Episode of Missing TV Show about Missing Episodes No Longer a Missing Episode..

Anyone recall that wonderful little syndicated US TV show entitled 'In Search Of...' from back in the late seventies? 

It was about strange phenomena, missing persons, myths & monsters, magic & witchcraft, extra terrestrials etc... - the sort of stuff that science in the 21st century has now proved does not exist any more! It was fronted by TV's Leonard Nimoy - he who plays Mr. Spock in anything with the 'Star Trek' logo on it. 

Now, Len (he won't mind me calling him that!) is a huge fan of 'Doctor Who' and back in the late seventies, he got wind of the BBC's dumping of the series and set out to find as many missing episodes as he could. He has fond memories of watching the series in the 1960s on an old black and white TV set in his dressing room on the set at Desilu Studios. He once joked about having to hide behind Bill Shatner's pet doberman when the Cybermen were on. He also pissed himself laughing when William Hartnell banged his head on that ledge in episode four of The War Machines. 

Anyway, he convinced his then producer - Alan Landsburg - to devote an episode of his show - 'In Search Of...' to the subject of the mythical search for the lost episodes of 'Doctor Who'. Landsburg agreed as he wanted to keep his star happy. 

The episode was apparently only shown once in the States and over here in the UK, it was relegated to a late night slot when a repeat of 'Space 1999' - scheduled to replace a strike-hit edition of 'News at Ten' - was cancelled due to industrial action on the moon. 

For years it remained unseen and was thought lost as it wasn't included in the syndication package for the show when it was re-distributed in the 90s. 

Until now...


I managed to record it on my old clockwork, bakerlite VHS recorder when it was originally broadcast and I was hunting through some boxes in the attic last Sunday when I came across it. After I had cleaned the mess up, I realised what was on the tape and managed to play it on my slightly more modern machine. The quality isn't too good as the screen-grabs show but it is all there. 

Alas, one of the clips used in the edition is from 'Mission to the Unknown'. When Nimoy made the episode, it wasn't missing. (Rumour has it that Nimoy kept the print and privately shows it to visitors at Christmas parties who often don't know what the heck it is...!). The episode reveals that the alien delegates - when they were seated in the Dalek conference room - all sat behind cards that revealed their names! 

In the clip, these names are ALL clearly visible!

As all fans of 'Doctor Who' know, this is the answer to the last question. The great question that when answered will result in the total cancellation of 'Doctor Who' and all it's spin-offs, comics, magazines and figure collections. Their names must never be revealed. Even Ian Levine keeps his copy of Terry Nation's original storyline for 'Dalek Cutaway' in a specially built vault beneath the Bank of England lest someone accidentally reads from it aloud. 

For that reason, I am holding a barbecue next Sunday at my place when I will ceremoniously burn the VHS tape to safeguard the future of the world's most successful TV science fiction show. 

I'm an angel for doing this, aren't I? 

I've invited Leonard but he hasn't RSVP-ed yet! 

I did some book covers for the movie Amityville Playhouse

A good friend of mine is John R. Walker. I designed the cover to his memoir of being a very busy supporting artist a few years ago. It was quite a successful little independent book that found plenty of publicity in the national press and even made an appearance (along with John) on the first series of 'Dave Gorman's Modern Life is Good-ish'.

John approached me earlier this year to produce some further book covers, only this time the books would not be published! 

They were dummy covers needed for prop books in a movie he was directing in Canada. The movie has the title 'Amityville Playhouse' and is due for release in 2015. The books are ones used by a character in the movie researching the history of the infamous town and its alleged supernatural legacy. John recently returned back to the UK following the film's shoot in Canada.

Here's a taster of the book covers. I have yet to see the props "in action". 

Another New Doctor Who Sticker Collection Launches...

I like collecting things - action figures, DVDs, dust... I collected PG Tips cards and dinosaur stickers when I was little. 

Young persons today have the opportunity to collect so many other wonderful hi-tech things, the mind boggles. 

So why are they STILL obsessed with a bit of paper with some gum on the back that becomes worthless once it's stuck into an album? 

Breaking News: ITV Announces Doctor Who Themed Edition of Popular Quiz Show Revival

Odds stacked against contestant

Unreleased Century 21 Mini-albums Uncovered...

In the mid-sixties, you couldn't move for Century 21 mini-albums - 7 inch 33rpm records each with "21 minutes of adventure". The likes of Scot Tracy and Lady Penelope narrated bite sized audio cut downs of classic Thunderbirds rescues whilst Steve Zodiac and Venus kidnapped a young boy and played sound effects from the moonshot to him. There was even a chance to go on a date with Troy Tempest...!

No Gerry & Sylvia Anderson puppet series was left untouched... except perhaps 'The Secret Service'. (We don't talk about the priest and his little gardener any more...)

There were a few that didn't get released. They tried to make them more instructional at one point but the arrest of Captain Zodiac and Dr. Venus and their subsequent trial put paid to that. 

One oddity was their 'Daleks' record - a laboured re-telling of "Doctor Who's" battle with the Daleks on the planet Mechanus featuring the soundtrack of the final episode of 'The Chase'. It was narrated by an enthusiastic David Graham and book-ended by Eric Winstone's dance band version of the Doctor Who theme. They were going to do another Dalek themed one for Christmas and prepped a cover for it - until someone told them that the series' special Christmas episode - which occurred halfway through a mammoth twelve part Dalek adventure - had replaced the Daleks with a silent movie skit that wasn't really suited to audio... despite Tristram Cary's fun music. 

Here's a selection from the archives. As always, none of this was ever released. It was just another dream episode...!