“Eighteen months is too long to wait.”

Terror of the Zygons (1975) and The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977) came out on VHS towards the end of 1988, having been originally announced at the beginning of 1986. The reason for this delay was that they were both rated PG (“Parental Guidance”) by the British Board of Film Classification, and BBC Video’s policy at the time was that all Doctor Who VHS releases should receive a U (“Universal”) certificate.

The BBFC’s advice to BBC Video was that neither story could be cut to the point where it would be “Suitable for All” without losing coherence, and this was after Talons had already had significant cuts made to it to be judged PG.¹ This meant both releases were postponed, pending cancellation. At least in the UK. Despite the need for a higher rating, Australian releases of the stories went ahead roughly when planned.