A animated version of a First Doctor adventure and the farewell outing for companion Steven Taylor, The Savages, gets a home release in March 2025.
The First Doctor story, a four-part adventure originally broadcast between May and June 1966, will be available on DVD and Blu-ray and as a limited edition Blu-ray steelbook.
The Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions, Steven (Peter Purves) and Dodo (Jackie Lane), arrive on an unnamed planet where they encounter two distinct people – the Elders and the Savages. They soon discover the Elders are the evil, draining the primitive Savages for their life source to remain young and powerful forever.
As the original master recordings are lost, due to the BBC’s historic policy of wiping content after transmission, BBC Studios has used the original audio of all four episodes and worked with a team of animators to bring back this long lost story for fans.
The three-disc release will include all four 25-minute animated episodes in both colour and in black and white, as well as a host of exclusive bonus features:
• Episode reconstructions of all four episodes, featuring material from the original 1966 production. Available with optional audio description from Peter Purves
• Cast/crew audio commentaries presented by Toby Hadoke. With actors Kay Patrick (Flower) and the late Robert Sidaway (Avon) on episodes 1 and 2 and with Peter Purves (Steven) and studio floor assistant, Julian Aston on episodes 3 and 4
• Remembering/Forgetting the Savages – A new 100-minute documentary on the making of the original 1966 production of THE SAVAGES. Directed by Stuart Denman and presented by Toby Hadoke.
• Innes Lloyd – the Producer – New 90-minute documentary on the life of Doctor Who producer, Innes Lloyd. Directed by Charles Norton and narrated by Jane Asher.
• Surviving Footage Compilation – Short film extracts from the otherwise lost episodes 1, 3 and 4.
• 1968 BBC training film, featuring The Savages director, Christopher Barry.
• Photo Gallery
• Animation Gallery
• ROM Content
The Savages is due for a 24 March 2025 release. Pre-order from Amazon (on steelbook, DVD and Blu-ray [US]), HMV (on steelbook, DVD and Blu-ray), Rarewaves (on steelbook, DVD and Blu-ray) and Zavvi (on steelbook and Blu-ray).