Six long lost episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ which feature the first ever regeneration are to be turned into an animated series by the BBC – 50 years after they aired.
‘The Power of the Daleks’ starred Patrick Troughton in his first adventure as the Second Doctor after taking over the role from William Hartnell and aired between 5 November to 10 December 1966.
The serial is among the many episodes that were erased from the BBC archive before the organisation realised the value of such shows and is one of the most sought after stories for fans as it was only shown once in the UK and only sold overseas to Australia and New Zealand.
According to the Daily Mirror newspaper, BBC Worldwide has commissioned a company to animate the six-part story using state-of-the-art techniques based on off-screen photos taken at the time of filming.
Just a few short clips some poor quality cine footage shot by a fan are known to be in existence.
The plot features the Second Doctor explaining to his companions Ben (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills) how his appearance has changed stating the TARDIS has "renewed" him before they must fight his most deadly enemies the Daleks on the planet Vulcan.
BBC Worldwide is actively searching for the other lost episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ with a significant find coming in 2013 when all six episodes of ‘The Enemy of the World’ and five instalments of ‘The Web of Fear’ were found by Phillip Morris, director of Television International Enterprises Archive, in a television relay station in Jos in Nigeria.
The next series of ‘Doctor Who’ is currently being filmed with Peter Capaldi returning as the Twelfth Doctor along and Pearl Mackie joining the sci-fi show as new companion Bill.
Lost Doctor Who story being made into animated series
