Two lost episodes of Doctor Who have been found in a collection of vintage films. The episodes haven’t been seen since they originally aired in the 1960s. Restored versions of the episodes will be shown on the BBC iPlayer on Easter on Sunday, April 5, 2026.

The lost episodes are from the first incarnation of Doctor Who, starring William Hartnell as the Time Lord. The Doctor uses his cleverness and ingenuity in an attempt to stop the Daleks from conquering not just Earth but the entire galaxy. Those episodes were only shown in the United Kingdom when they originally aired in the ‘60s.

The storyline was written by Terry Nation (who created the Daleks), Terry Nation, and Dennis Spooner. It stars Hartnell, Peter Purves as the Doctor’s companion Steven Taylor, Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon, Adrienne Hill as Katarina, and Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen.

The lost episodes hail from the third season of Doctor Who and originally aired in November 1965. The first episode is titled “The Nightmare Begins” and the other episode “Devil’s Planet” aired two weeks later. They represent the first and third episodes in a three-part story arc that was entirely lost. The second episode, “Day of Armageddon” was found by a BBC engineer in 2004. Now, fans can watch the first three installments of “The Daleks’ Master Plan” arc for the first time.

The three-episode arc was originally in a 12-part storyline, and more than half of it is still missing. The storyline was not originally sold to all regular Doctor Who markets because some deemed it too violent and gritty. For that reason, the episodes were boxed up and set aside with some ending up in collections and others still missing.

These lost episodes were found in a donation to the Film is Fabulous charity trust from Leicester, England.