Why the BBC purged most of the Doctor Who archives
In short: For decades, Doctor Who has been a global cultural phenomenon. However, during the 1960s and 1970s, the BBC made the controversial decision to delete nearly every episode produced.
This video examines the massive archival purge conducted by the BBC during the show's first few decades of production. Despite the series becoming one of the most profitable and culturally significant shows in television history, the destruction of these tapes was so extensive that 97 episodes remain missing to this day, with no known copies in existence.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: That Time the BBC Deleted Almost Every Episode of Doctor Who
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