Doctor Who in Australia

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Doctor Who in Australia refers to the Australian history and culture around the British science fiction programme Doctor Who. Refer to the main article for details on the series itself.

Contents

[edit] Broadcast history

Doctor Who was first broadcast in Australia by ABW-2, the Perth station of the national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on 12 January 1965.[1] The episodes were transported around the country, so different areas saw different episodes on different days. For example after screening in Perth the first episode "An Unearthly Child" was screened in the Sydney area on January 15th 1965.

For many years the ABC screened Doctor Who in prime time, from Mondays to Thursdays at 6:30 pm. The episodes were regularly rerun, although the William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton series were generally not shown.

All seasons of Doctor Who have been screened by the ABC, generally free of editing, including series 1 - 3 of the new series starring Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant respectively. However, documentaries about the show (anniversary specials and Doctor Who Confidential) have not been shown on free to air TV in Australia. Furthermore, several stories were not purchased on first run (such as The Daleks' Master Plan, Invasion of the Dinosaurs and The Deadly Assassin). Another, The Brain of Morbius was played at a later time slot, as it was deemed to be too dark and violent for children. Outside of the UK, Australia is the only country to have aired every season shortly after it had been produced.

Between September 2003 and January 2006 the ABC repeated the majority of the series. These were screened chronologically every Monday to Thursday night, and included almost every surviving story from 1963 to 1989. A few surviving serials were skipped, mostly featuring Daleks (The War Games and Frontier in Space, plus Day, Planet, Destiny, Resurrection, Revelation and Remembrance of the Daleks).

In 2005, the ABC began screening the new Russell T. Davies series starring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor.[2] The third series was broadcast on the ABC on Saturday evenings from June 30, 2007, following "The Runaway Bride" on June 28.[3] 29 June is the broadcast date for Voyage of the Damned and series 4 starts the following Sunday at 7:30pm.

UK.TV a pay television channel in Australia is broadcasting Season 1 of the new series. It began on 7 October 2006.[4] The Season 1 Finale first aired on 17 December 2006. The versions shown by UKTV were edited meaning portions of each episode were not shown. Starting 2007, repeat of series 2 have been accompanied by the cut-down version episodes of Doctor Who Confidential, reportedly the first time that a broadcaster has shown this program outside of the UK.

Channel Ten has broadcast the spin-off series, Torchwood, after both the ABC and SBS passed on the series premiering June 18, 2007. The show started to air every Monday at 9:30pm or 9:40pm, depending on the program preceding it, for the first six episodes but was then moved to 12am Wednesday, apparently due to lower than anticipated ratings.

[edit] Fandom

The programme was threatened to be dropped by the ABC in 1976, but a protest at the Sydney office in Elizabeth Street organised by Antony Howe encouraged the broadcaster to change its mind. The Doctor Who Club of Australia was formed by Antony Howe with the help of people meeting for the purpose of this protest.

The Doctor Who Club of Australia, (initialy called the Australasian Doctor Who Fan Club) is the national club and is the largest Doctor Who club in Australia. The administration is based in the state of New South Wales, and therefore runs the main club events in Sydney. As the national club it has a number of regional chapters around the country and a few of these are part of the state based clubs listed below. The club publishes a regular club magazine "Data Extract" which first began publication in 1980. The founding editor was Dallas Jones and the current editor is Brendan Jones (no relation). The club offers a large range of merchandise for sale through the clubs merchandise store at the club's website.

Australia also has a number of regional (state based) clubs.[5]

The Doctor Who Club of Victoria based in Melbourne has been continuously operating for more than 25 years. The club has an active social program ranging from screenings to club outings and has hosted a number of conventions with guests including Sophie Aldred and Sylvester McCoy. The Club publishes a regular bi-monthly magazine "Sonic Screwdriver".

The West Lodge is Western Australia's only Doctor Who fan club, and was founded by fan William Duffy in 1983. It has met on a monthly basis continually since that time - and continues to meet on the first Saturday of each month in South Perth.

The South Australian Doctor Who Fan Club was formed on the 1 June 1980[6] and incorporated on 7 September 1982. It held Conpanion, the first Australian Doctor Who convention, on the 8th to 11th of October 1983 with Katy Manning as Guest of Honour. On 18 November 2000 the club was rebadged as SFSA. It meets from 3pm to 10pm on the third Saturday of each month except December at Adelaide High School. Publications include the Doctor Who yearbook "Chameleon Factor", regular general SF magazine "SFSA" and the bi-monthly newsletter "The Wall of Lies".

The University of Sydney had a club (as did some other universities) and built a full size Dalek which would sometimes make appearances at student elections and other functions.

A regularly held convention in Australia, Whovention, (first held in 1990) has been organised for some time by The Doctor Who Club of Australia. A number of the show's actors and writers, including Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Jante Fielding, Wendy Padbury, Nicholas Courtney, Mary Tamm, Elisabeth Sladen and Rob Shearman have appeared at the convention as guests.

The Australian Doctor Who fan awards are the Double Gammas[7].

[edit] Australian contributions to Doctor Who

Australians have played various roles in the creation of Doctor Who. For example, the first Doctor Who story to air, An Unearthly Child, was written by Australian author Anthony Coburn. Additionally, many Australian actors and actresses have appeared on the programme. These include actress Janet Fielding, Dalek operators Bob Jewell and Kevin Manser, Singer/Actress Kylie Minogue, Australian horse trainer and former actress Gai Waterhouse and Science broadcaster Robyn Williams. Katy Manning (who played Jo Grant) now resides in Australia. Another Australian writer for Doctor Who was Bill Strutton who wrote The Web Planet.

Australian mime and actor Roslyn de Winter appeared in the first series as the Grey Lady in The Chase and as the Menoptra Vrestin in The Web Planet. In the same story, she was credited with choreography (as "Insect Movement by"). At one time she worked in the office of the Melbourne Theatre Company. Also appearing in Web Planet as Nemini was Barbra Joss who lives in Sydney, she has written a book "My Left Breast" based on her battle with breast cancer. Melbourne Theatre Company actor Bob Hornery appeared as a pilot in Tom Baker story The Horns of Nimon.

Dolore Whiteman played Aunt Vanessa in Logopolis, originally it has been planned for Jeannie Little to play the role but she could not get the equivalent of a "Green card". Dolore's daughter played one of the Lorrells in Delta and the Bannerman.

Much of Doctor Who's signature music was created by Australian composers. The iconic Doctor Who theme music was written by Australian Ron Grainer. This piece of electronic music has been used for the opening and closing credits in various arrangements since 1963, and has become indelibly associated with the programme. Australian composer Dudley Simpson wrote the incidental music for a great number of stories in the 1960s and 1970s. Composer Tristram Cary, who lived in Australia for many years until his death in April 2008, also wrote incidental music for several serials.

Others to have worked/appeared on the show are Ray Barrett, Bill Kerr and Sue Wills (as a Production Secretary).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Martin Dunne 'A Separate Adventure' in Chameleon Factor # 78, (SFSA/SADWFC, 2003)
  2. ^ New Doctor Who ABC Tasmania story dated 30 September 2003
  3. ^ ABC Schedules Who for 2007 Information released on SFSA web site; story dated May 8, 2007
  4. ^ UKTV Australia - Programmes UK.TV Australia. Accessed on 20 October 2006 but the page is ephemeral
  5. ^ Dr Who interview on George Negus Tonight broadcast 15 September 2003
  6. ^ A History of the S.A.D.W.F.C 1980-2001 dated 4 July 2005
  7. ^ Double Gamma nominations close March 31st dated 2 March 2008

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