List of BBC VHS releases

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 "next episode" captions that lead into a different story so as not to confuse 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. Additionally, some releases prior to this point also featured other edits for content reasons (such as the nunchaku scene from The Talons of Weng-Chiang).

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.

1985
In 1985, BBC Video removed the "Star Ident" from the VHS artwork and replaced it with simple italic text, thus the last release to display the "Star Ident" was "The Brain of Morbius" in 1984.

1987
The release of The Seeds of Death marked the first black and white Doctor Who released as part of the range.

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.

1993
The release of Silver Nemesis (originally planned for January), for which the cover broke with the established template, also had an US documentary on the story included as a bonus. The Dæmons release was based on the colorisation 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 colorised format. The releases from Terror of the Autons to The Two Doctors featured the 30th 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 1 and 4. 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, resulting in 5 different variations. Similarly, the TARDIS Tin had 7 variations, one 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 4 and 5. Similarly, The Tenth Planet with narration by Michael Craze for Episode 4, was also planned for release. John Nathan-Turner had also planned a double tape pack consisting of clips and interviews for the 30th 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's departed from BBC Video, meaning these planned titles were abandoned (the Colin Baker title eventually been released in 1994).

1994
More than Thirty Years in the TARDIS was a new 90 minute edit of the documentary Thirty 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 BBC2 repeat of the story in January/February. Likewise, a release of Revelation of the Daleks for May was abandoned due to its repeat on BBC2 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 3 cards with photos on one side and part of the cover art on the other. These could be combined with 3 cards released with Doctor Who Magazine issue 224 to complete the cover art.

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.


 * Jan BBCV5821 The Leisure Hive
 * Mar BBCV6120 The Awakening/Frontios
 * Jun BBCV6183 The War Machines
 * Aug BBCV5803 The Happiness Patrol
 * Nov BBCV6229 The E-Space Trilogy: BBCV6230 Full Circle/BBCV6231 State of Decay/BBCV6232 Warriors' Gate

1998
The Ice Warriors release came with a CD for the soundtrack of the missing episodes 2 and 3.


 * Jan BBCV6329 Timelash
 * Mar BBCV6330 Battlefield (Extended edit)
 * May BBCV6361 The Mind of Evil
 * Jul BBCV6536 Horror of Fang Rock
 * Sep BBCV6567 Planet of Fire
 * Oct BBCV6609 The Ark
 * Nov BBCV6387 The Ice Warriors box: BBCV6755 The Ice Warriors (incomplete)/BBCV6766 The Missing Years & The Underwater Menace: Episode 3

1999

 * Jan BBCV6610 Nightmare of Eden
 * Mar BBCV6671 The Keys of Marinus
 * Apr BBCV6773 Revenge of the Cybermen
 * May BBCV6672 The Face of Evil
 * Jul BBCV6888 The Crusade: Episodes 1 & 3/The Space Museum
 * Aug BBCV6774 Terror of the Zygons
 * Sep BBCV6889 The Curse of Fatal Death
 * Nov BBCV6875 Dalek Tin II: BBCV6928 Planet of the Daleks/BBCV6927 Revelation of the Daleks

2000
With the Release of the Cyberman Tin, The Colin Baker Era was complete on video. (Although Revelation of the Daleks would be re-released in 2001 in the Davros Boxset)
 * Jan BBCV6998 The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
 * Mar BBCV6876 The Invasion of Time
 * Apr BBCV6877 The Edge of Destruction/Pilot Episode
 * Jul BBCV6878 Time-Flight
 * Sep BBCV6959 An Unearthly Child
 * Nov BBCV7030 Cyberman Tin: BBCV6874 The Tenth Planet (incomplete)/BBCV7048 Attack of the Cybermen

2001
With the release of Delta and the Bannermen, the Sylvestor McCoy Era was complete on video, While Four to Doomsday completed the Peter Davison Era. (Although both Resurrection of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks would be re-released in the Davros Boxset later that year)
 * Feb BBCV6960 The Daleks
 * Mar BBCV7131 Delta and the Bannermen
 * May BBCV7132 City of Death
 * Jul BBCV7133 The Sun Makers
 * Sep BBCV7134 Four to Doomsday
 * Sep The Davros Collection: BBCV7251 Genesis of the Daleks/BBCV7252 Destiny of the Daleks/BBCV7253 Resurrection of the Daleks/BBCV7254 Revelation of the Daleks/BBCV7255 Remembrance of the Daleks
 * Nov BBCV7175 The Master Tin: BBCV7176 Colony in Space/BBCV7177 The Time Monster

2002

 * Jan BBCV7263 Planet of Giants
 * Mar BBCV7264 Underworld
 * May BBCV7265 The Ambassadors of Death
 * Jul BBCV7266 The Creature from the Pit
 * Sep BBCV7267 The Invisible Enemy
 * Sep BBCV7346 The Time Lord Collection: BBCV7363 The War Games/BBCV7364 The Three Doctors/BBCV7365 The Deadly Assassin
 * Nov BBCV7278 The First Doctor Box Set: BBCV7276 The Sensorites/BBCV7275The Time Meddler/BBCV7277 The Gunfighters

2003
The Horns of Nimon completed the Tom Baker Era, while Invasion of the Dinosaurs completed the Jon Pertwee Era.
 * Feb BBCV7331 The Mutants
 * Mar BBCV7332 Meglos
 * Jun BBCV7334 The Horns of Nimon
 * Oct BBCV7333 Invasion of the Dinosaurs
 * Nov BBCV7335 The Reign of Terror (incomplete)/The Faceless Ones: Episodes 1 & 3/The Web of Fear: Episode 1

VHS covers

 * ''A list of all VHS covers can be found here