Film is Fabulous! announce Manchester Daleks’ Master Plan screening, publish Sue Malden interview

By John Freeman on April 14, 2026 • ( 0 )

Ahead of a special Manchester Doctor Who event organised by Film is Fabulous! offering a special screening of three Doctor Who episodes on the big screen, including the recently-discovered episodes of The Daleks’ Master Plan, they have published an interview with Sue Malden, former BBC archivist and trustee of FiF!

Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan. Image © BBC

Sue, discussing what it takes to recover and restore lost media such as the First Doctor’s missing adventures, also talks about how Film is Fabulous! came to be.

“I was speaking on a panel about missing episodes at a Doctor Who event near Milton Keynes in 2024 [2023],” she explains, “and afterwards I was approached by John Franklin, afFilm collector and fellow Film is Fabulous! trustee. He knew that I had previously been head of BBC Broadcast Archives and had organised a “treasure hunt” of missing Doctor Who episodes.

“John was concerned about the vulnerable state of many collections of filming TV that people had dedicated their lives to, but had no contingency plan for after they passed on. Many haven’t made list or shared with their families what they have, and the idea that a grief stricken Family might unknowingly disposed of a valuable film collection felt tragic.”

Discussing what are the biggest challenges between discovering missing media and returning it to the rights holders, Sue notes “You can never be sure what it says on the outside of the account is what you’ll find on the inside!

“In today’s digital world, archives are also less interested in holding original Film, so we’ve started helping with digital scanning in our work.

“There’s also the process of checking whether what we found is actually missing from archives. We have to contact the appropriate archives (which is often the BBC), and confirm: are they missing this? Would they like it back? Is it unique?”

Sue reveals missing The Daleks’ Master Plan episodes came to be found because John Franklin knew a collector who had recently fallen ill, and was helping him sort through his collection

“Sadly, the collector died, and John had his collection moved into our store. Low and behold, six Doctor Who episodes were found! Four were already in the BBC archive, but old film was very vulnerable so it’s always worth checking it needs discoveries if something we found might be a better qualities than what’s already held.

“John handled everything with kid gloves – not just a kinds of delicate film, but the whole process. He ensured people didn’t get too worried or excited, until we were certain that the content was really there and could be scanned digitally. He also had to ensure the BBC will show the episodes again as fans and collectors value the opportunity to see what’s been found. Obviously it’s great finding things but that’s only half the job – so it’s very exciting that they’re now airing on BBC iPlayer.”

You can listen to the full interview here on the Film is Fabulous! website

Manchester Doctor Who Event

Film is Fabulous! is hosting a special screening of three Doctor Who episodes will be held at HOME Manchester on Saturday 23rd May 2026. The event will offer fans of the classic series the chance to experience the first three episodes of The Daleks’ Master Plan, two of which were recently recovered from a private film collection.

The RECOVERED Doctor Who Special will begin at 5.00pm, and close at approximately 8.00pm. The programme will include:

Introduction: Toby Hadoke

Screening: The Nightmare Begins (Broadcast: 13th November 1965)

The TARDIS lands on the planet Kembel and the Doctor goes to find help for the injured Steven. He discovers that the Daleks are on Kembel and are planning to conquer Earth.

Discussion: Hosted by Toby Hadoke, with John Franklin and Prof. Justin Smith.

Intermission

Screening: Day of Armageddon (Broadcast: 20th November 1965)

Disguised as one of the members of the Dalek alliance, the Doctor discovers that the Daleks have built a deadly weapon known as the Time Destructor.

Discussion: Hosted by Toby Hadoke, with Tim Burrows and Gavin Rymill.

Intermission

Screening: Devil’s Planet (Broadcast: 27th November 1965)

Having stolen the vital taranium core from the Daleks, the Doctor and his friends have escaped Kembel in Mavic Chen’s ship but the Daleks give chase.

Discussion: Hosted by Toby Hadoke with Peter Purves

Entry is by ticket only. Tickets will be on sale from HOME Manchester, as follows:

Tuesday, 14th April 2026 – HOME Friends. Join HOME as a Friend Friends | HOME
Friday, 17th April 2026 – HOME Members. Join HOME as a Member Membership | HOME
Monday, 20th April 2026 – General Sales. Purchase tickets online General Sale | HOME

Film is Fabulous! is a charitable trust dedicated to preserving and restoring film. The work encourages private collectors of film and television to catalogue and share what they hold, to ensure the preservation of decades of art and media. Among the board of trustees is Sue Malden, archivist and the BBC’s first television archive selector, who is renowned for starting the decades-long project to find missing Doctor Who episodes.

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.