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Post by Paul Vanezis on Jan 13, 2011 0:12:30 GMT
Dear all,
It's a new year and investigation in some African countries is ongoing.
I was hoping to have provided quite a bit more information by this stage and it probably feels to many that nothing is going on and work has stopped.
Nothing could be further from the truth. However, we really can't say anything at this stage for many reasons which I won't go into just yet. I hope you all understand.
However, to confirm what has been posted by us previously, several countries have been visited by Phil Morris. We can confirm that there is no material in either Zambia or Kenya. We also have pending invitations from two other countries, but a visitation to them will depend on overcoming a certain amount of red tape.
Thanks for your patience.
Regards,
Paul
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Post by Jacinta Brull on Jan 13, 2011 11:00:18 GMT
Thanks for the heads up Paul.
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Post by Ally Wilson on Jan 13, 2011 11:30:50 GMT
I recall at some point it was said that "missing material has been located in an African archive, but not Doctor Who."
I'm assuming this material hasn't been fully secured yet, and it wasn't found in either Zambia or Kenya?
Whatever the result, we're all waiting with baited breath, erm, for as long as it takes! Thanks for the update!
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Post by Ed Smyth on Jan 13, 2011 23:51:32 GMT
Thanks very much for the positive update Paul; hopefully something Who related of real, fascinating interest will be found before the year's out!
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Post by davidthrelfall69 on Jan 15, 2011 11:48:20 GMT
Great news that the African search has not died an untimely death. Which two countries in Africa are you waiting to visit to see what is there?
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Post by Greg H on Jan 16, 2011 20:08:32 GMT
Thanks for the update Paul, very good of you Best of luck with this and I look forward to hearing more. It will probably make for an excellent article when the search is as complete as it can be!
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Post by LanceM on Jan 16, 2011 23:40:35 GMT
Indeed,you said it there Greg.Thank you again for the update on the research as yet Paul.
Cheers,Lance.
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Post by Doug Wulf on Jan 17, 2011 4:47:20 GMT
Good luck to Paul, Phil, and company.
Well, if we can cross Zambia and Kenya off the list, that leaves the following African countries reported to have shown (still) missing Doctor Who episodes in the past. My information might be faulty, but here's what I have listed for Africa ...
1. Ghana -- Sent the 7 episodes of Marco Polo.
2. Ethiopia -- Sent 11 missing episodes. These were from Marco Polo, The Reign of Terror, and The Crusade. Ethiopia was the last country in the world to purchase The Crusade (October 1971) reportedly.
3. Sierra Leone -- Sent 25 missing episodes. These were from The Crusade, Galaxy 4, The Myth Makers, The Massacre, The Celestial Toymaker, The Savages, and The Smugglers.
4. Uganda -- Sent 26 missing episodes. These were from Marco Polo, The Reign of Terror, The Highlanders, The Underwater Menace, The Moonbase, The Macra Terror, and The Faceless Ones.
5. Nigeria -- Sent 30 (still) missing episodes. These were from Marco Polo, The Reign of Terror, The Crusade, The Abominable Snowmen, The Enemy of the World, The Web of Fear, and The Wheel in Space. (Of course, Nigeria has already returned some episodes that were previously missing.)
6. Zimbabwe/Rhodesia -- Sent 9 missing episodes. These were from Marco Polo and The Reign of Terror. According to the tabloid press, Mugabe has them. Plus, he might have all 108 missing episodes in a secret storehouse.
Any better account of what might be in Africa outside of Zambia and Kenya?
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Post by Paul Vanezis on Jan 18, 2011 19:32:42 GMT
Hi Doug,
It's a pretty good account for 'Doctor Who', but not for the many other programmes we know have been sold to the African countries.
Additionally, there are a further 4 African countries that purchased 'Doctor Who', although not missing ones. But they could (and probably did) have purchased screening rights to other series.
We don't think though that the 'Doctor Who' episodes they bought (which I believe were in arabic and bicycled between Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco) are there anymore as we have a print of episode 4 of 'The Aztecs' with a Moroccan TV label on it.
Other countries we are confident of ruling out having any missing DW material in their archives are:
Singapore New Zealand Canada Iran Denmark Trinidad & Tobago Bermuda
I have recently been in contact with both the main television archive and the national archives of Singapore and they have done a final check for me of their holdings.
Based on what we know and have discovered recently about how film was bicycled around, we think it's unlikely that there is any material in Ghana, Uganda or Zimbabwe. However, nothing has been ruled out regarding them.
Cheers,
Paul
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Post by Greg H on Jan 18, 2011 19:39:55 GMT
Hi Paul, can i ask a couple of questions? Do you know from your research where the Ugandan material was sent, if indeed it was. Also, what other shows were sold to the African countries that are missing? Im very intrigued to know.
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Post by Paul Vanezis on Jan 18, 2011 19:58:25 GMT
Hi Paul, can i ask a couple of questions? Do you know from your research where the Ugandan material was sent, if indeed it was. Also, what other shows were sold to the African countries that are missing? Im very intrigued to know. Hi Greg, I don't have any information about what Uganda did with its films. Regarding other series; you name it, they screened it. Mogul, Not Only But Also, Comedy Playhouse, Steptoe, Out of the Unknown etc... All the usual suspects and more. TOTP was a big seller to Sierra Leone. Paul
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Post by Greg H on Jan 18, 2011 20:42:21 GMT
Wow! The mind boggles at the possibilities there!!!!! Fingers crossed!! Good luck mate
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Post by davidthrelfall69 on Jan 18, 2011 21:37:03 GMT
If I were to hazard a guess where missing Doctor Who is likely to exist if it does at all in Africa. I would be sticking a pin in Sierra Leone and Nigeria!. I am quite surprised that Doctor Who wasn't sold to The Gambia bearing in mind it was a former British colony until its independence in 1965 and where English is the official language of the country.
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Post by John Wall on Jan 18, 2011 21:54:47 GMT
I suppose that there's an extremely faint and remote possibility of another "find" comparable to that in the Library of Congress. However, the big difference would probably be the storage conditions. The Library of Congress is in a rich country which can determine, and implement, optimum archival conditions. Can anybody advise the tolerance of b&w film to storage in uncontrolled conditions in Africa ?
Additionally, and going off at a tangent - is anything known about how these programmes were appreciated, or otherwise, by the audiences ? I can see some of them as being completely outside the viewers frame of reference.
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Post by Paul Vanezis on Jan 18, 2011 23:35:29 GMT
I can't answer for viewers reaction, but if the other archives in Zambia and Kenya are anything to go by any found film will be in a very poor state.
In one vault in Zambia the smell of vinegar was almost overpowering.
Regards,
Paul
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