Australia
AUSTRALIA is in the Pacific Ocean, and forms part of Australasia. One of its closest neighbours is New Zealand. Papua New Guinea and Indonesia are to the north.
Profile
| Country Number (2) | 1965 | FIRST WAVE |
| Region | Australasia/Asia | Commonwealth |
| Television commenced | 16 September 1956 | |
| Colour System | 1 March 1975 | PAL |
| Population | 1966 | 11,362,000 |
| TV Sets | 1966 | 2 million |
| Language/s | English |
Television Stations / Channels
Australia began its television service from 16 September 1956; this was the commercial Channel Nine network.
Other stations followed: ABC (Channel 2) – this government-owned non-commercial station commenced broadcasts on 5 November 1956; commercial channels ATN (Channel 7); TCN (Channel 9); TEN (Channel 10); and SBS, plus many state-wide or regional privately-owned independent TV stations. There were even "pirate" stations - such as the Warlpiri Media Association, which transmitted regional programmes as well as the ABC to a local Aborigine community of about 800 in the Northern Territory.
In later years, independent cable and satellite stations launched.
From January 1965 through until June 1994, Doctor Who aired regularly on the non-commercial station, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (the ABC). The ABC changed its name to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1 July 1983.
In the early years of television broadcasts, each state had its own network of stations each with its own schedules of programming, which meant that different episodes of Doctor Who aired on different days around the country, often many months apart. There were not only scheduling differences between states but the larger ones – such as Queensland - also had regional city-to-city variances within the state.
In April 1962, the permanent telecommunications cable link between Sydney and Melbourne (via Canberra) was opened: this allowed for the relaying of and simultaneous broadcasts of some programming between the three cities; Channel 9 was the first to adopt this service in 1963, but the ABC never used the co-axial for broadcasts of Doctor Who.
On 9 July 1970, the ABC 'opened' its microwave link between the east and west coasts of Australia, enabling the transmission of programme material across the country. The launch was promoted in a one-hour special, PROJECT AUSTRALIA (7.55pm to 8.55pm), featuring contributions from various Australian cities.
Colour transmissions on the ABC commenced on 1 March 1975 using the PAL colour broadcast system. Some of the minor regional stations may have continued broadcasting in black and white for several months. (By 1977, less than 50% of the population had colour televisions.)
Full country-wide networking on the ABC commenced on 26 January 1986 via the AUSSAT satellites, although there were still regional variances throughout that decade, usually around regional sporting events, which required video-taped copies. It wasn't until the early 1990s that full satellite networking across the entire country was achieved.
From 1 August 1996 to 17 June 2002, the FOX-TEL satellite station, BBC UKTV, aired a run of all available complete stories. They also aired a brief repeat run in 2003.
From 15 September 2003 through to 3 February 2006, the series returned to the ABC for a fresh run of repeats now broadcast digitally via satellite from the new Ultimo centre (opened in November 2002) - but which excluded a number of the stories penned by Terry Nation and/or featuring the Daleks; this was due to problems with securing rights from the Nation Estate. (A similar issue affected transmissions of Nation / Dalek serials on UK Gold in the 1990s.)
From 17 August 2011, the Australian SCI-FI channel (established in 1 December 2006) commenced a run of repeats that ran through to the end of 2012. The rebranded syfy channel continued to air episodes of the old series and the New Series into 2015…
During 2013, Australia's BBC UKTV celebrated the series' 50th anniversary by showing select stories, one Doctor per month, one full story per week on Sundays. January featured four William Hartnell stories, February had four Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee in March, etc, through to Matt Smith in November. (The same stories also aired on New Zealand's own BBC UKTV channel.)
For the 50th anniversary itself, BBC UKTV aired a marathon of complete stories, one for each of the eleven Doctors along with various documentaries and specials.
In late 2021, streaming platform Stan (launched in January 2015) added a selection of Classic stories to its menu (they already had the New Series available).
The ABC lost its broadcast rights to the New Series, when Disney+ was awarded the exclusive worldwide distribution rights to all future Doctor Who episodes, starting in November 2023.
From 1965 through to 2022, the ABC had been home to Doctor Who for 57 years…
Language/s
The principal language of Australia is English.
DOCTOR WHO IN AUSTRALIA
Australia was the first country to be offered and to buy the series, but wasn't the first to broadcast the new series. (That honour fell on New Zealand.) The reasons for the delay to the debut of the series are covered on the more detailed AUSTRALIA SALES page.
DALEK MOVIES
PETER CUSHING Movies
CINEMA
The two Peter Cushing Dalek features played in cinemas across the country. The first was often exhibited as a double bill with another feature film.
As part of the nation-wide promotion for the first film, a movie Dalek prop that had been repainted red travelled around Australia by train.
The first filmed debuted in Melbourne on 17 December 1965 (at the 600–seat Grosvenor cinema – rated G; it played there for two weeks until 30 December).
The roaming Dalek then went to Sydney; the movie played at The Capitol from 23 December 1965 and into the New Year period. (The Dalek was photographed in Market Street outside the State Theatre with 21 year-old model Beverly Weynton of Newport on 22 December 1965 – see clipping.)
The by-now rather battered Dalek prop (it was missing one claw, and its paint was badly peeling from its skirt globes) was repaired before it travelled back to Melbourne. The newly-repainted Dalek boarded a train at the Spencer Street station bound for Ballarat in the central highlands of Victoria, where the movie played at the Royal Theatre from 20 January 1966.
The Dalek continued to travel around the country to promote the film as it opened in each new city or region.
Movie listings in newspapers have the film playing in Bourke, in north west New South Wales from mid-June to early July 1966, and in Canberra starting from 14 October 1966 at The Capitol cinema before shifting to the Civic Theatre by the end of the month, however it's possible these were re-releases rather than first showings at these locations.
It's not known what happened to the battered Dalek prop once the film had finished its national run. It's believed that it may have ended up at one of the commercial TV stations (either Channel Seven, Nine or Ten), where it was given a spruce up and with the addition of flashing lights up and down its skirt-section, and appeared as an on screen "host" for children's programmes! What became of it after that is unknown. Presumably it's still somewhere in Australia?!
The Dalek sequel was shown in 1967: It played in Sydney at The Capitol from 15 December to 21 December 1967.
Dates and locations in other states are unknown, but it's expected that like the first one, the film was shown around the country during that year, and into 1968.
The first film later returned to regional theatres, such as at the Center Theatre in Canberra, playing "Matinee Only" sessions during the May 1969 school holidays.
TELEVISION
Both films aired on television (on a regional basis) many times on a number of different stations (but ironically never on the ABC!).
Channel 10 had the exclusive rights to the first film, which it aired for the first time at 7.30pm on 22 July 1972. ATV-0 in Melbourne aired it on 22 January 1974.
It wasn't until 28 September 1980 that the sequel made it to air.
All the known TV Listings for New South Wales-based stations can be found HERE
VHS AND DVD
The films were also released on VHS and Betamax tapes, distributed in Australia by Thorn EMI, mainly for the rental market. Reviews for the first film appeared in newspapers and magazines in October 1982, and the sequel (which was apparently edited by 4 minutes) was reviewed in April 1983. These tapes did not have any classification ratings, as there was no legal requirement at that time for videotapes to be rated.
When the new Film and Video Tape Classification Act was introduced with effect from 10 December 1984, all forthcoming tapes (both retail and rental) had to be rated and stickered, while pre-1984 tapes had to be submitted for retrospective ratings. A sticker with the rating code was then affixed.
The certification of Daleks Invasion as a rental tape was applied for by the Valley View Video rental store in Adelaide in 1984, and a "G" rating was granted. When the film was applied for certification as a Retail tape in 1985, it was given a higher "PG" rating. The same year, Dr Who and the Daleks was retrospectively granted a "G" rating but as a retail tape only.
Both tapes were reissued on VHS in 1989 (this time distributed by Warner Home Video), then in a widescreen format (by UGC and Polygram) in 1997. The respective "G" and "PG" ratings were retained.
DVD and Blu-ray editions – individual or as double sets - were released in the 2000s and 2010s.
BBC RECORDS
The Stanmark Productions Ltd advertisement from 1966, identifies Australia as one of sixteen countries screening Doctor Who by January 1966.
Australia is named in the list of 27 countries in The Making of Doctor Who 1972 Piccolo edition.
The Seventies records a sale of "(70)" stories by 28 February 1977. (This total is incorrect; it should be "(72)"). The Handbook identifies some of these as being: Hartnell - 27; Troughton - 21. The remainder is made up of Pertwee - 19, and Baker - 5 (up to 4E), which totals 72.
The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS records a sale of "(93)" stories (by 10 February 1987).
This figure of 93 is made up of the same 19 Pertwees and 5 Bakers from the 1977 list, plus 33 additional Bakers, 20 Davisons, the 5 previously unaired Pertwees, and 11 Colin Bakers.
In DWM, Australia is identified in 148 story Archives: Hartnell – all 27; Troughton – all 21; Pertwee - 23 (omits WWW); Baker – all 41; Davison - 15 (omits 5W, 6H, 6L, 6P, 6Q; Baker - 9 (omits 6W and 7C 13-14); McCoy – all 12.
The period of sale is given as from May 1964 to November 1990.
STORIES BOUGHT and BROADCAST
- Due to its size, this section has its own dedicated page: AUSTRALIA SALES.
TRANSMISSION
Doctor Who has aired on several different broadcasters in Australia over the years:
ABC (Channel 2) (1964-1996)
The series initially aired across Australia on a regional basis, with transmissions out of each capital city relayed to the state network (see our AUSTRALIA STATIONS page for a full description and expanded list of these).
| Region/Network | Capital | First Airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Western Australia | Perth | 1st | 12 Jan 1965 |
| New South Wales | Sydney | 2nd | 15 Jan 1965 |
| Queensland ## | Brisbane | 3rd | 22 Jan 1965 |
| Victoria | Melbourne | 4th | 20 Feb 1965 |
| Queensland ## | Townsville | 5th | 4 Mar 1965 |
| South Australia | Adelaide | 6th | 15 Mar 1965 |
| Queensland ## | Rockhampton | 7th | 18 Mar 1965 |
| Tasmania | Hobart | 8th | 11 Jun 1965 |
| Northern Territory | Darwin | 9th | 15 Aug 1971 |
- ## Initially, Queensland had three separate networks operating (Brisbane, Townsville, Rockhampton); these amalgamated into one (Brisbane) at the beginning of 1966
Episodes usually aired at the same timeslot in each region; there is a two-hour time difference between west coast (Perth) and east coast (Brisbane), so there was always some variance to the start times across the country. The ABC therefore adopted different "duplication" methods to enable the same episode to air on the same day in each region. These methods are covered in more detail on the relevant Transmission History pages.
The final regular screening on ABC was a repeat of Revelation of the Daleks part four, on 3 March 1994. ABC's rights expired on 30 June 1994.
The Paul McGann TV Movie aired on Sunday, 3 July 1996, and was repeated on 15 January 1997.
This transmission marked the final screening of Doctor Who on the ABC in the twentieth century, where it had had its home for 32 years...
**Papua New Guinea**
By late 1985, the ABC had extended its transmission coverage via one of the AUSSAT satellites to reach the island of New Guinea. Doctor Who was therefore seen by viewers in Papua New Guinea and Australia simultaneously from late 1985 onwards.
Refer to the Papua New Guinea profile for further details.
UKTV / FOXTEL (1996–2002)
BBC UKTV was a pay-TV channel, featuring programming from the BBC and Freemantle Media (Thames and Grundy) broadcast on Foxtel (channel 20), OptusTV (channel 26) and Austar (channel 7).
Transmission of Doctor Who commenced on Thursday, 1 August 1996. The episodes (which were uncut) aired episodically Monday to Friday (at 11.30pm), with a separate stream of omnibus editions airing Saturdays (at 1.00pm) and Sundays (9.00am).
Katy Manning provided voice-over continuity links for some of this run.
All the existing serials aired, including the 17 complete William Hartnell stories (albeit not always in strict story order), and six complete Patrick Troughton stories (including the first airing of The Tomb of the Cybermen in Australia since its recovery in 1992), then all serials of the third through eighth Doctors.
This run also included for the first time on Australian TV the b/w first episode of Invasion of the Dinosaurs. The Ambassadors of Death however, was shown with a mixture of both colour and b/w episodes.
The final episode to air on BBC UKTV was on Monday, 17 June 2002.
BBC UKTV also aired a short run of special 40th Anniversary repeats, from 11 October to 23 November 2003, concurrent with the ABC repeats (see below). For this run, at least one serial (in an omnibus format) per Doctor aired:
- An Unearthly Child
- The War Games (split in two: eps 1-5, 6-10)
- The Three Doctors
- The Green Death
- The Deadly Assassin
- Logopolis
- The Five Doctors
- The Caves of Androzani
- The Two Doctors
- The Trial of a Time Lord (eps 13-14 only)
- Survival
- TV Movie
ABC (Channel 2) (2003-2006)
Doctor Who returned to the ABC from Monday, 15 September 2003 for a three-year run of repeats, under the generic banner "Back to the Future".
This run included the first through seventh Doctors only. The episodes were uncut and were broadcast digitally; these new digital 'master' dubs replaced all the old analogue tapes that the ABC has been using since the 1970s. As such, some episodes were of different edits to those previously supplied.
However, due to rights issues with the estate of Terry Nation, the following serials (42 episodes) could not be screened:
- The War Games
- Day of the Daleks
- Frontier in Space
- Planet of the Daleks
- Destiny of the Daleks
- Resurrection of the Daleks
- Revelation of the Daleks
- Remembrance of the Daleks
Also skipped was the TV Movie.
This run commenced a matter of weeks ahead of the BBC's announcement that the series was to be revived. Ironically, by mid-2004, the BBC itself experienced difficulties with securing from Nation's estate the rights to use the Daleks…!
Death to the Daleks aired uncut for the first time.
The final airings of this ABC run were Survival parts two and three, which aired together on Friday, 3 February 2006.
SCI-FI / syfy / SF (2011 to ????)
Starting on Wednesday, 17 August 2011, the full run of Tom Baker stories (uncut) commenced on the Australian Sci-Fi Channel (aka Syfy / SF) (on Digital channel 125). These aired weeknights at 5.30pm, usually two episodes back to back.
From 19 March 2012, the Peter Davison stories commenced…
The Jon Pertwee stories concluded in November 2012.
In 2013, 2014 and 2015, Syfy aired repeats of the classic series as well as repeats of the new series…
BBC UKTV / FOXTEL (2013 to ????)
Australia's BBC UKTV channel celebrated Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary in 2013 with a run of weekly (on Sundays) omnibuses, one Doctor shown each month, from January to November.
In 2014 and 2015, BBC UKTV continued to play repeats of the new series episodes.
Stan (2021 to ????)
Beginning in late 2021, streaming platform Stan added Classic Who to its menu. (It already featured the TV Movie and New Series on its service, as well as Torchwood.)
Unlike some of the other Online services, Stan was able to acquire the rights to screen Dalek stories, as well as some of the recent animation reconstructions – a package similar to those that had previously played on the Horror Channel and Twitch.
Many of the episodes were sourced from the UK DVD masters, and as such have 'remade' credits and other 'restoration' work done to them – for instance, Remembrance of the Daleks was missing The Beatles music from its soundtrack.
TRANSMISSION HISTORY NAVIGATION TABLES
These two Tables appear on every page to assist with navigating around the Australian profile.
The YEAR-BY-YEAR COMMENTARY on the Transmission History of Doctor Who in Australia, an overview of SALES and CENSORSHIP, a more detailed look at the ABC'S REGIONAL STATIONS and a Table of REPEATS are all linked via these ten GREEN pages:
And a sortable table of AIRDATES can be accessed via the corresponding RED pages:
| Airdates in Australia |
| 1965-66 | 1966-67 | 1967-71 | 1971-75 | 1976-78 | 1979-82 | 1983-85 | 1985-90 | 1991-2002 | 2003-(2020s)
Key: BOLD = first airing | ITALICS = repeat |
| Table of Repeats | ABC's Regional Stations |
The years in which each story was REPEATED is indexed on a sortable table.
TV LISTINGS
The following online newspaper archives (issues available only to 31 December 1989) have been accessed:
Our TV listings have also been compiled from numerous Australian newspapers, fanzines, TV Guides and other listings publications (far too many to list here), plus the generous contributions of Australian fans listed below. The following online fan sites have also been accessed:
The Doctor Who Cuttings Archive also has scans of or links to other articles and features from Australian newspapers and magazines
NEWS ITEMS, PROMOS and TRAILERS, etc
The following are some novelty items of interest that are (or used to be!) available on YouTube:
|
AFTERNOON SHOW NovaCon 5/11/91 |
THE LATE SHOW 1993 SPOOF |
|
CHASER'S WAR ON EVERYTHING PARODY SONG |
|
- Other YouTube clips are located within the Transmission History pages.
MERCHANDISE
There are several items of merchandise that are unique to Australia – VHS, DVD, books and ice creams!
We take a look at some of them HERE.
FAN CLUBS
Australia has a very strong fan culture. There are fan clubs in each of the states, some of which have an online presence:
- HISTORY OF DOCTOR WHO CLUB OF AUSTRALIA
- DOCTOR WHO FAN CLUB OF AUSTRALIA
- DOCTOR WHO CLUB OF VICTORIA
- SOUTH AUSTRALIA FAN CLUB
Many thanks to
Donald Bain; Sue Butcher; Dylan Crawfoot; Alan Creaser; Matt Dunn; Martin Dunne; Aaron Evans; Daniel Frankham; Jason Fraser; Andrew Hodson; Dallas Jones; Brian Labser; John Lister; David McKinlay; George Rainey; Damian Shanahan; Marty Schultz; Grant Sirett; Data Extract; Dark Circus
AUSTRALIA IN DOCTOR WHO
Australia has been mentioned directly or indirectly many times; and a number of Australian-born actors or production personnel have worked on the series:
BEHIND THE SCENES:
- Writers Anthony Coburn (An Unearthly Child), Bill Strutton (The Web Planet)
- Composers Ron Grainer, Dudley Simpson, Tristram Carey
- Viktors Ritellis (Assistant Floor Manager on The Crusade)
- Sue Wills (Production Secretary on Galaxy 4 and The Invasion)
- Sandra Reid (designer (The Tenth Planet)
- Lennie Mayne (director The Curse of Peladon, The Three Doctors, The Monster of Peladon, The Hand of Fear)
ACTORS:
- Dalek operators Bob Jewell and Kevin Manser (various episodes and spin-off movies)
- Ray Barrett (Bennett; The Rescue)
- Roslyn de Winter (Menoptra Vrestin and "Insect Movement" in The Web Planet, the Grey Lady The Chase)
- Barbara Joss (Nemini in The Web Planet)
- Bruce Wightman (William de Tornebu, The Crusade; Scott The Daleks' Master Plan; Radio Operator, Terror of the Zygons)
- John Maxim (Frankenstein's monster, The Chase; Cyberman, The Moonbase (credited as John Wills)
- Lyn Ashley (Drahvin Three in Galaxy 4)
- Bill Hunter (Guardian in The Ark)
- Alan White (Schultz in The Tenth Planet)
- Pamela Ann Davy (Janley in The Power of the Daleks)
- Ron Pinnell (Scientist in The Moonbase)
- Bill Kerr (Giles Kent, The Enemy of the World)
- David Nettheim (Fedorin, The Enemy of the World)
- Reg Lye (Griffin, The Enemy of the World)
- Dibbs Mather (Guard in Caravan, The Enemy of the World)
- Gordon Stothard (Yeti, The Web of Fear; Cyberman, The Wheel in Space)
- Norman Atkyns (The Guardian, Colony in Space; Rear Admiral, The Sea Devils)
- Sarah Kemp (aka Gypsie Kemp) (UNIT Radio Operator in Day of the Daleks)
- Damon Sanders (Skybase Guard, The Mutants)
- Kevin Lindsay (Linx, The Time Warrior; Cho-Je, Planet of the Spiders; Styre/The Marshal, The Sontaran Experiment)
- John Gregg (Lycett, The Ark in Space)
- Edmund Pegge (Meeker, The Invisible Enemy)
- Adrienne Burgess (Veet, The Sun Makers)
- Lewis Fiander (Tryst, Nightmare of Eden)
- Bob Hornery (Pilot in The Horns of Nimon)
- Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka), Logopolis to Resurrection of the Daleks)
- Dolore Whiteman (Aunt Vanessa in Logopolis)
- Peter Dahlsen (Horton, Time-Flight)
- Dolore Whiteman's daughter played one of the Lorrells in Delta and the Bannermen.
GENERAL REFERENCES:
- A cricket match between Australia and England is interrupted during The Daleks Master Plan
- Dan "Blue" Schultz, the ZEUS IV astronaut, is Australian (The Tenth Planet)
- The ZEUS spaceships are launched from Woomera (The Tenth Planet)
- Moonbase crewmen J Elliot (No 5) and Robert "Bob" Anders (No 7) are Australian (The Moonbase)
- There is an Ioniser Base in Australasia (The Ice Warriors)
- The Enemy of the World is partially set in Australia (at Kanowa), and features many Australian characters, such as Griffin the chef from Wooloomooloo.
- Leo Ryan and Bill Duggan are both Australians (The Wheel in Space)
- There is a T-Mat terminal in Canberra (The Seeds of Death)
- Australian-born actor Errol Flynn is mentioned by Bill Filer (The Claws of Axos)
- Magnus Greel was known as "the Butcher of Brisbane", presumably named for the city (The Talons of Weng-Chiang)
- Garron sold Sydney Harbour – but not the Opera House – to an Arab for fifty millions dollars (The Ribos Operation)
- The Doctor mentions Australian singer, Dame Nellie Melba (The Power of Kroll)
- Tegan Jovanka, her Aunt Vanessa, Air Australia, and Tegan's father's farm are named in various stories
- Tegan comes from Brisbane; she name-checks her home city in Logopolis, Castrovalva, Arc of Infinity and Enlightenment
- Kurkutji and other aborigines appear in Four to Doomsday
- The fifth Doctor says he once bowled six wickets for New South Wales (Four to Doomsday)
- Tegan once saw Concorde on the tarmac in Melbourne (Time-Flight)
- Air Australia flight AS342 was bound for Sydney (Time-Flight)
- Tegan's cousin Colin Fraser appears in Arc of Infinity
- The second Doctor mentions kangaroos in The Five Doctors
