Home Video: 2000-2003

The range wrapped up during the four years leading up to the fortieth anniversay. Stories were released in a very irregular pattern, reflecting the additional work that had to be put into remastering the content – several of the hardest serials in this regard had been left until the very end.

In late 1999, Doctor Who had begun being released on DVD, so for several years two ranges – one just starting, the other winding down – nicely complemented each other.

DateBBCVTitleLength*
12524/01/20006998The Greatest Show in the Galaxy01:39:03
12613/03/20006876The Invasion of Time01:17:05
01:16:08
127Apr 20006877The Edge of Destruction
The Pilot Episode
01:24:22
128Jul 20006878Time-Flight01:39:33
129Sep 20006959An Unearthly Child: Remastered01:37:26
13006/11/20007030The Tenth Planet
Attack of the Cybermen
01:35:42
01:36:28
13126/02/20016960The Daleks: Remastered02:35:17
13226/03/20017131Delta and the Bannermen01:14:55
13308/05/20017132City of Death01:41:03
13409/07/20017133The Sunmakers01:41:15
13503/09/20017134Four to Doomsday01:38:20
13617/09/20017251-5The Davros Collection
Genesis of the Daleks
Destiny of the Daleks
Resurrection of the Daleks
Revelation of the Daleks
Remembrance of the Daleks
02:24:04
01:41:13
01:39:00
01:31:29
01:39:29
13705/11/20017175Colony in Space
The Time Monster
02:27:19
02:28:58
13814/01/20027263Planet of Giants01:14:51
13904/03/20027264Underworld01:30:31
14020/05/20027265The Ambassadors of Death02:56:23
14115/07/20027266The Creature from the Pit01:38:09
14202/09/20027267The Invisible Enemy01:34:31
14301/09/20027346The Time Lord Collection
The War Games
The Three Doctors
The Deadly Assassin
02:02:23
02:00:27
01:39:55
01:35:58
14411/11/20027278The First Doctor Collection
The Sensorites
The Time Meddler
The Gunfighters
02:30:46
01:38:54
01:37:24
14517/02/20027331The Mutants02:27:14
14610/03/20037332Meglos01:28:30
14702/06/20037334The Horns of Nimon01:42:34
14820/10/20037333Invasion of the Dinosaurs02:31:58
14924/11/20037335The Reign of Terror
The Faceless Ones & The Web of Fear
01:46:24
01:14:11

*from start of tape to end.

Artwork continued to be photographic montages, usually attributed to Black Sheep.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy was postponed briefly, so the Australian release came first (Sep 1999) followed by the US release (Nov 1999).

Six-parter The Invasion of Time was split across two tapes in a single case. This was almost the last double-pack released – after this most stories appeared on a single tape, even the longer The Daleks and The Ambassadors of Death. The only final exception was The War Games in its Time Lord Collection rerelease, which was still across two tapes in a single case.

The Daleks contained a sticker on its box noting the fact that it was ‘DIGITALLY RE-MASTERED’, and all 2003 releases were identified with a 40th anniversary sticker (except the final box-set, which integrated the logo into its art).

  • A box-set containing newly remastered versions of An Unearthly Child and The Daleks along with a new version of the pilot and the previously-unreleased The Edge of Destruction was planned. Fan outcry at having to repurchase the first two serials to get the third prompted the three tapes to be split.
  • The Tenth Planet featured a full-length telesnap reconstruction to replace the missing final episode (which was then followed by a set of reconstruction credits). It was released in a tin with Attack of the Cybermen, which opened with a clip from Saturday Superstore.
  • City of Death was a straightforward reissue of this popular story.
  • The Davros Collection was a WH Smith exclusive box, limited to 10,000, containing five stories across five tapes. The sleeve notes for Revelation are new, removing the reference to the audio edit from the 1999 VHS, but sadly the edit was still in place. Remembrance was taken from the fixed US version of the 2001 DVD master: two Beatles tracks were removed from the first and third episodes, as per the UK DVD, but special effects that were accidentally missing from the first episode on the UK release were put back for the US edition, and were present here.
  • Colony in Space and The Time Monster were packaged in a Master tin.
  • Planet of Giants premiered the new VidFIRE technique, returning the smooth video look to tele-recorded material, also used in The First Doctor Collection.
  • The Ambassadors of Death was partly colourised (Episodes 1, 5 and 6 fully in colour, Episode 4 entirely monochrome) using the same techniques employed in the 90s. Before Episode 1 was a partly colourised version of the original trailer, with an explanation about the remastering, and after Episode 7 was a walkthrough of the steps in that remastering.
  • The Time Lord Collection was a WH Smith exclusive box, limited to 8,000.
  • The First Doctor Collection compiled the final three First Doctor releases into a single outer box. The Time Meddler was edited, as the master tape remains to this day.
  • Invasion of the Dinosaurs had been left late in the range in the hopes a colourisation would be possible (a partial attempt was later released on DVD), but still the first episode was included in monochrome. The tape was released in the US earlier in the same month as the UK.
  • The final release contained four existing episodes of The Reign of Terror, linked with material filmed in the 90s by John Nathan-Turner for an aborted 1993 VHS release. This Carole-Ann Ford footage was re-edited with clips and images by Ed Stradling, credits for which were included after the sixth episode. The set contained a second tape (in a separate case, but in the same outer box) with the last three unreleased Patrick Troughton episodes and a series of newly discovered clips from The Web of Fear‘s missing episodes. Stickers added to the outer box numbered the set, and also advertised a badge contained within.

Tapes almost all opened with a tracking message, followed by a copyright message and then the BBC block logo. The Invasion of Time and all the Hartnell tapes (except Planet of Giants) included a caption card after the logo. Invasion of the Dinosaurs and The Reign of Terror also featured a compilation of clips from the show set to a remix of the theme by Orbital (in the case of Reign this came before the title card). Some extra bonuses, noted above, also featured after the logo.

Tapes all ended (after bonuses in some cases, see notes above) with block logo accompanied by a copyright based on the year of release, and then a copyright warning.

The inner sleeves continued to both advertise the range (see details here) and provide production information, as began in the 1999 Daleks tin. All labels contained the block version of the BBC logo.