LotSW, the Missing Episdoes...

theatrically_inclined

theatrically_inclined

Dedicated Member
Did you know there might be two missing "LotSW" episodes?
There are different types of missing episodes, for example:
  • Early episodes of shows like Dad's Army, where the original video tapes were wiped and reused, as video tape was expensive and no one then imagined anybody would ever want to watch anything more than once or twice. Copies sometimes then reappear from private collections of off-air video tapes, or foreign broadcasters that kept their copies.
  • There are episodes of shows (or entire shows) that are now deemed unsuitable to broadcast; they're not really missing, but simply never re-shown.
  • There are of course un-aired Pilots, but they're not missing. Many tv show pilots were never intended to air, like two pilot episodes of BBC's Generation Game hosted by Lily Savage.
  • Then there are episodes that were written, might have been in early stages of production, might even have had some preliminary filming, but they didn't get finished - or if did get finished there was a "good" reason not to show them.
Was there a point to all this - oh, yes!

When the BBC authorise the budget for a show, they allocate "Production Codes" for the episodes. So for anything to do with, say series 29 episode 4, you don't need the title or episode number, you just need the Production Code and the costs are allocated against the correct budget.

For series 29 (broadcast in 2008) the codes run sequentially for episodes 1 to 10 (xxx181 to xxx190), then skip two codes (xxx191 / 2), and the last episode is the thirteenth code (xxx193). (I have not given the full codes as I don't want to create a false search result for someone that is looking for them!)
  • It is possible the production team were allocated the first batch of 10 codes, then needed an extra one (I'm guessing "It's Never Ten Years" was shoehorned in even though it's not the last in broadcast order) so there was a gap as other shows had used those codes.
  • Perhaps 13 codes were requested and only 11 used.
  • Perhaps there are two episodes missing, possibly never completed scripts that were ditched, completed scripts that were used later, or - unlikely - made and not broadcast.
I have received suggestions of two possible episode titles. (I won't quote them in full as I don't want to create another search engine dead end!)

"The Mystery of ..."
"The Great Yorkshire ..."

We have heard it before, there were rumours of a thirteenth episode of Fawlty Towers. The official BBC book "Fawlty Towers Fully Booked" states in its very first paragraph that claims of a 13th episode are "nonsense".

So, what do you think?

Don't bother to search online for information - you won't find anything definitive!*

Do you think Roy Clarke ditched two scripts?
Did the BBC decide they only wanted 11 not 13 episodes?
Were 13 episodes of series 29 made and two not shown?
Was it just a clerical technicality, or clerical error?
Or... something else ...?


[* as of today, 8 January 2024]
 
It would be nice to think there are two episodes that might appear one day from some archive, I suppose the simple answer from me would be, who knows, but if anybody would like a copy of

The Mystery of Foggy's wedding day and the missing bride
The Great Yorkshire police chase, when Cooper and Walsh went in the wrong direction
 
Technically, there IS a thirteenth episode of Fawlty Towers.

It is the very first episode of the first series of Not the Nine O'Clock News, broadcast in 1979. Be sure to watch it from start to finish.
 
EDIT. It may not actually be Series One Episode One - I believe the makers weren't happy with the show before transmission - but you should find it on YouTube.
 
Two questions . IF there were two missing episodes would we want a repeat of the Dads Army missing episodes, where Gold assembled a new cast and recorded and aired the episodes. I personally found them to be quite good, I thought Kevin McNally and Robert Bathurst were excellent as Mainwaring and Wilson.

I won't open up the discussion to ask who should play whom which has been discussed before but would we like to see them made or left unrecorded.

Secondly , although I have not seen them what do we feel about the recent animated series of Dads Army shown again on Gold would that work for LOTSW.
 
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