An Unearthly Child, Doctor Who's 1st adventure, absent from BBC service

Where’s An Unearthly Child? Let’s just say, some people really know how to spoil a party …

We haven’t made too much of the BBC’s recent announcement about all the existing Doctor Who stories — old and new — along with spinoffs and documentary material coming to their taxpayer-funded iPlayer service, because it’s not something readily available to most of our (U.S.) audience. (It’s really cool, though, because it also includes many accessibility features for the first time like subtitles, audio descriptions and sign language enhancements.)

A while back I cancelled the BBC's license to show (or use in any way) my late father's four (first ever) Doctor Who episodes, comprising 'The Tribe of Gum'.
NOW they offer me a pittance, to relicense them.
I sent them my counter-offer, instead.
Let's see how much they want them?
— Stef Anthony Coburn 🗣 (@Stef_Coburn) October 7, 2023

But it’s noteworthy now that the iconic British science fiction series very first serial, “An Unearthly Child,” won’t be there (along with many, many missing episodes carelessly discarded in a pre-home video age).

The reason the First Doctor’s first appearance won’t be present for this 60th anniversary gift to Doctor Who fans? The writer Anthony Coburns’ heir has kicked up a fuss and dug in his heels over rights. Stef Coburn suggested on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that his father’s estate withdrew the licensing rights to these episodes following compensation disagreements with the BBC. (“The Tribe of Gum” in his statement refers to early drafts and transcripts of the episode now known as “An Unearthly Child.”)

“This massive iPlayer back catalogue will be home to over 800 hours of Doctor Who content, making it the biggest ever collection of Doctor Who programming in one place but will not include the first four episodes as we do not have all the rights to those,” a BBC spokesperson told Radio Times.

“An Unearthly Child” is currently still available on the BritBox streaming service, in the UK and the U.S., but that could change when the time comes for contract renegotiation with that platform (in each region, most likely).

So, if you haven’t yet seen the first televised voyage of the TARDIS, don’t wait much longer — wherever you are … (And remember, they can’t ever take your physical media from you …)