Australia TX 1967-1971

AUSTRALIAN TRANSMISSION HISTORY (Part Three) (1967-1971)

blank line

blank line

---

Block 3: HARTNELL / TROUGHTON ---- March 1967 to July 1968

"Dr Who" (this is The Power of the Daleks, part one); The Australian, Sydney, 21 July 1967

The New Doctor; Melbourne Age, 12 September 1967

First Run	AA----BB----CC----DD----EE----FF----GG----HH----JJ----KK
Repeats	P----Q----R----S----T----U----W----X----Y----Z----AA----BB----CC----DD----EE----FF----GG----HH----JJ----KK

The third Block of episodes saw the departure of William Hartnell and the arrival of Patrick Troughton, with the changeover taking place on different dates by each state, but all during July 1967.

The third run of new episodes aired on all networks weekly on Fridays at 6.30pm.

VIDEO TAPES AND FILMS

As with the previous Block of episodes, the ABC made an effort to synchronise the networks so the run of episodes were "parallel" and started on the same day in four of the regions, with the other two on a staggered basis. While the Block 2 serials had to air out of order because there was only one film print and one set of tape copies in circulation, for Block 3 (and probably as a direct reaction to viewer complaints?) all the serials played in strict story order, which was achieved this time by having one set of 16mm film prints bicycled shared between ADELAIDE, SYDNEY and MELBOURNE, and THREE sets of Video Tapes, with each set going to PERTH, HOBART, and BRISBANE.

AA BB CC DD EE FF GG HH JJ KK	Film	Bicycled from ADELAIDE ----> SYDNEY ----> MELBOURNE
	VTR	a copy each to PERTH / HOBART / BRISBANE

(The episodes that were broadcast from VT are underlined in the Airdates tables.)

The ABC's transmission logs record how one set of films ("F") and two sets of video tapes ("VTR") were bicycled between the regions for this particular run of episodes. In this example here from 1 September 1967, Sydney and Brisbane both aired The Highlanders ep 1 - Sydney had the 16mm film, Brisbane a VTR copy - while Perth and Hobart each had a VTR copy of The Highlanders ep 2. Melbourne had aired The Tenth Planet 4 in an earlier timeslot, which is why Focus on Football is showing here instead; this was being video-recorded as it went out live (hence the "L" "V/T" codes). Adelaide also aired a different show in that time slot, Fishing Notes from a "VTR" recorded in studio the day before (hence the code "AD 31.8.67".

All the regions also had a run of REPEATS, screening four days a week, Mondays to Thursdays (at varying times, such as 5.40pm, 5.25pm or 5.20pm).

• PERTH, HOBART, BRISBANE and ADELAIDE: commenced the "parallel" run on Friday, 24 March 1967. The first three stations here each had their own set of Video Tape copies of the episodes, while ADELAIDE transmitted from the single set of original 16mm film prints.
• The ABC initially planned to stop Doctor Who after CC4 for those four regions, and the following week (16 June 1967) screen the 1961 comedy Everything's Ducky. However, this decision was changed, and the first episode of William Hartnell's final serial aired instead – but not in BRISBANE, which went ahead with airing the 1961 film. This one week pre-emption pushed BRISBANE out of sync for the remainder of the season. The run of Troughton episodes concluded on 19 January 1968 in PERTH, HOBART, and ADELAIDE, but on 26 January 1968 in BRISBANE.
  • Repeats in PERTH commenced from 26 February 1968, Q to KK all in correct story order, ending 16 July 1968. The next block started the following week…
  • HOBART repeats started 11 March 1968, with Q to KK all in the correct order, ending 30 July 1968. The following week, the next Block commenced… It was in HOBART that the run of episodes T to JJ aired for the final time in Australia.
  • Repeats in BRISBANE were of Q to KK in story order, started 19 February 1968 and ended 9 July 1968. The following week, Block four commenced…
  • ADELAIDE repeats were from 26 February 1968, staring with P, followed by Q with all other stories in correct order up to KK; this run concluded on 23 July 1968. A week later, a new Block commenced…

• SYDNEY: received the 16mm film prints from ADELAIDE, so had to begin the new run one week later, on 31 March 1967. The 44 week / episode run concluded on 26 January 1968. During the week just prior to Christmas 1967, Lismore station ABRN-6 switched from the BRISBANE network to the SYDNEY network; since both networks were airing the first part of KK that week (on 22 December), viewers in Lismore did not miss any episodes as a result of the changeover.
  • Repeats in story order commenced from Monday 12 February 1968: curiously, this repeats run did not start with Q, which had been skipped from the 1966/67 run, but with R. The run concluded with KK on 25 June 1968. Two weeks later, the fourth Block commenced…
  • For viewers in CANBERRA, this "repeat run" was in fact not a repeat, but the first time they saw W, X, Y and Z, which had not been screened by ABC-3 in early 1967.

• MELBOURNE: was the last region to air this new run, starting two months after the other regions, on 19 May 1967 (the station instead had been playing "Focus on Football" in the 6.30pm slot); the station received the 16mm film prints from SYDNEY. While the other regions ended at KK6, MELBOURNE concluded one story early, after JJ4 on 2 February 1968, presumably the ABC wanted all the stations to finish at the same time, so the run had to end one story early. As a result, KK would be held over to open the next run of new episodes in June.
  • Repeats of Q through to JJ ran from 12 February 1968 to 25 June 1968 in story order.
  • After the repeats, the skipped-over KK aired for the first time, Wednesday, Thursday, then Monday to Thursday, 4 July 1968, the following week. The next block of new episodes commenced the following week…

SUMMARY

• This run saw the last appearance of William Hartnell – he had been seen on Australian screens over a three and a half year period, from January 1965 to June 1968.

8mm OFF-SCREEN CLIPS

As noted on the previous page (Part Two), an Australian viewer filmed a number of short clips of Doctor Who during this time by pointing an 8mm silent film camera at his television screen.

The extracts from William Hartnell are (in story order): The Reign of Terror 1,3,6; Planet of Giants 1,2,3; The Web Planet 1,2; The Space Museum 1,2,3,4; The Chase 2,3,4,5,6; The Time Meddler 3,4; Galaxy 4 1; The Myth Makers 1,2,3,4; The Savages 3,4; The War Machines 1,2; The Tenth Planet 2,4.

Troughton is represented by clips from The Power of the Daleks 1,2; The Macra Terror 3 and The Faceless Ones 1,2.

Some of the 8mm film clips taken of The Savages ep4 in 1967

But it's important to note, this is not necessarily the order in which the clips were filmed.

• THE OFF-SCREEN FILM CLIPS
• Hartnell Clips 1
• Hartnell Clips 2
• Hartnell Clips 3
• Hartnell Clips 4
• Troughton Clips

What's striking about these is that there are no clips at all from any of the other serials that aired on the ABC at that time, such as The Romans, The Crusade, The Massacre, The Ark, The Celestial Toymaker, The Gunfighters, The Smugglers, The Highlanders, The Underwater Menace and The Moonbase.

And that is a BIG clue to identifying WHERE and WHEN and HOW the images were captured.

It's often been said that the viewer filmed bits they liked when the stories were repeated. But since the repeats were often over a year later and in the middle of the afternoon (when they'd have been at work?), the viewer would have to have very good recall of not only the episode titles but also the exact point within the episode of when the scene they wanted to film occurred and have their finger on the button ready to press.... (And it has to be said, they aren't exactly the most exciting "best bits". On the most part, they are close-ups of the main actors. Where are the Rills, the Trojan Horse, the monsters, explosions, fights…?)

So. Where were the clips filmed? We believe it was from the ABC-3 CANBERRA feed.

As noted on the previous page, the ACT regional station usually received the live feed out of SYDNEY. But for this 1967 run of Doctor Who episodes, ABC-3 also aired the stories in the correct order one week later, but its prints and VT were supplied through the bicycling circuit. And SYDNEY and CANBERRA were the ONLY two stations to air this run of stories in the correct order.

This run of episodes commenced on CANBERRA ABC-3 on 3 October 1966, being first time broadcasts of The Space Museum through to The Myth Makers, concluding on 21 November 1966. This was then immediately followed by repeats of The Reign of Terror, Planet of Giants, The Romans (the latter of which there are no clips), The Web Planet (some clips), The Crusade (also of which there are no clips) and The Space Museum (which, incidentally, didn't get a repeat in SYDNEY).

And although they did air in SYDNEY, four stories weren't shown by CANBERRA - The Massacre, The Ark, The Celestial Toymaker and The Gunfighters -- and those are four stories for which there are NO 8mm clips. This is why we believe these clips have come of the ABC-3 broadcasts.

CANBERRA was back on the SYDNEY feed for the 1968 run of new and repeated episodes, and Channel 3 viewers finally got to see those four "missing" stories when SYDNEY repeated them. Since these were in effect "new" stories, there were no "best bits" for him to film, which would explain why there are no images from those four stories on the 8mm reel…

Since CANBERRA lies within NSW, it would have been possible for some canny viewers to tune their TVs to receive BOTH ABC-2 and ABC-3. So rather than there being a whole year between first screening and repeat for our mystery cameraman to capture the "best bits" on 8mm, what if they instead watched first run episodes on Channel 2, then filmed the best bits when they aired a week or so later on Channel 3?! (He'd have needed two TVs… since ABC-2 and ABC-3 would be broadcasting two different episodes of Doctor Who at the same time. Unless he was flipping back and forth between the two channels, filming random bits from both transmissions?)

If he missed four episodes because they weren't 'repeats', why did he not record images from Troughton episodes that did get a repeat? There are no clips from 3-6 of The Power of the Daleks, The Highlanders, The Underwater Menace, and The Moonbase. If he only filmed from repeats to capture chosen "best bits", he may have missed this repeat run because they all aired during the May/June 1968 school holidays. Was he away from home? Or perhaps he did film them, but that roll of film was faulty / damaged / lost?

If these were indeed filmed from both the CANBERRA and SYDNEY feeds as we suspect, the order in which the clips were captured was:

• In 1967, from CANBERRA ABC-3 first run screenings (a week or so after the SYDNEY first runs which he also saw) of The Space Museum 1-4, The Chase 2-6, The Time Meddler 3-4, Galaxy 4 1, The Myth Makers 1-4, The Reign of Terror 1,3,6 (repeat); Planet of Giants 1-3 (repeat); (the The Romans repeat was missed); The Web Planet 1-2 (repeat) (with The Crusade and The Space Museum repeats also missed).

• In 1968, the following repeats on the SYDNEY ABC-2 feed: The Savages 3-4, The War Machines 1-2, long gap, The Tenth Planet 2,4, The Power of the Daleks 1-2, long gap, The Macra Terror 3, then The Faceless Ones 1-2.

In all, this is a period span of some 16 months. The full reel that exists today runs for just over 14 minutes. Since shop-bought 8mm film cartridges had running times of not more than 3 or 4 minutes each, these clips must have been filmed using more than one cartridge (and perhaps some reels didn't survive, hence why some episodes were not preserved?), which were later spliced together into story order. The re-edited reel was then duplicated onto a single longer roll. And it is that un-spliced longer reel that exists today…

---

Block 4: TROUGHTON ---- July 1968 to February 1970

The Evil of the Daleks part three repeat, Sydney, 12 May 1969

First Run	MM----NN----OO----PP----QQ----LL----RR----SS
Repeats	LL----MM----NN----OO----PP----QQ----RR

The ABC must have decided that synchronising some of the networks to air the same episodes on the same day by distributing multiple Video Tape copies wasn't worth the trouble and effort, so for the next Block of episodes they went back to staggering the debut airdates a week apart and having just one 16mm film print circulating between the six networks on a weekly basis, just as they had done back in 1965.

For a time there was some uncertainty as to whether or not MM would air (it had been given an "A" classification by the censors, but the ABC's appeal was successful, and it was given a "G"). Some of the TV listings magazines had slightly different listings for July / August 1968, likely on account of them being supplied with an advance schedule that was subsequently changed.

This fourth Block commenced the week following the conclusion of the weekday regional repeats that played after Block Three. The first ten new episodes played weekly on Fridays, at 6.05pm in all regions, before shifting to Sundays at 5.35pm for the rest of the run. This meant that part one of OO aired only two days after part six of NN. All six regions had switched to Sunday screenings from 13 October 1968.

This run included the Dalek serial, LL, which had been held up due to rights issues over the music content, but was now available for sale. It played out of sequence -- after QQ -- in all regions.

During November and December 1968, when coverage of cricket occupied much of the afternoon television schedules, Doctor Who was placed on "Stand-by" in SYDNEY, MELBOURNE and BRISBANE only, meaning that in the event of an over-run by the sport it would instead air in a timeslot later that same day. (There was never any notion of it being held over to play on a later date, since the film had to be on its way to reach the next station in the chain by the following day.)

Each region also played a run of mid-afternoon (around 3.00pm) weekday (Monday to Friday) repeats, starting in August 1969 through until the start of the next Block of new episodes the following year. These repeats were sometimes interrupted mid-story due to breaks for sporting events (usually cricket), Christmas and New Year's programming.

• MELBOURNE: commenced the run on Wednesday, 26 June 1968 with the delayed screening of KK. This was followed by MM from Friday, 12 July 1968. Parts four and six of PP were scheduled to play in their usual slot of 5.35pm, but both were placed on "Stand-by" in case the cricket coverage that afternoon was extended. In the event of an over-run by the cricket, Doctor Who was instead to play at the later time of 6.30pm replacing that evening's episode of the US adventure series, Gentle Ben. As far as we can tell, both episodes ultimately did play in the later 6.30pm timeslot. The fourth run drew to a close on 25 May 1969.
  • KK was eventually repeated almost an entire year after its previous airing on early weekday afternoons during the school holidays, from 12 to 19 May 1969. This was the final screening of KK in Australia.
    • The fact that two prints of part 1 exist (one held by a private collector in Australia, who acquired it in late 1969 or early 1970 (which was shortly after this repeat), and one was sent back to the BBC in mid-1975) would suggest that something happened to the original print of part 1 between the HOBART repeat in July 1968 and the MELBOURNE repeat in May 1969. Was it mislaid, only to turn up later, or was the first print damaged in some way? Of interest, the censor cuts from this episode were not found with all the other censor clips at the National Archives of Australian in 1996. Is that a coincidence, or is it significant? Was the cut footage not there because the original set of film cuts had to be retrieved from storage at the censors' office so the replacement episode could be cut to match, with both strips of film then not returned to the AFCB? Or is it simply a case of both sets of filmstrips being filed elsewhere?
  • From 4 to 5 September 1969, two episodes of MM screened back to back. These were from Video Tape, since the film prints of both episodes needed to be in HOBART. (This was the only instance in which videotaped copied were required during this run.) Between 2 January and 30 January 1970, holiday repeats were LL, NN, and OO, all of which were the final screenings of those three serials in Australia.

• SYDNEY: commenced the new run from Friday, 5 July 1968, which concluded on 18 May 1969.
  • From 8 to 16 May 1969, during the May school holidays, LL was repeated (timeslots vary, between 2.30pm and 3.20pm).
  • From 22 August to 4 September, MM and NN were repeated. Between 12 December 1969 and 22 January 1970, school holiday weekday repeats of OO, PP, QQ, and RR aired, with two episodes of the latter paired back to back over the final three days.

• BRISBANE: opened the run on Friday, 19 July 1968, and concluded on 1 June 1969. On 8 December 1968, the afternoon TV schedule was occupied by coverage of cricket, and as a result, the final episode of PP was rescheduled to air at the slightly later time of 6.05pm.
  • From 5 to 8 May 1969, during the May school holidays, MM was repeated weekday afternoons.
  • From 11 to 22 August 1969; NN and OO, with part five and six of both serials screening back to back on the last day. After a four month break, between 8 December 1969 and 21 January 1970 (for the school holidays), weekday repeats of LL, QQ and RR.

• PERTH: began the run on Friday, 26 July 1968, which ended on 8 June 1969.
  • The May school holiday weekday afternoon repeat was NN, 12 to 19 May 1969.
  • From 25 August 1969 to 5 September 1969, OO and PP aired again, with back to back screenings of PP2/3 and PP4/5. For the end of year school holiday repeats, MM screened again from 22 to 30 December 1969, followed by LL and QQ on various dates between 6 January and 5 February 1970.

• ADELAIDE: opened this block on Friday, 2 August 1968, and finished on 15 June 1969.
  • The May school holiday weekday afternoon repeats were MM and NN, from 16 May to 26 May 1969 (with pairs of two episodes of the latter airing back to back).
  • Repeats of OO and PP played from 29 August to 12 September 1969 (with the final two episodes of PP back to back). For the school holiday repeats, LL, QQ and RR aired between 22 December 1969 and 2 February 1970, with the last four episodes of RR airing in pairs back to back.

• HOBART: was the final network to play the run, which opened on Friday, 9 August 1968, and concluded 22 June 1969. LL part 1 was originally scheduled to air 16 February, but was replaced by cricket (Australia vs West Indies Test match), so it was rescheduled to air ahead of part 2 the following week, on 23 February. Because of this quirk of scheduling, ALL SEVEN EPISODES of that Dalek serial therefore aired in Australia on the same date across the six networks!
  • For the May school holidays, Tasmania had NN, from 1 to 8 May 1969.
  • From 22 August to 5 September 1969 it was LL and MM. Weekday holiday repeats, between 22 December 1969 and 2 February 1970 were OO, PP, and QQ, with the final two episodes of QQ screening together back to back.

---

Block 5: TROUGHTON ---- April 1970 to March 1971

The Dominators; Canberra Times 26 April 1970

The "comedy" The Mind Robber, 5.43pm, 5 June 1970 (Queensland)

First Run	TT----UU----VV----WW----XX
Repeats	PP----QQ----RR----SS----TT----UU----VV

For this fifth Block of episodes, the ABC again resorted to staggered debut airdates so the same 16mm film print of each episode could be circulated around the six networks.

Troughton's final season was split in two, with the first run ending at XX. Episodes aired weekly on Fridays or Sundays, at 5.20pm, 5.40pm, 5.45pm or 5.50pm.

• MELBOURNE: kicked off the next block from Friday, 24 April 1970. There were no transmissions on 7 August due to power strikes, so the scheduled screening of VV 6 was held over until the following week, and it aired back to back with part 7. (Since the film print of part 6 was needed to be in BRISBANE for its scheduled repeat the same day, MELBOURNE transmitted the episode from a Video Tape copy.) The run concluded on 30 October 1970.
  • During the August school holidays, while WW was airing in its usual Friday slot, PP (its last-ever screening in Australia) and QQ were repeated at 2.00pm on weekday afternoons, 24 August to 3 September 1970, with the final two episodes of each playing back to back on the Friday, the same days as WW parts one and two.
  • Between 18 December 1970 and 5 January 1971, repeats of SS and TT aired on weekdays.

• SYDNEY: opened the run on Sunday, 26 April 1970, and ended 1 November 1970.
  • August school holiday weekday repeats of SS ran from 31 August to 7 September 1970, at 2.00pm.
  • There were further repeats, weekdays from 6 to 28 January 1971, of TT, UU and VV (parts seven and eight back to back on the last day).

• BRISBANE: commenced the fifth block on Friday, 1 May 1970. While all the country stations attached to the network received the broadcast signal from BRISBANE, stations attached to TOWNSVILLE (which had previously been its own network until February 1966) aired Doctor Who half an hour earlier than the rest of Queensland, transmitting from a Video Tape copy of the same episode. Midway through WW, BRISBANE moved Doctor Who to Thursdays, from 17 September to 5 November 1970. Because of this, TOWNSVILLE received the direct network feed and no longer broadcast at an earlier time from Tape.
  • PP was repeated weekdays from 18 to 21 August 1970, with parts three and four, and five and six (all on Video Tape because the films were needed by MELBOURNE) airing back to back.
  • There were more weekday afternoon repeats, from 14 to 29 December 1970, of SS and TT, then from 18 to 22 January 1971 of UU.

• ADELAIDE: began the new run from Friday, 8 May 1970 and ran until 13 November 1970.
  • A weekday repeat of SS screened between 4 and 11 September 1970.
  • Repeats of TT and UU aired Weekdays between 11 and 24 December 1970.

• PERTH: started the block on Friday, 15 May 1970 until 27 November 1970.
  • The weekday afternoon repeats from 7 to 11 September 1970 were of RR (with parts 5 and 6 back to back).
  • After a break of a month, a repeat of SS – its final screening in Australia - occurred weekdays, starting we believe on 1 January, followed by a repeat of TT (but the exact dates have yet to be determined; an unidentified episode of that serial did air on 13 January.)

• HOBART: Tasmania was the last to see the new episodes, from Friday, 22 May 1970 to 4 December 1970 (there was no episode on 27 November).
  • A repeat of RR was seen weekdays, between 28 August and 4 September, with parts one and six airing the same days as VV parts five and six.
  • A repeat of SS took place weekdays, from 29 December 1970 to 6 January 1971. Then two weeks later, from 20 to 25 January 1971, TT was repeated, with the last two parts airing back to back.

AUDIO RECORDINGS

Off-air audio recordings exist that were made during transmissions of RR and VV. It is believed these were made during transmission in Victoria.

Due to their clarity, since "living room" recordings can often be afflicted with ambient noise, it's possible these were recorded off the radio; sets equipped with a "TV Tuner" setting could receive the live direct audio channel from ABC transmissions.

• CONTINUED: 1971-1975

blank line

blank line

Links

• Australia
• Doctors
• Main Page
• Broadcasts around the World