Thank you for your email regarding the early series of Doctor Who. We currently hold the broadcast rights to only the Tom Baker, Peter Davidson, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy series so these are the only series we can show. We did hold the rights to the Jon Pertwee series but these have expired and we have not secured the rights to them again as yet.

At the moment we have no plans to buy the rights to the early series featuring William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. The problem we have with these series is that the BBC have lost or destroyed many of the episodes and of those that remain, some are no longer of broadcast quality. If we were to show them, nearly all of the stories would be incomplete and littered with holes and so to show a `series' would be impossible. Our current feeling is that it would be disappointing to viewers to show such incomplete stories so the only time we would show them is as individual episodes as part of a special season. This may happen in the future but at the moment we have no concrete plans.

At the moment we have no plans to buy the rights to the early series featuring William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. The problem we have with these series is that the BBC have lost or destroyed many of the episodes and of those that remain, some are no longer of broadcast quality. If we were to show them, nearly all of the stories would be incomplete and littered with holes and so to show a `series' would be impossible. Our current feeling is that it would be disappointing to viewers to show such incomplete stories so the only time we would show them is as individual episodes as part of a special season. This may happen in the future but at the moment we have no concrete plans.

I am sorry to have bought disappointing news but hopefully your queries have been answered.