Ireland
IRELAND, to the west of Great Britain, is occupied by two political entities: Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, while the Republic of Ireland is a separate governance. This profile is predominantly for the REPUBLIC OF IRELAND.
Profile
| Country Number (NK) | 1999 | THIRD WAVE |
| Region | Europe | |
| Television commenced | 1961 | |
| Colour System | 3 April 1971 | PAL |
| Language/s | English and Irish | Dubbing and subtitling |
Television Stations / Channels
Ireland commenced its television service in 1961, receiving signals from mainland Britain, and therefore viewers were able to watch Doctor Who the same time as the English broadcasts.
On 31 October 1996, TG4, an independent channel in the Republic of Ireland - catering for Irish-language speakers - was launched.
TG4 reached most of Ireland, and parts of Northern Ireland and Wales. Doctor Who screened on TG4 from 1999.
Ireland's first commercial broadcaster, TV3 was launched on 20 September 1998. It was on this station that the 1996 TV Movie aired.
Novelisations
Three of the early Target novelisations published in 1976 had prices for EIRE printed on the back cover:
- Revenge of the Cybermen (1976) - 42½p
- Genesis of the Daleks (1976) - 48p
- The Web of Fear (1976) - 48p
DOCTOR WHO IN IRELAND
As noted, Doctor Who has been available in Ireland since 1963; this profile is for the TG4 screenings only.
BBC Records
The Republic of Ireland is not named in any of our main BBC Records sources since the sale to Ireland occurred after 1987.
Stories bought and broadcast
JON PERTWEE
Thirteen stories, 70 episodes:
| AAA | Spearhead from Space | 4 |
| BBB | Doctor Who and the Silurians | 7 |
| CCC | The Ambassadors of Death | 7 |
| DDD | Inferno | 7 |
| EEE | Terror of the Autons | 4 |
| FFF | The Mind of Evil | 6 |
| GGG | The Claws of Axos | 4 |
| HHH | Colony in Space | 6 |
| JJJ | The Daemons | 5 |
| KKK | Day of the Daleks | 4 |
| MMM | The Curse of Peladon | 4 |
| LLL | The Sea Devils | 6 |
| NNN | The Mutants | 6 |
TG4 therefore bought all of GROUPs A and B, and all but one story from GROUP C of the Jon Pertwee stories. (It's not clear why The Time Monster was not included in this package; did TG4 want only 70 episodes rather than 76?)
PAUL McGANN
One TV Movie:
| TVM | TV Movie | 1 |
Transmission
JON PERTWEE
The series commenced on Friday, 1 October 1999; the start time is not known. Two episodes aired back to back each week.
The seventh episode of Inferno aired on its own on Wednesday, 29 December a week later than normal, due to the Christmas Eve TV schedules. The series moved to single episodes three days a week – Tuesdays to Thursdays – at 6.00pm with Terror of the Autons. For some odd reason, Day of the Daleks and The Daemons (which was the recoloured version) were swapped around.
Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Ambassadors of Death, Terror of the Autons, and The Mind of Evil all aired in black and white, despite a recoloured version of The Silurians being available.
From 25 April 2000, the series was repeated. It was during this run that the 1996 TV Movie aired on rival channel TV3.
For this repeat run, only the colour stories aired. With Colony in Space, the series moved to Saturdays and Sundays at 5.05pm, until the end of the run. As before, Day of the Daleks and The Daemons aired in the wrong order. (There was no episode on 9 July.) The series ended one day prematurely, on 16 September 2000; The Mutants part six not screen at all.
PAUL McGANN
The Paul McGann TV Movie made its Irish TV debut on channel TV3, on Monday, 1 May 2000 at 3.55 p.m.
TV listings
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← AIRDATES ...... (CLICK ICON TO GO TO TABLE SHOWING EPISODE BREAKDOWN AND AIRDATES - N/S = story title is Not Stated) |
All listings have been collated from online archived editions of Benjamin F Elliot's THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO.
