Revenge of the Cybermen was the very first VHS title released by the BBC in 1983.
The following is a list of VHS titles released by the BBC, broken down by year of release. Doctor Who and K9 and Company are the only two Whoniverse-related programmes to be released to VHS. They were released in both PAL and NTSC formats for both European and North American audiences. The catalogue number and release dates given here apply only to the PAL UK releases, with North American and other territory releases usually occurring at some point after (but occasionally before) the UK release.
Until about 1995, the William Hartnell releases would be edited to remove the "Next Episode" captions that lead into a different story to avoid confusing casual buyers. Also, until the release of The Daleks in late 1989, the releases were edited together into an omnibus format which removed cliffhangers and opening and closing credits between episodes. Some releases prior to this point also featured other edits for content reasons (such as the nunchaku scene from The Talons of Weng-Chiang, as these were at the time classed as illegal weapons in the UK and couldn't be shown on-screen).
The final Doctor Who VHS releases took place in 2003. VHS later ceased to be a viable format and subsequent releases were relegated to DVD and Blu-ray formats with Steelbook casings also being available.
Timeline of releases
1983
The selection of Revenge of the Cybermen for release was based on a survey undertaken by BBC Video at the Longleat convention earlier in 1983. The favourite title voted for release was The Tomb of the Cybermen, but as this story was then missing from the archives, an existing colour Cyberman story was selected as an appropriate replacement.
1984
1985
In 1985, BBC Video removed the "Star Ident" from the VHS artwork and replaced it with simple italic text. The last release to display the "Star Ident" was The Brain of Morbius in 1984. The Seeds of Death marked the first black-and-white Doctor Who story released as part of the range; at the start of the tape, the BBC Video logo changed from colour to black-and-white, and vice versa at the end.
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
The recovery of The Tomb of the Cybermen at the beginning of the year allowed for it to be hurriedly slotted into the release schedule in May. The release of Shada saw the story completed by having Tom Baker fill in the gaps in the narrative by giving simple summaries of the missing action. The release also included a copy of all six scripts. The Tom Baker Years departed in format from the previous three releases, having Tom Baker commenting on a clip from each of his television adventures as opposed to introducing selected individual episodes.
1993
The release of Silver Nemesis (originally planned for January), for which the cover broke with the established template, also had a US documentary on the story included as a bonus. The Dæmons release was based on the colourisation created and broadcast in 1992, and the releases of Terror of the Autons and Doctor Who and the Silurians would also be released in a colourised format (all three indicated by a stylised paintbrush logo on the spine of the case). The releases from Terror of the Autons to The Two Doctors featured the thirtieth anniversary logo on the front cover rather than the standard one. They would also feature a special anniversary title sequence at the start of the tape. The Invasion was released with narration from Nicholas Courtney filling in for the missing episodes one and four. The Dalek Tin also included a booklet, Daleks: A Brief History by Andrew Pixley. The bottom of the tin featured a photo of a Dalek, with five different variations each with a different Dalek photo. Similarly, the TARDIS Tin had seven variations, one photo for each of the then seven Doctors. Planet of Evil and Dragonfire had originally been scheduled for early 1994, but were brought forward to December at the last minute.
There had been several "special releases" planned for the anniversary year. Alongside The Invasion, The Reign of Terror was originally scheduled with narration from Carole Ann Ford filling the gaps left by the missing episodes four and five. Similarly, The Tenth Planet with narration by Michael Craze for episode four was also planned for release. John Nathan-Turner had also planned a double tape pack consisting of clips and interviews for the thirtieth anniversary. Additionally, a release titled "The BBC Documentaries" had been planned, featuring Whose Doctor Who (1977) and Resistance is Useless (1992). Finally, The Davison Years, The Colin Baker Years, and The McCoy Years had all been scheduled (with the Colin Baker title being recorded). Following complaints from fans, Nathan-Turner departed from BBC Video, meaning these planned titles were abandoned (the Colin Baker title was eventually released in 1994).
1994
More than 30 Years in the TARDIS was a new 90 minute edit of the documentary 30 Years in the TARDIS which had aired on the BBC in November 1993.
The Green Death had originally been scheduled for March, but would end up being delayed until 1996 as a result of being pre-empted by a BBC Two repeat of the story in January/February. Likewise, a release of Revelation of the Daleks for May was abandoned due to its repeat on BBC Two in early 1993 (it would be released eventually in 1999). The Greatest Show in the Galaxy had been planned for a November release, but was dropped till 2000.
1995
The Key to Time releases of April, May, and June featured artwork on the spine of the video cases (by Andrew Skilleter). Starting with Carnival of Monsters, the releases each came with a postcard with the video cover art on the front that could be put into the album that came with the combined The King's Demons/The Five Doctors Special Edition set. These would come to an end with The Hand of Fear in 1996. Carnival of Monsters also came with three cards with photos on one side and part of the cover art on the other. These could be combined with three cards released with Doctor Who Magazine issue 224 to complete the cover art. The initial release of The Five Doctors had an error with the Dolby Surround and replacement tapes had to be issued.
Releases provisionally scheduled for this year included The Keys of Marinus in March (released 1999) and The Ice Warriors in May (released 1998). Planet of Giants (released 2002) and Invasion of the Dinosaurs (released 2003) were set for November (and then early 1996) while Delta and the Bannermen (released 2001) was planned for December.
1996
The video range was suspended on February 19th due to the imminent release of the forthcoming TV movie. This also resulted in many back titles being deleted, including the very recent release of The Hand of Fear, which made this particular title most sought after. When the range returned in October it had adopted the new logo from the telemovie, although a consistent template would not be established till 1997.
Time-Flight (released 2000) and The Happiness Patrol (released 1997) had both been planned for March, The Green Death for April, The Leisure Hive (released 1997) for May, Horror of Fang Rock (released 1998) and The Horns of Nimon (released 2003) for June, Timelash (released 1998) for July, The Awakening/Frontios (released 1997) for August, and The War Machines (released 1997) and The Invasion of Time (released 2000) for September.
1997
The release of The Awakening/Frontios marked the end of painted artwork covers for the range. From The War Machines onwards the covers would be photographic montages created by the design house Black Sheep.
1998
The Ice Warriors release came with a CD for the soundtrack of the missing episodes two and three, while on the tape they were replaced by a cut down 15-minute reconstruction using stills and narration by David Harley.
1999
The discovery of the previously missing episode "The Lion" (the first episode of The Crusade) at the start of the year prompted its release in July. It featured linking material for the missing episodes from William Russell and the pack also included a CD of the soundtrack of the two episodes, four postcards with images from the story and The Space Museum (which was released with it), and a TARDIS keyring.
2000
2001
2002
2003
VHS covers
- A list of all VHS covers can be found here.
See also
- ↑ Re-release of previous version. Differentiated by alternative cover art.
- ↑ This was a 60-minute edit of the story.
- ↑ This title featured several minor censor edits due to the overseas prints used.
- ↑ This was an extended edit of the story, but was still presented in an episodic format.
- ↑ The Twin Dilemma was a Woolworths Exclusive release, and was made available for general release in February 1993. This was originally to have been The Aztecs, but Woolworths decided a colour title would sell better than one in black-and-white.
- ↑ Whilst a single tape release, this story was released in a double-tape box so as to allow space for the script book.
- ↑ This was an extended edit of the story including 12 minutes of extra footage, but was still presented in an episodic format.
- ↑ Episode five featured an additional scene cut from the original UK transmission but retained for overseas screening.
- ↑ Despite being presented in an episodic format, the release is still edited with a scene from part two missing.
- ↑ This featured the 1981 The Five Faces of Doctor Who repeat edit of episode four, which trimmed one scene toward the end of the episode. It also presented an extended edit of episode two (about 4 minutes longer) which featured the Delaware version of the theme arrangement.
- ↑ Episode five was presented in an extended edit (about 1 minute of footage) and the Delaware version of the theme arrangement.
- ↑ This was an edited version of the TV movie that matched the 1996 BBC1 screening.
- ↑ This was an extended edit of the story, but was still presented in an episodic format.
- ↑ The story was presented in black-and-white, although the surviving colour footage from episode six was presented at the end of the tape.
- ↑ Also included was a small clip from Disney Time.
- ↑ Three other comedy sketches were included on the release.
- ↑ Episode three was presented in black-and-white.
- ↑ This was a partially colour restored version, with roughly 90 minutes of the story presented in colour and the rest in black-and-white.
- ↑ Part one of the story — which bore the on-screen title Invasion — was presented in black-and-white.
