The Underwater Menace was the final scheduled DVD in the classic Doctor Who range that had yet to see release, and in early 2015 enquiries brought to light that it had been removed from release schedules.

The serial was the earliest surviving story featuring Patrick Troughton's version of the Doctor, and its earliest surviving episode (Episode 2) had not yet been officially released on any format following its rediscovery in 2011. Both surviving episodes had been fully restored visually by the Restoration Team, and required only two weeks' further work to complete the audio restoration. DVD extras had already been produced by the Restoration Team, including a "making of" documentary called "Fishy Tales". How the missing Episodes 1 and 4 would be presented (if at all) was undetermined.

In response to the removal of the title from schedules, this petition was started to help show support for its release on DVD. After months of campaigning and gaining over 2,750 supporters, the petition was closed and submitted to BBC Worldwide in May 2015. Following this, in late June 2015, the BBC's official Doctor Who Magazine published confirmation that the release had been cancelled outright, seemingly closing the book on a DVD release for the story.

However, in September 2015, the official BBC Shop unexpectedly posted a new listing for The Underwater Menace on DVD, with a release date of October 26th 2015. Doctor Who Magazine posted via their Twitter account confirming the listing was legitimate, and that more details would follow shortly. In their following issue, it was confirmed that the existing episodes and extras that had originally produced for the release would all be present, accompanied by Telesnap reconstructions for the missing episodes 1 & 4.

Thanks to everyone gave their support and helped show BBC Worldwide that there was demand for a DVD release of this story! This wouldn't have happened without your support, and we hope that everyone involved enjoys the forthcoming release!

#SaveTheFishPeople
#TheFishPeopleHaveBeenSaved