Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Well, if you saw my Quick Reactions video yesterday, you know that I saw the two recently recovered episodes of the 12-part ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ – the first and third episodes. If you haven’t, please feel free to check out my latest video.

I greatly enjoyed seeing the first and third episodes of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. Having heard the TV soundtrack on audio CD with linking narration by Peter Purves, it’s been invigorating to see what these episodes are actually like compared to visualising them. 🙂

I’m currently in the process of revisiting ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ from start to finish. So far, I rewatched the 2019 remake of ‘Mission to the Unknown’, saw the first three episodes, heard the fourth episode and seen the fifth episode. 🙂 Looking forward to more!

The fact that we have the first and third episodes of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ back with us in the BBC Archive, having been missing for so long, is so amazing. I did wonder if we were ever going to witness any more ‘Doctor Who’ TV episodes from the 1960s recovered.

Now we can get to see more of William Hartnell as the First Doctor! We can see more of Peter Purves as Steven Taylor! We can see more of Adrienne Hill as Katarina! More of Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon! More of Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen! More of the Daleks!

The first episode comes straight off from the end of ‘The Myth Makers’ where Vicki left the TARDIS to be with Troilus in Ancient Troy. Meanwhile, Steven is badly injured, and the Doctor must seek a way to help him recover from his illness as Katarina takes care of him.

Now, if you went straight into the first episode not knowing that; you’d be forgiven in being confused as to what was happening. I knew, thanks to a recap from the end of ‘The Myth Makers’, which was presented as a prologue for ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ on audio CD. 🙂

Also, in viewing the first episode, I never thought I’d live to see Steven bare-chested whilst lying on a bunk-bed in the TARDIS. And his arm is in a sling. Thankfully, he has his shirt and jacket on once he and Katarina are outside on the planet Kembel for the second episode.

It’s great to see Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon in the first and third episodes of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’, especially as he’s so well-known for playing the Brigadier in the series. Let’s hope the fourth episode will be found to complete Nick Courtney’s ‘Doctor Who’ debut.

I’m also glad we can see more of Katarina in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’, considering she was a short-lived companion in ‘Doctor Who’. From the way Adrienne Hills plays her, she’s so curious by everything she sees, including when she’s aboard Mavic Chen’s Spar.

Having enjoyed Kevin Stoney as Tobian Vaughn in ‘The Invasion’, it was great to see more of him as a ‘Doctor Who’ villain in Mavic Chen. This is especially when he’s interacting with the Daleks, particularly during the interrogation of Zephon in the story’s third episode.

Credit should be given to the late Douglas Camfield, who directed ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. The first and third episodes are very well-directed, just as the second, fifth and tenth episodes are well-directed. It’s nice to see that in the visual forms of the two found episodes..

The third episode does end on a cliffhanger with Katarina held captive by Kirksen, who stowed away aboard the Spar from the planet Desperus. It’s a shame we can’t see the fourth episode of the epic story, especially when enjoying the first three episodes so much.

I don’t know what’s going to happen in terms of the future concerning ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. Hopefully, the first, second, third, fifth and tenth episodes will get DVD and Blu-ray releases soon, which might mean the 12-part story will get the animation treatment soon.

I hope that will be the case, as I’ve wanted ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ to be animated for a long time. Now that the first and third episodes have been found, it seems likely we’ll get the animation version of the story sooner than expected. Work may be done on it already.

I’ll need to update my review on ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ sometime soon, especially with the first and third episodes now found. It may be a while before that happens, but I’m looking forward to when the time comes to update my review on the 12-part epic story. 🙂

I’m pleased to have seen the first and third episodes of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ on BBC iPlayer recently, especially over the Easter holidays since the episodes were released on Good Friday. Let’s hope that more missing 1960s ‘Doctor Who’ episodes will be found. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂