Africa Progress 2010

[Paul Vanezis]

Hi Everyone,

I've decided to start a new thread as the other Africa progress thread was getting rather unweildy.

There has been a lot of interest in the Africa search since the Radio 4 'Archive Hour' documentary and many have been wondering about precisely what has been found.

That's easy to answer; no 'Doctor Who' I'm afraid, but other material has been identified by Philip Morris in a foreign archive and we hope to be in a position to explain what and where it is soon.

The two countries Phil has visited and for which we can say there is no 'Doctor Who' or other BBC material are Zambia and Kenya. Whilst both displayed evidence of BBC material being there in the past, there is certainly nothing there now.

That's all that we can say at the moment, but as countries are visited and eliminated we'll let you know.

Regards,

Paul

[pnewman]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the update on this, it’s much appreciated. Please pass a big thanks to Phil and everyone involved in the search.

Glad to hear while no Dr Who has turned up as yet, other material has been identified. Thinking positively, I’m sure soon, some missing Dr Who episodes will turn up as a result of all the hard work (and expense no doubt!) being carried out.

'Keep the faith'

Thanks again.

Kind regards,

Paul.

[dennywilson]

Besides Africa, where else is there left to check?

Is there any other regions of Africa that hasn't been checked?

[Ally Wilson]

Well done Phil! If anything substantial is left to be found I'm sure you'll find it!

What about the supposedly hundreds of thousands of uncatalogued holdings which are alleged to exist in African national archives though? Surely he hasn't been through them all?

[adriane17]

I have heard that after Rhodesia declared UDI in 1965 and after the cultural boycott of South Africa in protest at apartheid was imposed in the 1960s copies of various television programmes found their way into those countries via unofficial channels so may be there is something there although it is hard to believe that they would be held in any orderly manner over 40 years on.

We need to be thankful for the likes of Paul and Phil searching so methodically. Obviously these things take time as I doubt many foreign TV stations are interested in devoting much time and resources in looking.

[Paul Vanezis]

Thanks everyone.

The question of National Archives is an interesting one, particularly in the southern states. Rhodesia does though have its own problems and recent historical differences with the BBC, so that will need a long term solution. But the National Archives and TV archives of Zambia have been checked. Kenya doesn't have a national archive of film in any organised state and the material stored there is as I understand it of mainly cultural importance. Like Zambia they disposed of their stock of foreign film material in the 1980's.

But what Phil has been able to do with the help of others is piece together how the films moved around and this has already thrown up quite a few more avenues of investigation.

This is a big team effort; it isn't just me and Phil. I have to thank Jon Preddle, Richard Bignell and Richard Molesworth and most importantly the staff of the BBC's Commercial Rights department for access to some very interesting documents.

Who knows if anything will come of it, but at least by the end of it we'll be able to say with a 90% certainty that there is nothing else out there.

Regards,

Paul

[davemachin]

Dec 29, 2009 15:02:23 GMT Paul Vanezis said:

There has been a lot of interest in the Africa search since the Radio 4 'Archive Hour' documentary and many have been wondering about precisely what has been found.

That's easy to answer; no 'Doctor Who' I'm afraid, but other material has been identified by Philip Morris in a foreign archive and we hope to be in a position to explain what and where it is soon.

I am very keen indeed to know what other missing material has been located, Paul. Can you post details here as soon as possible? This will make a very nice start to 2010! Thanks.

Dave

[Tom Spychalski]

Good to know work is being done and material (Doctor Who or not... ) being found. Good luck and I wish you the best of success!

[dennywilson]

It would be nice if ANY BBC Material turns up due to all this work.

[John Wall]

Perhaps a brief outline of what's been done/checked in the various countries could be put on a website somewhere ? Then if someone asks "Have the archives of TV station XYZ123 in Timbukthree been checked ?" there's a link that can be posted. A lot of these discussions go round and round as newbies don't know what's already been done.

[Paul Vanezis]

Dec 31, 2009 13:47:23 GMT John Wall said:

Perhaps a brief outline of what's been done/checked in the various countries could be put on a website somewhere ? Then if someone asks "Have the archives of TV station XYZ123 in Timbukthree been checked ?" there's a link that can be posted.

Hi John,

Yes, this is in the works and for the time being it'll be here. But for all sorts of reasons we don't want to say too much until we're certain ALL avenues have been followed up.

Cheers,

Paul

[John Wall]

Jan 2, 2010 0:18:48 GMT Paul Vanezis said:

Dec 31, 2009 13:47:23 GMT John Wall said:

Perhaps a brief outline of what's been done/checked in the various countries could be put on a website somewhere ? Then if someone asks "Have the archives of TV station XYZ123 in Timbukthree been checked ?" there's a link that can be posted.

Hi John,

Yes, this is in the works and for the time being it'll be here. But for all sorts of reasons we don't want to say too much until we're certain ALL avenues have been followed up.

Cheers,

Paul

That's excellent news :-) I'd suggest that you only put details of what's definitely been checked online. Things that are "in progress" are best kept quiet imho.

[jontravers]

I would agree to keeping the "In Progress" stuff quiet until checked quality and content wise.

I know Zimbabwe is looked at as a potential goldmine of unrecovered DW material. I would like to know if, in your opinion , that it is a reasonable assumption?

I've heard tales since the late 80's/early 90's that this is the case, but would like the opinions of those who have more time to dedicate to the recovery of extant episodes.

[John Wall]

Zimbabwe almost seems a bit of an internet hoax. There was a discussion early in 2009 on the Restoration Team forum - now closed - about episodes in Zimbabwe. Before we knew it The Sun was running a story about Robert Mugabe hoarding tapes (?) of missing Dr Who !

[Paul Vanezis]

Yes, I think that any mention of missing DW publicly will bring back memories of that bizarre headline.

The fact is that very few episodes were actually sold to Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), it was back in 1965 and there's no reason why DW would have been illegally smuggled there if frankly there were more interesting and populist programmes from America available. Besides, where would the prints come from? The Rhodesia TV listings still published what was being screened and we haven't found any evidence of DW being screened outside of the original sale.

Regards,

Paul