There were 147 episodes of Hartnell and Troughton era Who were wiped by the BBC in the 1970s and, as such, the slightest snifter of a clue or lead in the discovery of any of them is always eagerly set upon by fans of the first two Doctors.

In the last 30 years, some 39 episodes have been recovered from a variety of sources, notably a fair few from overseas. This is where hope usually tends to lie with regards to the recovery of further episodes, as the BBC sent copies of most episodes of the series to various TV stations around the world.

In the past couple of days, the news has come that researcher, Damian Finucane, claims to have traced nine early episodes to Thailand, including the seven-part 'Marco Polo' serial in which the Doctor joins the eponymous character on the Silk Route. This would be a huge boon for fans of early Who as the story is the only entirely missing serial of the first season. Currently, not a single frame of any of the seven episodes is known to be in existence.

Finucane claims that "Records show that nine episodes from Doctor Who were shipped to Bangkok, and now we're looking for anybody who has any information about it." Apparently, the nine episodes were sent to Bangkok's now-defunct Channel 4 in 1967.

So far, however, although Finucane has contacted several Thai television stations and scoured the National Film Archive of Thailand, nothing has come to light.