You may have read today the news that An Unearthly Child is not going to be included in the release of Doctor Who's back catalogue onto iPlayer on 1st November. This is the result of an issue that has been brewing for the last week or so, which I've been following on Facebook. Up until now it's been speculation, but today it has been confirmed.
The problem is that the writer's son - Stef Anthony Coburn - has fallen out with the BBC over money. He owns the copyright to the four episodes now that both his parents are dead. He has asked the BBC for a sum of money to re-licence them, an amount which they have rejected.
He is arguing that this has less to do with money but more about preserving his father's legacy. He has gone so far as to claim that working for the Corporation actually led to his father's untimely death.
He purports to be standing up for fans against a corrupt, money-grabbing BBC.
Unfortunately this new stance does not tally well with previous comments he has made, in which he has attacked his father as a bad one.
Unless the original agreement over commercial exploitation of the story covers new formats (i.e. Blu-ray) then we won't be seeing a Season One Collection boxset any time soon.
As things stand, he owns the copyright and there's nothing anyone can do about this unless they are prepared to go to court. Stef cannot exploit the episodes himself, as they include elements like the TARDIS, Doctor and companion characters which are BBC-owned so, whilst he digs his heels in, his father's estate (he and his family) can't benefit, so it's as good an example of "cutting off your nose to spite your face" as you'll ever come across.
The story can still be found on some digital platforms which had agreements prior to this current controversy, but they'll disappear when rights run out. You might want to pick up a copy of the DVD cheap on Amazon etc. just to have it, because who knows how long this situation will drag on for.
No comments:
Post a Comment