It’s how they have a slow trickle of “found” episodes whenever they want.
Except… they don’t. There is no “slow trickle” of episodes found in private collections, most recoveries we’ve seen were forgotten in archives around the world.
Quite the contrary, “Web of fear” was reported found in its entirety, but the episode featuring Lethbridge-Stewart’s first appearance disappeared (again) before the serial could be returned. This episode has been rumoured to have been scooped up by a collector.
Sorry to burst your conspiracy theory, but there is absolutely no evidence or even motivation for the BBC to secretly sit on missing episodes. That would just be a whoppingly bad look after the archive purges in the '60s and early '70s.
Except… they don’t. There is no “slow trickle” of episodes found in private collections, most recoveries we’ve seen were forgotten in archives around the world.
Quite the contrary, “Web of fear” was reported found in its entirety, but the episode featuring Lethbridge-Stewart’s first appearance disappeared (again) before the serial could be returned. This episode has been rumoured to have been scooped up by a collector.
Sorry to burst your conspiracy theory, but there is absolutely no evidence or even motivation for the BBC to secretly sit on missing episodes. That would just be a whoppingly bad look after the archive purges in the '60s and early '70s.