Greece

GREECE is a south European country on the Mediterranean Sea.

Profile

Country Number (NK)	1986	THIRD WAVE
Region	Europe
Television commenced	1966
Colour System	1976	SECAM / PAL
Population	1987	9.9 million
TV Sets	1987	1.725 million
Language/s	Greek	English (subtitled)

Television Stations / Channels

Doctor Who aired on two different TV stations in Greece:

Elliniki Radiophonia Tileorassi (ERT-TV, Channels 5,8,30) (which broadcast in the SECAM colour system), and Mega Channel (MEGA 2) (which used the PAL colour system).

Languages

The principal language is Greek. Foreign TV programmes were usually subtitled.

DOCTOR WHO IN GREECE

Greece was the eighth country in Europe to screen the series.

Peter Cushing and the Daleks

The second of the two Peter Cushing Dalek films may have been shown at cinemas in Greece in the late 1960s, since that had a far wider distribution across Europe than the first.

According to IMDB Here and Here, the two movies were also released on video in Greece under the following titles:

• O Dr Who kai oi Dalekoi
• Daleks: Eisvoli Sti Gi / Oi Iptamenoi Diskoi Epitithentai / Ντάλεκς: Εισβολή στη Γη / Οι ιπτάμενοι δίκοι επιτίθενται / Εισβολείς απο το διάστημα

These titles all failed to produce anything relevant when performing an online search.

However, after a bit of digging, we found a VHS and Betamax listing for the second film only - HERE.

Cover of the Greek VHS of "Daleks Invasion" - the shadow of the removed "Greek Subtitles" sticker [like the one at right] is still visible over the Roboman's left leg

"Greek Subtitles" sticker usually affixed to Thorn/EMI tapes

Back cover blurb of the Greek tape of "Daleks Invasion"

While many Greek VHS tapes have cover inserts that have the translated title, this does not appear to be the case for Thorn / EMI releases, which used the original English inserts but with a sticker stating "ελληνικοί υπότιτλοι" ("Greek Subtitles") affixed to the front cover instead.

At a first glance, the cover shown appears to be that of the 1982 UK release - but while there is no "Greek Subtitles" sticker affixed, the shadow outline where it used to be is still visible - bottom right, across the Roboman's left leg.

But most significantly, the site also has a link to the back cover - which gives the title, blurb and copyright notices in Greek.

The Greek title of the second Dalek film is ΕΙΣΒΟΛΕΙΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΔΙΑΣΤΗΜΑ (Invasions from Space / Invaders from Space), which is similar to but a couple of letters different from one recorded on IMDB, which would explain why none of those titles produced accurate search returns.

The subtitled film was released (circa 1985/86) on both VHS and Betamax by MTC Video A.E. most likely for the Rental market.

The boxed text at the foot states that MTC Video was "ΑΠΟΚΑΕΣΤΙΚΟΙ ΑΝΤΙΠΡΟΣΩΠΌ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ-ΚΥΠΡΟΥ", which is "EXCLUSIVE REPRESENTATIVES OF GREECE-CYPRUS" - which indicates the tape may have also been available in Cyprus.

And since there is no listing for the first film on that site, either by title or listed under actor Peter Cushing or director Gordon Flemyng, might we conclude there wasn't a Greek edition of that movie?

The two movies also screened on ERT a few years before the Tom Baker stories - as DISCUSSED HERE.

BBC Records

The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS records a sale of "(5)" stories by 10 February 1987. These would be for the five sold to ERT-2.

Greece is not identified in any of the DWM story Archives.

Stories bought and broadcast

TOM BAKER

Two separate runs of Tom Baker stories aired – the first from 1986 to 1987 on ERT, the other 1990 and 1991 on the MEGA Channel.

The first run was on ERT, which consisted of 22 episodes, and from anecdotal evidence is believed to have included the following stories from GROUP A and GROUP B of the Tom Baker stories:

DOCTOR X, 5 December 1986

ERT2 listings for "Doctor X"; December 1986

City of Death, 6 July 1991

Nightmare of Eden, 13 July 1991

Untitled "film", 20 July 1991

«Ο ΔΟΚΤΩΡ ΧΟΥ ΚΑΙ Η ΕΠΙΧΕΙΡΗΣΗ ΡΙΜΠΟΣ» / "Doctor Who and The Company Rimbos", at 9.45am, 3 August 1991

«O δόκτωρ χου και οι πέτρες του αίματος» / "Doctor Who and the Stones of Blood", at 9.45am, 17 August 1991

Five stories, 22 episodes

4A	Robot	4
4C	The Ark in Space	4
4D	Revenge of the Cybermen	4
4E	Genesis of the Daleks	6
4F	Terror of the Zygons	4

This selection of serials is the same as the group that was sold that same year to France (although the French sale included one more story: Planet of Evil), while three of them were also sold to Yugoslavia; it's unlikely to be a coincidence, so presumably the rights on the stories first sold to France were extended partially to cover sales to other countries within Europe.

Since ERT broadcast in English (with Greek subtitles), they would not have received the same "music/effects" tapes that were supplied to TF1 for dubbing into French.

The two MEGA CHANNEL runs included at least two confirmed stories from season 16 and two from season 17, with the other four believed to be from seasons 13, 16 and 17.

Newspaper listings and anecdotal evidence indicates that it was these eight stories, 32 episodes:

	unidentified 4-parter	4
4K	The Brain of Morbius	4
5A	The Ribos Operation	4
5B	The Pirate Planet	4
5C	The Stones of Blood	4
5H	City of Death	4
5K	Nightmare of Eden	4
5L	The Horns of Nimon	4

The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes with the original English soundtracks (Greek subtitles would have been added). (It appears that the ABC in Australia sent copies of The Brain of Morbius to "Athens" in 1990.)

City of Death and Nightmare of Eden were later edited into omnibus editions in 1991. Presumably some of (or all?) the other seven 1991 omnibuses were re-edits of the six listed here, plus one other.

The newspaper listings give these movies a "(1984)" copyright date. It's not clear why.

PAUL McGANN

TV Movie, 84 minutes:

TVM

The TV Movie

1

Transmission

TOM BAKER

ERT

ERT-2-TV commenced its 22-episode run of Doctor Who from Friday, 5 December 1986, at 8.00pm. The newspapers incorrectly give the title as "DOCTOR X", a printing error also repeated on 2 and 9 January 1991.

None of the billings had story titles, so it is unclear what aired, but to account for the "(5)" stories recorded as being sold, a 22-episode run would consist of one 6-parter and four 4-parters. Alternatively, 22 consists of five 4-parters and a single 2-parter, but that would be a total of 6 stories.

According to the listings (see below), no episode aired on 6 February or 17 April (due to it being Easter). However that accounts for only 21 episodes. It is likely that the listing for 6 February was incorrect.

This run ended on 8 May 1987.

MEGA CHANNEL

Three and a half years later, from Sunday, 7 October 1990, Doctor Who returned to Greek TV, this time on the MEGA CHANNEL 2 (which was launched on 20 November 1989).

The first four episodes aired at 4.00pm; the series moved to the earlier slot of 12.30pm for the fifth episode, then 11.30am for the next 11 weeks. From 27 January 1991, the timeslot moved back to 12.30pm. There was no episode on 7 April 1991, to allow for special Easter programming.

The final two listings (1 and 8 May 1991) both have longer timeslots – 12.00 to 12.45pm, and 12.00 to 1.00pm respectively – which might indicate double episodes. If so, then 31, 32 or 33 episodes aired in this run. We think it's more likely to be an even number, as there are no odd-numbered Tom Baker stories.

If it's 32, then that allows for eight 4-parters.

It's not known if MEGA played any of the same serials that ERT-2-TV had aired.

After a two-month break, the series returned for nine weeks, from Saturday, 6 July 1991, with a two-hour timeslot running from 11.00am to 13.00pm for the first four, then a 90-minute slot of 9.45am to 11.15am for the remaining five.

These were all omnibus editions, the first of which was City of Death, followed by Nightmare of Eden on 13 July. Newspaper listings confirm that the 3 August 1991 "movie" was The Ribos Operation and that on 17 August was The Stones of Blood. (Presumably the story that aired in between on 10 August was The Pirate Planet.)

The other stories would all have been 4-parters to account for the regular 90-minute timeslot. It is possible these 1991 'movies' were the same eight stories that had screened episodically in 1990. The ninth listing was therefore an additional (unidentified) story, or a repeat or rescheduled pre-emption of one of the others.

This run ended on 31 August 1991.

PAUL McGANN

The 1996 TV Movie aired on ERT in late 1996/early 1997. We have not been able to ascertain the exact date/s.

There is no clear record that Greece aired Doctor Who again.

TV listings

TV listings are from the Athens News, an English language newspaper, and the Greek paper, ΗΠΕΙΡΩΤΙΚΟΣ ΑΓΩΝ.

The first Athens News listing gives the title as "DOCTOR X", an error also repeated on the 2 and 9 January 1991 listings. The billing goes on to describe the series as being a "Science fiction BBC series. In 22 episodes." No story titles are given.

With the switch to the MEGA CHANNEL, the listings change; there are still no story titles given for these, but the listings describe the series as being a "British science fiction series".

For the 1991 omnibus editions, the Athens News gives the titles for the first two of these only, with the description: "FILM: "DR WHO Q CITY OF DEATH" (1984) British science fiction by David Agnew with Tom Baker, Lola Ward". The miss-spelling of Lalla Ward's name and the stray letter Q aside, it is curious to see the date of (1984) given for this 1979 serial. (Is 1984 a reflection of when these compilations were supplied? Are they NTSC to PAL/SECAM conversions from the mid-80s United States compilations?)

The billing for the next "FILM", Nightmare of Eden repeated the same date, author credit and actors' names as the previous billing.

The 20 July billing just had "FILM: "DR WHO" (1984)", with the same (but incorrect) author and cast credit without a story title to identify what it was. The next six billings just said FILM: "DR WHO" (1984)" without any additional credits.

ΗΠΕΙΡΩΤΙΚΟΣ ΑΓΩΝ identifies the 3 August and 17 August 1991 "ΞΕΝΗ ΤΑΙΝΙΑ" / "Foreign Movie" on MEGA as «Ο ΔΟΚΤΩΡ ΧΟΥ ΚΑΙ Η ΕΠΙΧΕΙΡΗΣΗ ΡΙΜΠΟΣ» (literal translation is "The Company Rimbos") and «o δόκτωρ χου και οι πέτρες του αίματος» (which is The Stones of Blood) respectively. The listings give the date of 1984, and also provide the names of the cast – for instance, Tom Baker is "Τομ Πέικερ".

Greece in Doctor Who

NOTE: There are quite a few characters, planets, places and items named with letters of the Greek alphabet (Beta Darts in The Space Pirates for instance), far too many to identify and list all of them here!

• Alexander the Great is mentioned in Marco Polo, Robot and Genesis of the Daleks
• The Greek philosopher Pyrrho is named in The Keys of Marinus
• The Daleks use Greek letters for their operational codes during The Dalek Invasion of Earth – e.g. Saucer Alpha Major, Beta Section Zero Zero One
• The legend of Theseus, the labyrinth and the Minotaur are alluded to in The Space Museum, The Time Monster, The Creature from the Pit and The Horns of Nimon
• The Greek army attacks the city of Troy in The Myth Makers
• The Zeus IV and Zeus V rockets feature in The Tenth Planet
• Atlantis appears or is mentioned in The Underwater Menace, The Daemons and The Time Monster
• Chameleon Tours fly to Athens (The Faceless Ones)
• The Doctor names the three humanised Daleks Alpha, Beta and Omega (The Evil of the Daleks)
• The Doctor refers to The Omega Factor in The Ice Warriors
• Wheel crewmember Kemel Rudkin hails from Greece (The Wheel in Space)
• Medusa, the Minotaur, and a book called "Legends of Ancient Greece" appear in The Mind Robber; also mentioned is Perseus
• There is a T-Mat terminal in Athens (The Seeds of Death)
• Beta Darts feature in The Space Pirates
• There is a Greek War Zone in The War Games
• Solar flare activity is monitored from Athens (The Ambassadors of Death)
• The Doctor refers to "Epsilon Coordinates" in Inferno
• Professor Thascales (the Master) hails from Athens University. The Doctor encounters the Minotaur (The Time Monster)
• Omega appears in The Three Doctors and Arc of Infinity
• Archimedes is mentioned in Planet of the Spiders
• A component of the TARDIS is called the Zeus plug (The Hand of Fear)
• The legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece is alluded to in Underworld; various character names are taken from Greek mythology
• The Doctor's nickname at school was Theta Sigma (The Armageddon Factor, The Happiness Patrol)
• Dymond's ship is called Hecate, after the Greek goddess of Magic and Spells (Nightmare of Eden).
• Various character names in The Horns of Nimon are taken from Greek mythology and literature
• Ancient Greeks and Athens are mentioned by Mena (The Leisure Hive)
• In K9 and Company, the cultists worship Hecate.
• Bigon and his fellow Athenians are on board Monarch's ship. Tegan mentions Corfu (Four to Doomsday)
• Critas the Greek participates in the race for Enlightenment
• Hephaestus, the Greek god of Fire; Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea; the Marine Venus of Rhodes; a kouros statue and art works by a student of Praxiteles are all mentioned in Planet of Fire
• The Doctor finds demeter seeds - named for the Greek goddess of the harvest - on the Hyperion III in The Trial of a Time Lord
• Hypatia is one of the Rani's abductees in Time and the Rani
• Greek philosopher Plato is mentioned in Dragonfire
• The Hand of Omega features in Remembrance of the Daleks

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