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I'm such a third party, could do it.

I could't care less about restoring BBC history if BBC themselves don't care enough to lay down a legal way for this to happen without my help.

This is how it feels to me. Dump them on a pirate site, no reason to give them to the BBC if they have no interest in trying to get them

Are we sure the copyright belongs to BBC and not the royal family?

Excuse my ignorance, but why exactly would the copyright belong to the royal family?

I don't know much either. I don't think the BBC is a government department though, but it's kind of messy.