serial, at the insistence of Lambert, Martin avoided showing much detail for the more brutal visuals, such as deaths; Lambert retrospectively cited criticism that the crew received for a violent scene in The Edge of Destruction (1964) as her reasoning. Reception Broadcast and ratings A special trailer for The Web Planet, filmed on 4 February 1965, features the Zarbi arriving at the BBC Television Centre before being shown to their dressing rooms. The trailer, screened on BBC1 on 6 February 1965, upset Martin, who felt that it undersold his work and made him feel "like a conjurer about to do an elaborate two and a half hour trick when all the audience know the secrets already"; Lambert responded that the comedic trailer was intentional to take "the curse out of the Zarbi" for younger viewers. The serial was broadcast on BBC1 in six weekly parts from 13 February to 20 March 1965. Viewership increased from the preceding serial, reaching a series-high of 13.5 million viewers for the first episode. The ratings dropped for the following episodes, with the final two hitting 12 million, but they were still considered successful, ranking among the top 20 programmes for each week; the first episode ranked joint 18th in the national charts, with an estimated viewership of 5.45 million households. The Appreciation Index began well but fell rapidly, dropping below 50 for the first time; the final episode set a new record low of 42. The serial was believed to have been wiped in the early 1970s and presumed missing until negative film prints of all six episodes were recovered from BBC Enterprises in the late 1970s. Unedited prints were also discovered in Nigeria in 1984. The fourth episode was shown on 29 October 1983 at the National Film Theatre as part of the 20th anniversary event Doctor Who: The Developing Art; it was also screened at regional events like the Bradford Playhouse and Film Theatre on 8 June 1984. British Satellite Broadcasting screened the serial between July and September 1990, and it was broadcast in episodic form on UK Gold in December 1992 alongside a compilation version. Critical response The first episode was criticised by Peter Black of the Daily Mail, who described the main characters as "the dullest quartet in fiction". Comments from younger viewers read on Junior Points of View were mixed; some found the episode "exciting and hair-raising", while others