and independently by many actors and production staff, to document the transmission of many of their most popular programmes from the 1940s to the 1960s, including Doctor Who. These 'tele-snaps' were generally used to promote BBC programmes and for actors, directors, and other production crew members to keep a visual record of their own work in the days before home video recorders. In many cases, they form the only visual record remaining of several Doctor Who serials and other missing episodes of many programmes.

You can view the telesnaps online in a 'photonovel' format for most missing episode stories on the Beebs classic series website here. Notable exceptions include Marco Polo, the Daleks Masterplan and The Invasion.

Since the late 1990s, reconstructions of the missing serials have been made by fan groups such as Loose Cannon Productions (visit their website here), who distribute them free. These "recons" are based on the directors' original camera scripts, and use a combination of the surviving soundtracks, surviving footage, photographs, still images (especially Cura's tele-snaps) and specially-recreated material. Although technically infringing copyright, these recons have been tolerated by the BBC, provided they are not sold for profit and are only distributed in degradable, non-digital formats such as VHS.

Officially released high-quality reconstructions using the same methods were made for the BBC Video releases of The Ice Warriors (a 12-minute 'highlights' reconstruction bridging the missing Episodes 2 and 3) and The Tenth Planet (a full reconstruction of the missing Episode 4).


Abridged VHS releases, with the surviving episodes and linking material recorded by actors (The Reign of Terror, The Crusade, and The Invasion) or with audio CD recordings of the missing episodes (The Crusade and The Ice Warriors) were also released, and subsequent DVD releases should see improved formats.

In 2005, BBC Audio released a reconstruction in an "MP3 CD" format. Under the 'Doctor Who: Reconstructed' banner, the CD included the same audio portions as the previous audio CD release, but on a single disc with Macromedia Flash-animated and synchronised slideshow of tele-snaps and other (publicity) photographs. (The surviving clips could not be included.) The Power of the Daleks was the first and last such reconstruction to be released: a mooted release in this form of the following story, The Highlanders, did not go ahead, due to poor sales of the initial release.


In 2006, The Invasion, an eight-episode Second Doctor serial of which six episodes survive in the archives, was released on DVD with the missing Episodes 1 and 4 animated by Cosgrove Hall, matched up with a newly-remastered soundtrack.

The DVD box set Doctor Who: The Beginning consisted of the first three serials and a 30-minute reconstruction of Marco Polo, of which no footage exists.