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When Doctor Who fans refer to “lost stories”, they mean
one of two things. Usually, they're talking about the episodes which were
purged from the BBC Archives during the 1970s, and for which only the
soundtrack now exists.
But sometimes, they mean the stories that -- for one reason or another --
never even made it into the recording studio. Some of these were just
one-off submissions that were quickly dismissed by the Doctor Who
production office of the time. Others enjoyed considerable development
until they were finally derailed at the last minute.
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This section is under heavy construction. If you spot any mistakes, please
let me know. If you spot a story that's been omitted, however, it probably
just means that I haven't gotten to that one yet. Thanks!
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It is, of course, difficult to discuss these “unmade stories”
in great detail, because often very little documentation remains (or even
existed in the first place), especially for those ideas which were
immediately discarded. However, we'll use a simple colour code to give you
some idea of just how far advanced each proposal was before it finally
ended up on the Doctor Who scrap heap:
- Stories with a red banner are those which
were never seriously considered by the production office. These probably
never made it past the initial pitch, let alone a more detailed storyline.
They never appeared on a tentative season schedule. No guest cast or
production personnel would have been assigned to these stories.
- Stories with a blue banner were more
seriously developed. They almost certainly made it to the storyline stage,
and some scripting may have even taken place. They may have appeared on a
season schedule and even had a director assigned, but it is unlikely that
any casting would have even been considered.
- Stories with a green banner were those
which the production office had every intention of making, but which
ultimately -- for a variety of reasons -- they never did. These stories
probably had partial or even full scripts written, and likely appeared on
a season schedule. They may well have had a director assigned, and some
potential casting may even have taken place.
Obviously, these three categories are somewhat subjective, but bear in
mind that they are merely intended to serve as general guidelines to put
these “lost” stories in some perspective. Also, note that
stories about which nothing is known -- beyond the name of an author --
will usually not even merit an entry.
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