BBC Worldwide 1990s Junking, Seasons 1 & 2

[Sofia Fox]

I remember seeing a thread about this here, that 3 missing stories from the first two seasons of the show, Marco Polo, The Reign of Terror and The Crusade along with the rest of the stories from those seasons were being offered back to the BBC by Nigeria in the 1990s, and because of a intern who didn't communicate properly they were rejected and subsequently junked. Wondering if this is a true story or a false story. Was talking to a friend who never heard it and I'd like to provide something substantial to them.

[John Wall]

Sept 17, 2022 3:39:50 GMT Sofia Fox said:

I remember seeing a thread about this here, that 3 missing stories from the first two seasons of the show, Marco Polo, The Reign of Terror and The Crusade along with the rest of the stories from those seasons were being offered back to the BBC by Nigeria in the 1990s, and because of a intern who didn't communicate properly they were rejected and subsequently junked. Wondering if this is a true story or a false story. Was talking to a friend who never heard it and I'd like to provide something substantial to them.

Sounds unlikely imho.

[RWels]

This did happen ca. 1990 and the event has been summarised by Paul Vanezis on this very board.

By now, it is so long ago that it is closer to the episodes' creation than it is to today.

The chance passing did rob us of the earliest missing episodes.

[George D]

Sounds like a big responsibility to give to an intern.

[kurt devery]

Heart breaking.I know historical's aren't everyones cup of tea but if this happened (and I have heard this before). You can't blame the person who took the call but if the prints did exist my god we really were that close to gold 😔

[RWels]

On the one hand, I know the "if ONLY" feeling... But on the other hand: The incident is so long ago, that if they had been returned, we would have taken them for granted for the past 30 years and never known any different.

[andyeves]

I think it was Phil Morris who first brought this to light. Apparently the Nigeria TV station (or whoever it was) phoned the BBC (1999 seems to ring a bell) to offer them the first two seasons of DW. However, their offer was declined by whoever answered the phone, telling them that they all existed & had been released on DVD.

I did also hear elsewhere (maybe by Richard M - I'm not sure) that this has subsequently been confirmed as true as there is a record of this call having been made.

It has also been mooted that it is difficult to get past the BBC reception when one phones with the offer of a potentially missing episode, as unless a call relates to a TV series currently under production, then they're not sure to whom they should direct such a call. This would explain why the Nigeria offer was turned down, and I don't think it was necessarily by an intern.

Indeed one wonders how many missing episodes, DW or otherwise, have been declined by the BBC for that very reason.

[John Green]

You'd think there'd be a special appointee i/c of declining offers to return missing heritage. Quite an oversight.

Though perhaps 'oversight' is the wrong word...

dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/oversight

[simonashby]

Sept 18, 2022 14:41:29 GMT John Green said:

You'd think there'd be a special appointee i/c of declining offers to return missing heritage. Quite an oversight.

Directing an enquiry of this nature to the archive would be an obvious answer.

[George D]

giving training to the people who answer the phones to do this would also be an obvious answer.

Unfortunately 60 years later the benefit is not as great

..
and if it was an intern, yes i kinda do blame him.. too often junior level employees/kids who think they know everything desire to be source of *their* wisdom rather than find out.
although in theory, they should not have given that type of position to an intern.

regrettably the world has evolved more to people who only care about is getting a paycheck and pushing a messed up agenda.

[josephsenior]

I don't blame the intern; they are not meant to know everything, and mistakes happen. That's why we have missing episodes but at the same time we are lucky to have what we have.

[andyparting]

How did this information get beyond an intern who didn't place any importance with the call in the first place?

[RWels]

There was a log file.

I tried to search what (I think) Paul Vanezis wrote about it but among all the posts I couldn't find it.

[John Green]

As Shakespeare put it:

"The Evil That Men Do Lives After Them;
The Good is Oft Interned...".

[Richard Bignell]

Let's just say that whilst the central kernel of this story is correct, there are also an awful lot of embellishments that have been added to it and assumptions made.