LOOKING back on 2011, it’s unquestionably been a great year for missing episodes enthusiasts.
From the finds that made headline news, such as the discovery of David Bowie’s legendary performance of The Jean Genie on Top of the Pops and the return of not one but two long-absent episodes of Doctor Who, to the relatively unsung yet nevertheless important recoveries that helped fill gaps in the archives, we’ve been spoilt with the wealth of recovered TV and radio shows, not to mention lost films, uncovered in the last 12 months.
But what has been the find of 2011 that has got you most excited? With that question in mind, Wiped News has put together a little poll to find out which recovery made you, the readers, happiest.
Wiped News 
My favourite find was the ‘misfiled’ TOTP 22/11/73 edition which the BFI mistakenly informed me was ‘probably’ the previous week’s episode. Thanks to Popscene’s TOTP listings & the BFI’s detailed synopsis matching, I knew their explanation was wrong, followed up my inquiry & earned a review. This means (along with the fabulous Bowie find) we get to see the ‘lost’ Roxy Music performance of ‘Street Life’ again – hopefully sometime soon!
Its difficult to get excited enough to vote for something we can’t actually watch. Its OK for the Dr Who fans those 2 recently found episodes will no doubt appear on Lost In Time Vol II fairly soon but for those of us more interested in missing Top of the Pops any found episodes are never re-broadcast or released on DVD for us to see. They may as well remain lost we can’t view them missing or found
Yes I agree, would love to see the missing “Top Of The Pops” from 64′ including Johnny Kidd and the Pirates singing “Always And ever”
If not for so many recoveries of Doctor Who material, I would have chosen the Patrick Moore interview with Arthur C Clark. And it seems odd that we’re not offered an option to vote for any of the many Pertwee colour episodes which have been recovered…
With all the free-to-air digital channels we have, you’d think some brave soul could organise wall-to-wall archive programming, i.e. nothing before 1970 or something. There is a fair amount now considering what was retained and in addition the recoveries since then, and there is a ready market of those who would watch it. There must be a bit of room for something “educational” such as this era of television which must lean more towards a social history…