The Web of Fear and Enemy of the the World were only announced two months ago, in some respects however it seems like a lifetime ago.
Hopes of Marco Polo have come and gone and come again, we’ve had rumours of The Massacre and The Macra Terror and secret screenings of Power of the Daleks, things have got heated and died down once again. Yet the BBC shouldn’t be blamed for any of the “delays” in further announcements, nor a lack of communication. The simple fact is that for the most part, everybody is as in the dark as everybody else and there has been some effort to address the situation made online, maybe some recognising that patience has been wearing a little thin in some quarters.
Yet there is a precedent that may offer up some explanations.
When Airlock was discovered it was made known to Paul Vanezis, who despite some belief does not work for the BBC. Paul then (in consultation with his team) personally decided to hold off announcing it until the BFI’s Missing Believed Wiped that year to make a big splash. As a freelancer and under no obligation to the Beeb, nothing more had to be said as the episode wasn’t being returned directly to them. The head of BBC Video Sue Kerr was informed as was Caroline Skinner who was then fully briefed on the RT’s ongoing work (including presumably Project Africa), they were the only ones in the know.
Even though the situation is very different, what it does show is how small these things actually are and how tight the circle is. The number of people who are fully in the know about what the situation is will be absolutely minimal. This isn’t a situation where everybody who works at the BBC and their friends are fully “in the loop” and it will be being done entirely on a need to know basis. Unfortunately as Richard Molesworth was kind enough to remind everyone, the fans are last on that need to know list. People will know what they need to know to do their job, some will know more than others, some will have heard gossip, some will have heard from a friend, but when seeking information from people.. It’s incredibly likely they really don’t know fully what’s going on.
Contact negotiations are not a simple business, certainly not things open to general canteen discussion at the BBC and they can often be tense and secret affairs even at the table, each player holding his cards close to his chest. In this case Phil Morris has his cards - missing episodes of Doctor Who that he can do nothing with and the BBC have their cards, the copyright and ability to distribute that material. What form will that distribution take? how much money goes where? what is released first? what publicity is given? will the releases be staggered for maximum publicity? there are so many things that will have to be dealt with before you even consider existing contacts that may need renegotiation or third party involvement.
And that in turn leads to an understanding of a certain nervousness on certain topics such as financial dealings and so forth. In a contract negotiation, exposure of one individual’s hand can lead to untold consequences. It’s akin to a random individual running around the poker table and announcing everybody else’s cards. One party may end up paying far more for something than they intended or another ending up with a poor deal and walking away.
And such things are not just limited to any talks with TIEA.
The returns from Phil Morris also present an opportunity for the BBC in terms of private collectors. With Phil having recovered who knows what, if Mr Private Collector is sitting on a copy of The Macra Terror as the prize of his collection, suddenly a question has been raised as to how much those films will be worth next year, both in monetary terms and as private bragging rights. If a collector believes Morris may have found another copy, he is far more likely to be co-operative in negotiations with the Beeb and it serves no purpose for Phil Morris to suddenly announce all he holds. Once that information is verified public knowledge, the opportunity to “spook” the private collector is gone.
In that way some aspects of the rumour mill can be incredibly useful and not a detriment, for example if this random collector suddenly hears at Gallifrey Base that Morris has just found The Smugglers, his eyes may turn toward his contact list and phoning the BBC post haste. Disinformation thus serves a purpose in a grander strategy.
So whether it may be negotiations with TIEA, with private collectors or even outside companies that we might suspect is holding the process up, those episodes are safe and in the hands of Phil Morris. No matter what, he has no intention of hoarding them away as showpieces in a collection, they will see the light of day. Of course this is all mere conjecture and who really knows why there hasn’t been anything else returned.. but we feel confident that these episodes will be returned in due course, it will surely be a magnificent 2014.
Until then… Go forward in all your beliefs and I hope Phil Morris will prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine 
Oh…
And a very Merry Christmas to all of you at home!
Comments
All opinion pieces and reviews published on this website are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of this website as a whole.
Any articles based on rumours will come from a variety of sources and may be true, true in part or completely false, they should not be repeated as fact nor taken as anything other than the rumours they are until there is confirmation from official sources.
