A recreation of a missing episode of Doctor Who has won a national award.

In an innovative project by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), students, graduates and staff have authentically recreated a 'missing' episode of Doctor Who from 1965 which has received a special prize from the Learning on Screen Awards 2020.

Judges for the annual awards selected the remake Doctor Who: Mission to the Unknown episode as the winner of the Special Jury Prize, which is presented to entries which stand out in terms of content, production and technical ability.

The Special Jury Prize judging panel said: “We have awarded this special prize to a highly ambitious project which brought together students, staff, graduates, other collaborators across faculties and professional services. They brought a mythical piece of television back to life.”

"Winning the Special Jury Prize is wonderful recognition for everybody involved as they put so much energy, professionalism and talent into this project in such a short amount of time – replicating and learning from the production challenges inherent in 1960s television practice"

BBC Studios was so impressed with the 23 minute episode that it premiered the show on the Doctor Who YouTube channel in October 2019 to mark the anniversary of the original broadcast of the episode, which was first aired on BBC One in 1965.

It has now been viewed more than 200,000 times. The Guardian online awarded the endeavour three stars. It featured in the Sunday Times Culture Magazine and was covered extensively by Doctor Who Magazine.

Professor Ireland said: “Winning the Special Jury Prize is wonderful recognition for everybody involved as they put so much energy, professionalism and talent into this project in such a short amount of time – replicating and learning from the production challenges inherent in 1960s television practice.

"I’m a Doctor Who fan myself and I know the reaction to the episode was really positive among fans but to also receive this award and acknowledgement is fantastic.

“We kept it as close to the original as we possibly could, so everything from the props and costumes to the acting style, pace and camera techniques were designed to be very 1960s. It was filmed to simulate the low-resolution, black and white look of the era and we were able to use the audio from the original recording to inform stage directions, timings, and the mood of the piece.”