In recent days, at the “Pandorica 2015” convention Philip Morris revealed a new backstory regarding the finding of the lost episodes of the classic “Doctor Who” series. In October 2013 it was announced that the third episode of the series “The Web of Fear” was not found but now Philip Morris, the man who found the other episodes and the whole serial “The Enemy of the World”, revealed that the third episode had been found but subsequently disappeared, probably stolen.

Philip Morris is called the Indiana Jones in the film world for his work in the archives of television stations around the world that sometimes allows him to find old programs deemed lost. In the case of “Doctor Who”, in a station relay in Jos, Nigeria, he found “The Web of Fear” and “The Enemy of the World”, which were among the almost completely lost serials.

The rumors of the discovery leaked well before the official announcement. The problem is that their return to Britain required six months of negotiations. Philip Morris has now declared that all episodes of “The Web of Fear” had been found but that during those months the third episode disappeared. Morris believes that some private collector had news of the discovery and was able to buy it, obviously in an illegal way.

This news caused an uproar among fans, who started creating various theories about the disappearance of this episode. Its importance in the history of “Doctor Who” is that it shows the debut of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who later would become a recurring character in the saga and one of the most loved by the fans. For this reason, it may have been a great trophy for a collector.

After this mishap, it was decided to maintain the strictest confidentiality about possible future discoveries of lost episodes. Over the past two years, many rumors about the possibility that other episodes were found have spread on the Internet but after Philip Morris’ statements their plausibility seems poor.

At one point it seemed that we were waiting only for the official announcement of the finding of the serial “Marco Polo” but the fact that no news arrived so far isn’t very comforting. The most extreme rumor is called the “omnirumor”, according to which all the lost episodes have been found and will be announced gradually. It would be a wonderful thing but it’s really unlikely.

After these revelations, it will be very difficult to get early news about possible discoveries of lost episodes. For all we know, some may be being restored right now and soon an official announcement will be issued. For “Doctor Who” fans, hope is still alive and that’s already important.