History MissingEpisode / TheBBC

* Probably the second-most famous victim of the Great BBC Purge was ''Series/DadsArmy''. It's very surprising, given the BBC's criteria for dumping, that only five episodes - all from Series 2 - were lost in the first place, alongside two short ''Christmas Night with the Stars'' sketches. [[note]] David Croft asked for his work not to be wiped, so it is likely they were junked by accident rather than intention.[[/note]] Two were recovered, restored, and re-broadcast in 2001, leaving three ("The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker", "A Stripe for Frazer", and "Under Fire") still missing, and the Christmas sketches "Santa on Patrol" and "The Cornish Floral Dance".[[note]] Later versions of "The Cornish Floral Dance" survive, though these have modified scripts, most notably lacking Private Walker as they were produced after James Beck's death.[[/note]] At least some of the lost episodes exist as audio-only recordings. One other episode ("Absent Friends") is [[BannedEpisode not rerun]] due to offensive portrayals of [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles the Irish]].[[note]] An audio recording of "A Stripe for Frazer" was returned to the BBC in 2008, along with audio recordings of many other series on this page, from the collection of BBC Radio Birmingham (later BBC WM) presenter Ed Doolan. The audio recording of "A Stripe for Frazer" provided the soundtrack for an animated reconstruction in 2016.[[/note]] In 2019, the three lost episodes were re-enacted for UKTV by a cast led by Creator/KevinMcNally as Captain Mainwaring, and animated reconstructions of the episodes have followed, adapting the radio episodes when no audio recordings were available.

** The sketch series ''Twice a Fortnight'', which ran for ten episodes in 1967, was the first TV series to star Graeme Garden, Creator/TerryJones, and Creator/MichaelPalin, as well as Bill Oddie and future ''Series/YesMinister'' co-writer Jonathan Lynn. The videotape segments from the series have been completely wiped, leaving only the outdoor film segments.[[note]] Perhaps the most familiar surviving footage is a parody of ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'' in which Block (Terry Jones) mashes a pie into the face of Death (Graeme Garden); the scene was used in early trailers for ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''.[[/note]] As the programme featured regular musical guests, this also means the loss of appearances by Music/TheWho, Music/{{Cream}}, Music/CatStevens, Music/TheSmallFaces, and Music/TheMoodyBlues.

* Probably the second-most famous victim of the Great BBC Purge was ''Series/DadsArmy''. It's very surprising, given the BBC's criteria for dumping, that only five episodes - all from Series 2 - were lost in the first place.[[note]] David Croft asked for his work not to be wiped, so it is likely they were junked by accident rather than intention.[[/note]] Two were recovered, restored, and re-broadcast in 2001, leaving three ("The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker", "A Stripe for Frazer", and "Under Fire") still missing. At least some of the lost episodes exist as audio-only recordings. One other episode ("Absent Friends") is [[BannedEpisode not rerun]] due to offensive portrayals of [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles the Irish]].[[note]] An audio recording of "A Stripe for Frazer" was returned to the BBC in 2008, along with audio recordings of many other series on this page, from the collection of BBC Radio Birmingham (later BBC WM) presenter Ed Doolan. The audio recording of "A Stripe for Frazer" provided the soundtrack for an animated reconstruction in 2016.[[/note]] In 2019, the three lost episodes were re-enacted for UKTV by a cast led by Creator/KevinMcNally as Captain Mainwaring.

* Ten early episodes of ''Radio/JustAMinute'' (six from 1968, three from 1969, and one from 1974) have no known surviving recordings. Additionally, most pre-1990 episodes only exist in the Transcription Services editions for international broadcast (Creator/TheBBC junked most of their original tapes, but Creator/TheABC have a nearly-complete set of TS tapes), trimmed by around three or four minutes each and sometimes with rounds spliced from other episodes featuring the same panel. And the posthumous revelations that long-time regular panellist Clement Freud sexually abused underage girls make it very unlikely that any of the more than 500 episodes featuring him on the panel will be re-aired or commercially released any time soon.

* Although there are no outright missing episodes of ''Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain'', ten episodes - seven from 1968, the 1969 Christmas special, and two from 1973 - have no known surviving copies of their original broadcasts on BBC Radio 2; the existing copies of these episodes are the Transcription Services versions broadcast on Creator/TheABC, trimmed by around 3-4 minutes each.

* BBC Television featured two long-running police dramas in the 1950s-70s - ''Series/DixonOfDockGreen'' (1955-76) and ''Series/ZCars'' (1962-78). The vast majority of episodes of both have been wiped. Out of 430-odd episodes of ''Dixon'', only 30 still survive, while just over 300 of the 800-odd episodes of ''Z Cars'' still exist in some form. This, among other things, means the loss of early television appearances by the likes of Creator/SeanConnery and Creator/MichaelCaine, both of whom appeared in guest roles in different episodes of ''Dixon of Dock Green'' in the 1950s before finding fame as film actors.

* Though ''Dad's Army'' is perhaps the most high-profile example due to its otherwise high survival rate and frequency of re-runs, many BBC sitcoms from the 1960s and 1970s have numerous missing episodes:

** ''Swizzlewick'', a comedy-drama satirising corrupt local council politics that provided early career appearances for Creator/PatrickMower and George Layton, is mostly remembered for being a lightning rod for the ire of self-declared MoralGuardian Mary "Clean Up TV" Whitehouse (most infamously, she demanded that a scene involving a prostitute be cut, not re-shot, and the BBC were forced to oblige), who was herself parodied in the form of "Freedom from Sex" campaigner Mrs Felicity Smallgood (played by Margot Boyd). It ran twice a week for 26 episodes in 1964; just one episode is known to survive.

** ''Hugh and I'' co-starred longtime friends and performing partners Hugh Lloyd and Creator/TerryScott and provided the first regular sitcom role for Creator/MollieSugden. It ran for 69 episodes across six series from 1962-67, plus two specials for ''Christmas Night with the Stars''; only 25 episodes and the 1964 Christmas special are known to survive. A sequel series entitled ''Hugh and I Spy'' ran for a single series of six episodes in 1968; it was thought completely lost until the recovery of the sixth episode in 2013.

** ''Series/RoomAtTheBottom1967'' was future ''Series/TheGoodLife'' co-writers John Esmonde and Bob Larbey's first foray into television and started Creator/KennethConnor as the head of maintenance at a large corporation and Deryck Guyler as his rival and director of Personnel. The series ran for a {{Pilot}} and seven episodes, all of which were wiped after broadcast.

* The radio version of ''Radio/HancocksHalfHour'' ran for 102 episodes across six series between 1954-59. Of these, 20 are missing (including a remake of "Cinderella Hancock", the original version of which survives), including three episodes of the second series when Creator/HarrySecombe stood in for an unwell Creator/TonyHancock. Secombe's [[Radio/TheGoonShow fellow Goon]] Creator/SpikeMilligan also made a guest appearance in an episode of the first series; this episode is now lost. A further two episodes only exist as low-quality off-air recordings, one incomplete. Fortunately, the scripts of all of the lost episodes were discovered by actor Neil Pearson in his capacity as a collector of old books, and in 2014 five episodes (specially selected by the original writers, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson) were re-recorded with a new cast led by Creator/KevinMcNally as "Tony Hancock"; the new recordings' popularity led to the re-recording of five more episodes in 2015, another five in 2016 (including the episodes featuring Harry Secombe, who was voiced by his son Andy), and the remaining five plus the previously-unused "The Counterfeiter" [[note]] It was originally planned as the last episode of Series 2, but the plot, which involved a political crisis, was deemed unsuitable due to the brewing Suez Crisis, and "The Matador" was recorded instead; it was planned for inclusion in Series 3 instead, but was once again forced aside by political developments, with the now-lost remake of "Cinderella Hancock" replacing it.[[/note]] in 2017-19. Two further missing episodes, including one featuring Creator/PeterSellers, were recovered in 2022 and 2023. See the Television section for the TV episodes lost.

* Though ''Dad's Army'' is perhaps the most high-profile example due to its otherwise high survival rate and frequency of re-runs, many BBC sitcoms from the 1960s have numerous missing episodes:

** ''Series/RoomAtTheBottom1967'' was future ''Series/TheGoodLife'' co-writers John Esmonde and Bob Larbey's first foray into television and started Creator/KennethConnor as the head of maintenance at a large corporation and Deryck Guyler as his rival and director of Personnel. The series ran for a {{Pilot}} and a single seven-episode series that was completely wiped after broadcast.

** ''Series/ItsAwfullyBadForYourEyesDarling'' revolved around the conflicts between four posh female flatmates played by Creator/JaneCarr, Jennifer Croxton, Creator/ElizabethKnight, and Creator/JoannaLumley, and ran for a {{Pilot}} and six episodes in 1971. Only Episode 1, "A New Lease", survives today, and only in black and white despite being broadcast in colour.[[note]] When David Croft was asked by the BBC to serve as script doctor for one episode, Jeremy Lloyd, who was Lumley's onscreen boyfriend and offscreen ex-husband, took the opportunity to pitch a sitcom idea to Croft based on his experiences working in department stores; thus was born ''Series/AreYouBeingServed''.[[/note]]

** The ''Z-Cars'' spinoff ''Softly, Softly'', running for five series from 1966-69, is missing 84 out of 120 episodes, mostly from the first three series. Its 1969-76 colour follow-up ''Softly, Softly: Task Force'' is completely intact save for the 1972 episode "Welcome To The Club", which only exists in black and white.

** Only four complete episodes exist from the 1960s (one and most of another with the presenter's links mute), the earliest from Boxing Day 1967, and the show's archive only exists in full from 15 September 1977 onwards. Even then, episodes featuring disgraced presenters Creator/JimmySavile and/or Dave Lee Travis have been removed from the rerun rotation, as have episodes from 1982-88 featuring presenter Mike Smith after he declined to renew the licence to rerun his episodes.[[note]] It is claimed Smith was motivated at least partly by prominent use of footage from the ''one'' episode he co-hosted with Savile in news reports about the allegations against the latter; Smith felt he was being smeared by association. The BBC have continued to respect Smith's wishes since his death in 2014.[[/note]] Some of them can be found on Website/YouTube.
*** This has also been extended to include disgraced performers like Music/GaryGlitter or Music/RKelly - if the performance can't be removed without an adverse affect[[note]]the chart rundown from 40-11 or the credits - or, in the case of one 1994 episode, Glitter hosting it[[/note]], then the episode is skipped.

* Creator/TonyHancock may be one of the most beloved British comedians to this day, but not much remains of his television career. The television version of ''Radio/HancocksHalfHour'', regarded as the father of the BritCom genre, ran for seven series from 1956-61 for a total of 63 episodes, of which 26 are lost. The first four series were broadcast live and only occasionally captured on telerecordings if a technician or actor wanted a viewable copy; Series 1 is completely lost, while only one episode from Series 2 [[note]](the only surviving television episode to feature Creator/KennethWilliams)[[/note]] and five each from Series 3-4 were preserved, though off-air audio recordings exist of a further six episodes from Series 4. Series 5-7 were pre-recorded on videotape and survive in their entirety. (See the Radio section for the status of the radio episodes.)

** ''Series/ForeignAffairs1966'' revolved around the machinations of British and Soviet diplomats, with a cast including Creator/LesliePhillips, Creator/RonnieBarker, and a young Richard O'Sullivan. All six episodes were later wiped, and the series is mostly remembered today for introducing writers Brian Cooke and Johnny Mortimer to Richard O'Sullivan, for whom they later wrote ''Series/ManAboutTheHouse''.

** Hugh Lloyd and Terry Scott re-teamed in 1969 for the garden gnome sitcom ''Series/TheGnomesOfDulwich'', which ran for a single series of six episodes, all of which were wiped sometime after being re-aired in 1970 (believed to have been around 1974). However, all the scripts are still intact at the BBC Written Archives, and over a minute of audio recorded from "Neighbours" is available on Website/YouTube.

** ''Series/TheCultureVultures'' is another completely lost entry in Leslie Phillips' CV; the series, which cast him as an academic more interested in drinking, gambling, and skirt-chasing than knowledge, ran for five episodes in 1970. Only a few production stills survive today.
** ''Series/ItsAwfullyBadForYourEyesDarling'' revolved around the conflicts between four posh female flatmates played by Creator/JaneCarr, Jennifer Croxton, Creator/ElizabethKnight, and Creator/JoannaLumley, and ran for a {{Pilot}} and six episodes in 1971. Only Episode 1, "A New Lease", survives today, and only in black and white despite being broadcast in colour.

* Following the two Ronnies' return to the BBC in 1971, Creator/Barker revived the character of Lord Rustless from his Creator/{{ITV}} sketch series ''Hark at Barker'' for ''His Lordship Entertains'', a sitcom which ran for six episodes on [=BBC2=] in 1972 and in which Chrome Hall had been converted into a hotel (prompting Barker to describe the series as "''Series/FawltyTowers'' Mk-1" in later years). All six episodes were wiped and thought permanently lost until the recovery of the first episode in 2009. Barker was the sole writer for the series, using a pseudonym, and published the scripts for the series in book form; some of them have occasionally been re-enacted on stage.

* All six episodes of ''Series/TheGnomesOfDulwich'' were wiped sometime after being re-aired in 1970 (believed to have been around 1974). However, all the scripts are still intact at the BBC Written Archives, and over a minute of audio recorded from "Neighbours" is available on Website/YouTube.
* All six episodes of ''Series/CharleysGrants'' have been wiped since their transmission in 1970. Domestic soundtrack recordings of episodes 1, 3, and 4 have been rediscovered however, even if they are unable to be listened to by the public.
* All five episodes of ''Series/TheCultureVultures'' are missing from the archives, meaning the series is now lost.
* All six episodes of ''Series/ForeignAffairs1966'' have been wiped and the series is unable to be viewed anymore.
* The {{Pilot}} and all seven regular episodes of ''Series/RoomAtTheBottom1967'' have been wiped and the series is unable to be viewed anymore.
* The {{Pilot}} and episodes 2-6 of ''Series/ItsAwfullyBadForYourEyesDarling'' have been wiped since their initial airings in 1971. Also, the only surviving episode, "A New Lease", only survives in black and white despite being produced in colour.

* Milligan's former co-writer on ''Radio/TheGoonShow'', Creator/EricSykes, wrote and appeared in a number of comedy programmes in the 1960s-70s, such as ''Sykes and a...'' (1960-65), ''Sykes and a Big Big Show'' (1971), and ''Series/{{Sykes}}'' (1972-79), in all of which he co-starred with Creator/HattieJacques. Only 25 of the 59 episodes of ''Sykes and a...'' are known to exist, while only two of the six episodes of ''Sykes and a Big Big Show'' have survived (one in black and white only). ''Sykes'' survives in its entirety, though the Series 1 episode "Journey" only exists in black and white.

** The 1964 anthology series ''Detective'' included an adaptation of "The Speckled Band", which led to a series commission for twelve further episodes in 1965 starring Douglas Wilmer as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson. In 1968, a further sixteen episodes were produced with Creator/PeterCushing as Holmes (Wilmer having declined to return). Eleven of the Wilmer episodes survive complete, including "The Speckled Band", and the other two ("The Abbey Grange" and "The Bruce-Partington Plans") are only partially lost; Cushing is less fortunate, with only six episodes surviving.

* The radio version of ''Radio/HancocksHalfHour'' ran for 102 episodes across six series between 1954-59. Of these, 20 are missing (including a remake of "Cinderella Hancock", the original version of which survives), including three episodes of the second series when Creator/HarrySecombe stood in for an unwell Creator/TonyHancock. Secombe's [[Radio/TheGoonShow fellow Goons]] Creator/PeterSellers and Creator/SpikeMilligan also made guest appearances in separate episodes in the first series; both of the episodes in question are now lost. A further two episodes only exist as low-quality off-air recordings, one incomplete. Fortunately, the scripts of all of the lost episodes were discovered by actor Neil Pearson in his capacity as a collector of old books, and in 2014 five episodes (specially selected by the original writers, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson) were re-recorded with a new cast led by Creator/KevinMcNally as "Tony Hancock"; the new recordings' popularity led to the re-recording of five more episodes in 2015, another five in 2016 (including the episodes featuring Harry Secombe, who was voiced by his son Andy), and the remaining five plus the previously-unused "The Counterfeiter" [[note]] It was originally planned as the last episode of Series 2, but the plot, which involved a political crisis, was deemed unsuitable due to the brewing Suez Crisis, and "The Matador" was recorded instead; it was planned for inclusion in Series 3 instead, but was once again forced aside by political developments, with the now-lost remake of "Cinderella Hancock" replacing it.[[/note]] in 2017-19. See the Television section for the TV episodes lost.

* David Frost got his start in television by fronting a trio of satirical sketch series - ''Series/ThatWasTheWeekThatWas'' (aka ''[=TW3=]''; 1962-63), ''Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life'' (1964-65), and ''The Frost Report'' (1966-67) - which launched or boosted the comedy writing and performing careers of many British comedians, including all five British [[Creator/MontyPython Pythons]], [[Series/TheGoodies Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie]], [[Series/TheTwoRonnies Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett]], [[Series/YesMinister Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn]], [[Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue Barry Cryer]] and Creator/WillieRushton. The broadcast runs of the first two series are mostly complete (''[=TW3=]'' is missing just one episode of 37, while only two of the 62 episodes of ''Not So Much a Programme'' are known to be lost; each series is also missing one pilot episode), but ''The Frost Report'' (which featured Cleese, Corbett, and Barker as regular sketch performers) is missing 14 out of 29 episodes, all but one from Series 2. Fortunately, audio recordings exist for every missing episode.
* Following the two Ronnies' return to the BBC in 1971, Barker revived the character of Lord Rustless from his Creator/{{ITV}} sketch series ''Hark at Barker'' for ''His Lordship Entertains'', a sitcom which ran for six episodes on [=BBC2=] in 1972 and in which Chrome Hall had been converted into a hotel (prompting Barker to describe the series as "''Series/FawltyTowers'' Mk-1" in later years). All six episodes were wiped and thought permanently lost until the recovery of the first episode in 2009. Barker was the sole writer for the series, using a pseudonym, and published the scripts for the series in book form; some of them have occasionally been re-enacted on stage.

* ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' was adapted into a 10-episode mini-series for BBC Television in 1965 with a cast including John Wood as Sydney Carton, Creator/PatrickTroughton as Doctor Manette, and Ronnie Barker as Jerry Cruncher. Only Episodes 2 and 3 are known to survive today.

** Sixteen episodes from the 1965-68 black and white series of the hugely influential ''Series/TillDeathUsDoPart'' (the British forerunner of ''Series/AllInTheFamily'') are either partially or completely lost, although complete audio-only recordings do exist of around half of the missing episodes. The colour episodes of the series are intact.

* The radio version of ''Radio/HancocksHalfHour'' ran for 102 episodes across six series between 1954-59. Of these, 21 are missing (including a remake of "Cinderella Hancock", the original version of which survives), including three episodes of the second series when Creator/HarrySecombe stood in for an unwell Creator/TonyHancock. Secombe's [[Radio/TheGoonShow fellow Goons]] Creator/PeterSellers and Creator/SpikeMilligan also made guest appearances in separate episodes in the first series; both of the episodes in question are now lost. A further two episodes only exist as low-quality off-air recordings, one incomplete. Fortunately, the scripts of all of the lost episodes were discovered by actor Neil Pearson in his capacity as a collector of old books, and in 2014 five episodes (specially selected by the original writers, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson) were re-recorded with a new cast led by Creator/KevinMcNally as "Tony Hancock"; the new recordings' popularity led to the re-recording of five more episodes in 2015, another five in 2016 (including the episodes featuring Harry Secombe, who was voiced by his son Andy), and the remaining five plus the previously-unused "The Counterfeiter" [[note]] It was originally planned as the last episode of Series 2, but the plot, which involved a political crisis, was deemed unsuitable due to the brewing Suez Crisis, and "The Matador" was recorded instead; it was planned for inclusion in Series 3 instead, but was once again forced aside by political developments, with the now-lost remake of "Cinderella Hancock" replacing it.[[/note]] in 2017-19. See the Television section for the TV episodes lost.

** The first series of ''The Liver Birds'' ran for a pilot and four episodes in black and white in 1969. The pilot and Episodes 2-4 are lost, while only the title sequence and the outdoor film segments remain from Episode 1, making them the only surviving scenes to feature Pauline Collins as Dawn.[[note]] The series went on hiatus as Polly James, who played Sandra, found juggling ''The Liver Birds'' and a lead role in a West End production of ''Anne of Green Gables'' too stressful. By the time she was available again, Collins had joined the cast of ''Upstairs, Downstairs''.[[/note]] The colour series from 1971 onward, featuring Nerys Hughes as Beryl, are intact.