Restored Doctor Who Favorite Episodes to Air on BBC America

The Second Doctor adventure The Power of the Daleks has been restored in animated form and will premiere on BBC America in November, according to an announcement on the channel's website on Tuesday. The classic Doctor Who episodes, considered some of the most important because of the airing of the series' first regeneration sequence, were destroyed in 1974 but will be brought back to life through brand new animation based on the program's original studio recordings, photographs, and film clips. BBC America and BBC Worldwide have commissioned a brand new animation, produced and directed by Charles Norton, with character designs from acclaimed comic book artists Martin Geraghty and Adrian Salmon.  In addition to the new animated version of the classic adventures, film clips from the original Doctor Who episodes will also be released - 50 years after their only broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One. The six-part adventure features the first ever regeneration of The Doctor. The “renewal,”as it was then called, saw the transition from the First Doctor (William Hartnell) into The Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) as the Time Lord and his companions Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze) do battle with the Daleks on the planet Vulcan. During the time before digital technology, it was not uncommon for studios and networks to tape over recordings of episodes from past decades or previously cancelled series for reuse on new television shows and movie projects. The Doctor Who master negatives for The Power of the Daleks were destroyed in an archive purge in 1974, along with many other episodes of the original series. Some of those 'lost episodes' of the classic adventures have been recovered over the years in foreign markets or from personal home recordings, but to this point The Power of the Daleks episodes have yet to be recovered. Director Charles Norton told BBC America, “The Power of the Daleks animation is the most ambitious Doctor Who archive restoration ever attempted and we’re all very honored to be a part of such an exciting project. Intelligent, suspenseful and magnificently staged, The Power of the Daleks is one of the great lost classics of 1960s television and a superb example of the black and white era at its finest.” Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks will premiere on Saturday, November 12 on BBC America and will also be available for streaming starting the next day at on the BBC America website and app.