BBC revealed recently that nine classic episodes of classic sci-fi drama Doctor Who were found in a television station in Jos, Nigeria.
First broadcasted in the late 60s, feature adventures in "The Enemy of the World" and "The Web of Fear" story-lines featured Patrick Troughton as the titular character. While "The Web of Fear" features Troughton's iconic portrayal of the character battling a robotic yeti through London's underground train system, "The Enemy of the World" is a six-part story arch.
Television International Enterprises Archive's director Phillip Morris said the tapes were found in an overseas shipments made by BBC and were just sitting on the shelf.
"The tapes had been left gathering dust in a storeroom at a television relay station," said Morris. "I remember wiping the dust off the masking tape on the canisters and my heart missed a beat as I saw the words, Doctor Who. When I read the story code I realized I'd found something pretty special."
BBC Worldwide would later confirm the find at a press screen in London. A total of 97 episodes are currently missing as the UK network destroyed many of the show's original transmissions as majority were later transferred to film for foreign broadcast sites like Hong Kong.
That's more of an coincidental explanation of how episodes of Doctor Who could end up in a place currently known as a "flashpoint of Islamist violence." Also known as "Middle Belt," Jos is where the Christian south and Muslim north meet in Nigeria's Plateau state capitol.
Current writer for recent episodes of the series, Mark Gatiss, was excited about the find.
"It's thrilling," Gatiss said. "Every single avenue seemed to have been exhausted, every now and then something turns up -- but to have virtually complete stories out of the blue is absolutely incredible."
The newly discovered episodes is available on iTunes for $9.99 each with a DVD release following soon.
