Doctor Who removes two classic Tom Baker stories from BBC iPlayer

The BBC told RadioTimes.com in a statement: "The Whoniverse contains over 800 hours of Doctor Who content, making it the biggest collection of Doctor Who programming in one place which includes all episodes that we have the rights to.”

The stories were released in 1975 and 1976 respectively and starred Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor alongside Elisabeth Sladen as companion Sarah Jane Smith. Both of them were written by Robert Banks Stewart and directed by Douglas Camfield.

Last year, as part of Doctor Who's 60th anniversary celebrations, the BBC announced that more than 800 episodes of the show from across the classic and modern runs, would live on iPlayer – something that showrunner Russell T Davies had made clear was a big ambition of his.

Various spin-off series also returned to iPlayer – including The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood, Class and behind-the-scenes series Doctor Who Confidential.

However, there are a few notable absences, most prominently the first ever serial, An Unearthly Child, which kicked off Doctor Who and saw William Hartnell's first appearance as the First Doctor.

More recently, the modern episode Fear Her, which featured a brief cameo from Huw Edwards, was removed. However, RadioTimes.com understands the episode will be re-dubbed and reinstated on BBC iPlayer.

Doctor Who is set to return this Christmas with its new special Joy to the World, written by former showrunner Steven Moffat and starring Ncuti Gatwa and Nicola Coughlan.

Doctor Who will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer this Christmas. Previous seasons are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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