A collection of rare colour photographs from a ‘lost’ Dr Who episode proved the enduring appeal of the TV show’s memorabilia last week as it was bid to more than four times its high estimate.
Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Frances Allitt
The lot, which went under the hammer on July 18, outstripped an £800-1200 to be knocked down for £5200. It bettered the result for a set of black-and-white photos from the same 1966 episode, The Power of the Daleks, that appeared at the same south London saleroom in March, demolishing an estimate of £800-1200 to sell at £4600.
They relate to the missing third serial of the fourth season first broadcast by the BBC in six weekly parts from November 5-December 10, 1966. They were taken on colour film at a time when the programme was shot and broadcast in black and white.
The master tapes of all six episodes were erased in the late 1960s, while the copies kept for foreign sales on 16mm film were destroyed in 1974. Their destruction meant that the only information to survive on the series was limited to stills photography and films made by fans when the programmes were broadcast.
The collection was owned by the late production designer and art director, Derek Dodd (1937-2018), who made set designs for The Power of the Daleks and The Wheel in Space.