Doctor Who: Complete remake of lost Hartnell episode announced
By James Aggas
Fans of both the Hartnell era and of Dalek stories, some major news has been revealed! A complete recreation of the lost Doctor Who episode Mission to the Unknown has been announced today by Steven Taylor himself, Peter Purves!
Yesterday, Peter Purves, the actor who played First Doctor companion Steven Taylor, teased something to Doctor Who fans on his Twitter account. He didn’t give many clues, just that fans of Classic Who were sure to love it.
This morning, he revealed what the major news was. And it’s definitely exciting. The lost episode Mission to the Unknown is being completely remade by students at University College of Lancashire. Shooting began today, and it’s even hoped that a DVD release will be given to the production. See below for Purves’s announcement.
Mission to the Unknown - a complete remake by UCLAN students. The sets are built, the costumes made, the 3 day multi camera shoot begins this morning at 08.30. It is hoped the BBC will release it on DVD. This is serious painstaking work.
— Peter Purves (@purves_peter) February 20, 2019
What has made me most excited about this project is how excited Purves is. Over five decades on after he worked on Doctor Who, and he still takes his time on the programme very seriously. In the past, he’s been very upfront about what he does and doesn’t like about the New Series.
Judging from his above tweet, it’s clear how excited he is about this project. So the fact that he’s taking it seriously is a very strong indication that we should, too.
Not only is Mission to the Unknown a huge teaser for The Daleks’ Master Plan. It’s also one of the only episodes in Doctor Who history with none of the regular cast.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
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The perfect choice
There are a couple of reasons that make Mission to the Unknown the perfect Doctor Who story to be remade. The first is that it’s literally one episode long. It was meant to be something of a special preview of The Daleks’ Master Plan, the epic twelve-part serial. Not a part of the serial itself, exactly, but a taste of what was to come.
This leads me to the second reason why this will work. Mission to the Unknown is the only Doctor Who story that features none of the regular cast. Instead, the entire episode focuses on Marc Corey, as he finds out about the Daleks’ latest scheme and tries to warn Earth about it.
So naturally, none of the major characters need to be recast. This is one of the few stories that you can get away with that, so it’ll be even easier to appreciate the fresh take without judging it too much against the original.
I hope fans get to see this, at some point. Like I said, Purves being so excited about this is a great indication, and judging from the photos on his Twitter page, this looks set to be a very faithful recreation. I’m a big fan of The Daleks’ Master Plan, so I’m eager to see how this new take on its teaser episode turns out.
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Are you excited that this long-lost episode is being remade? Have you listened to, or even seen the original Mission to the Unknown? Do you think other lost classics should be remade in the future? Let us know in the comments below.