Philip Morris, lost episode hunter extraordinaire, has teased that he knows of six episodes of Doctor Who, currently missing from the archives, that are in the hands of private collectors.

Morris, who is the founder of the Television International Enterprises Archive (TIEA), has already returned nine episodes of Doctor Who to fans. At Fantom’s virtual convention, Time Space Visualiser 2, he said:

“I have a lot of friends who are collectors… and I will tell you straight away now that at least six episodes – missing episodes – exist, to my knowledge, in the hands of private collectors.”

Yes, this is frustrating, but how wonderful to know that there definitely are more episodes out there. They still exist! There is still hope!

We’re not sure if these six are in addition to The Web of Fear Episode 3, which Morris found in Nigeria but was strangely missing from the shipment back to the UK. We presume he means a further six, which would bring our missing episodes total down from 97 to 90. These consist solely of First (William Hartnell) and Second (Patrick Troughton) Doctor stories, although colour versions of Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) episodes are also absent from the archives.

Presumably, it’s down to Morris and similar parties to reach an agreement between the collectors and the BBC.

You can watch the Time Space Visualiser 2 below; if you’re solely interested in the interview with Morris, go to 2:53.

Do check out the rest, however, as further interviews include Peter Purves and David Troughton.