We finished the season of Doctor Who we currently have on loan yesterday, so tonight we watched another episode of Upstairs, Downstairs (glee on finally having my own copy!). Being the curious internet-wielding person I am, I went and looked up what things the various actors have done in their careers. A few interesting discoveries:
Pauline Collins totally played Queen Victoria in this last season of Doctor Who! I give myself a pass for not recognizing her, because, you know, 40 years added to her face and a completely different accent. Apparently her first television role ever was in some 1967 episode of Doctor Who, also.
Jean Marsh, who is my absolute favorite on Upstairs, Downstairs, also had a role in early Doctor Who. Apparently she was a companion for a 12-episode run. But only three episodes of this are still extant, as far as anyone knows. Wikipedia seems to say that the BBC used to wipe their tapes of TV episodes, back in the day, and now no one has a copy of nine of these episodes anymore. I just...that hurts my soul. Works of art should not disappear from the world. Even back in the early days of broadcast television, how they could have a policy that destroys their original copies just boggles me. I wish someone had been brave and snuck a copy home with them.
Can I have a time machine and the address of the BBC archives?