Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2018 13:42:21 GMT
If this has raised before then apologies, but has anyone ever thought of attempting to contact any ex-BBC employees (editors, engineers, technicians) who had anything to do with the junking of film copies of Doctor Who episodes? If the ex-employees are even traceable from BBC employment records, that is. Then there's also the people who drove the skip lorries to dispose of films (Australia returns in 1975 for e.g.), and those who worked in the refuse areas (if we even know the location) to consider. The reason I raise this is because in one DWM interview, William Russell recalled encountering one BBC employee in the corridors of Broadcasting House walking out with a wheelbarrow of unwanted films. From this he reasoned that missing material must be out there. So we could draw from this one example that there must be those who took some films home, rather than junk them. I don't think any of the recovered episodes have ever been proven to have been saved for this reason? But there's always the possibility that others out there are still in existence for this reason alone.
Now, I realize that this is a sensitive, grey area; for example, if I was working for the BBC in the early 70s and had taken home two Doctor Who episodes marked for junking, then I would have known at the time that I was doing this unofficially. So, years later, if I received an e-mail or call from some anonymous person, asking if I had any BBC film material, I would no doubt be freaking out over 1) why is someone contacting me 2) how did they get my details and 3) am I in big trouble for being found out to unofficially possess this BBC property? So, given the importance of someone's privacy for one thing, what would be the best way to bring an awareness to these people? I can obviously see that the best way, ultimately, is to wait for the day when they themselves decide to come forward, of their own free will to submit their missing material. But what if the case here is that they're just not aware, or have forgotten about what episodes they may have?
Now, I realize that this is a sensitive, grey area; for example, if I was working for the BBC in the early 70s and had taken home two Doctor Who episodes marked for junking, then I would have known at the time that I was doing this unofficially. So, years later, if I received an e-mail or call from some anonymous person, asking if I had any BBC film material, I would no doubt be freaking out over 1) why is someone contacting me 2) how did they get my details and 3) am I in big trouble for being found out to unofficially possess this BBC property? So, given the importance of someone's privacy for one thing, what would be the best way to bring an awareness to these people? I can obviously see that the best way, ultimately, is to wait for the day when they themselves decide to come forward, of their own free will to submit their missing material. But what if the case here is that they're just not aware, or have forgotten about what episodes they may have?
