Doctor Who: Ranking the 10 missing stories yet to be animated

Many stories are missing from the BBC archives, but only ten haven't been given the animated treatment. We rank these remaining stories in order, starting with those that might never be animated to the stories likeliest to be animated next.

There are many stories missing from the BBC archives, but only ten haven't been given the animation treatment. We rank the stories in order, from unlikeliest to most likely to be animated next.
There are many stories missing from the BBC archives, but only ten haven't been given the animation treatment. We rank the stories in order, from unlikeliest to most likely to be animated next. | Image Courtesy BBC Studios, BritBox
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10. "The Crusade"

This felt like the natural choice for the unlikeliest animation. For one reason, the season it's a part of has already been released on Blu-ray. In fact, Season 2 is currently the only season from the black-and-white era to get the Blu-ray treatment so far. It's not surprising, especially since - quite amazingly, really - "The Crusade" is the only story from Season 2 with any missing episodes.

Theoretically, there isn't anything stopping the BBC from animating this story at all. Certainly, there have been more than a few stories that fans have had to double dip for with their DVD and Blu-ray releases.

But there's also the fact that Charles Norton, who worked as animation producer and director on several releases, specifically named it as a story that's unlikely to ever be animated. And the reasons he gives for this are pretty convincing.

"Episodes one and three survive on film, episodes two and four don't, and in episodes two and four, there's something like 26 speaking characters, and most of them have three different changes of clothes, and [those characters] aren't in episodes one and three!"
Charles Norton

It's a shame, especially as "The Crusade" is such a great story. On the other hand, the photo reconstructions used for the missing episodes on Blu-ray are extremely good. At the very least, they help to give the viewer a great idea of what these missing episodes were like. I won't say that these episodes will never be animated, but with so many other missing stories to focus on, they're bottom of the list for now.