Over 100 long-lost Doctor Who episodes found by dedicated fans in Ethiopia | Hacker News Reader

Over 100 long-lost Doctor Who episodes found by dedicated fans in Ethiopia

mirror.co.uk

38 pointsatlanticus11 comments

It's a 2nd hand account of a "my friend told me" anecdote published in newspapers which have, at best, an accidental relationship with the truth. I'm not saying it isn't true but given the messengers I'd be astonished it it was.

This has been cycling around at Bleeding Cool for months. Their latest update explains how the still unsubstantiated rumour got out of control

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/10/06/video-sky-news-get-in...

Doctor Who Online is reporting that lost episodes indeed were found. "Not as many as 100".

https://twitter.com/DrWhoOnline/status/386850513909600256 https://twitter.com/DrWhoOnline/status/386850763349041152 https://twitter.com/DrWhoOnline/status/386851026038296577 https://twitter.com/DrWhoOnline/status/386863277134721025

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24448063 bbc reporting on it now. "BBC Worldwide is expected to confirm the find at a press conference in London later this week."

they would have never been lost if sane copyright laws had allowed people to safe their cultural media.

How widespread were home VCRs in the UK in the 60s?

I'm assuming they were sold to Ethiopia for the reusable tape, not to air the show. Then again ETV (the ethiopian state-run TV station) does air random stuff every once in a while.

That's a rather uninformed comment. Dr. Who was actually extremely popular in Ethiopia so this news doesn't surprise me one bit.

You are absolutely correct - I have no idea what ETV was like in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. Was it less government controlled during the Derg? Or is this post-1991 era?

Fair question. ETV was certainly more controlled during the Derg regime since it was an openly totalitarian government. That's not to say that this current regime doesn't have a tight grip on ETV although it sounds like you're already well aware of that.

A friend of an "expert" says so. Meanwhile, BBC does not say anything. Hum...

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