The BBC will release partially lost Doctor Who story The Celestial Toymaker on DVD and Blu-ray, complete with animated episodes.
This Saturday will see David Tennant’s 14th Doctor come face to face with The Toymaker, played by Neil Patrick Harris, in final 60th anniversary special The Giggle.
The character hasn’t been seen onscreen since his debut appearence in 1966 story The Celestial Toymaker, where he was played by Michael Gough.
The story saw First Doctor William Hartnell and his companions Steven Taylor (Blue Peter icon Peter Purves) and Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane) battle the titular Toymaker, as he forces The Doctor to play the impossible Trilogic Game. Meanwhile, Steven and Dodo must work their way through a series of childish games which turn out to be deadly.
Currently, only the fourth episode The Final Test exists in the BBC archives. You can watch it on iPlayer.
BBC Studios have animated all missing episodes in both colour and black and white, and the original film elements have been fully restored.
The story does come with a certain amount of baggage, not least the utterance of a racist term, and much has been written about the cultural appropriation inherent in the Toymaker’s attire
We now have a breakdown of what the two disc set will include:
Disc One
Episodes 1-4 – Animation – Black and White
Episodes 1-3 – Reconstruction
Episode 4 – Original 1966 Episode newly restored
New Audio Commentaries
Disc Two
Episodes 1-4 – Animation – Colour
Making The Animation
Doctor Who Escape Room – Team First Doctor
Sylvester McCoy Introduction for episode 4 as per the original VHS release
Photo Gallery
PDF Material including camera scripts
The Celestial Toymaker will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and Steelbook. Though there is currently no release date, you can pre order here.
In other Doctor Who news, we now know that Ncuti Gatwa’s first full episode The Church On Ruby Road, which will also see the debut of Millie Gibson as new companion Ruby Sunday, will be broadcast on Chrustmas Day at 17.55.
