Australia TX 1983-1985

AUSTRALIAN TRANSMISSION HISTORY (Part Five) (1983-1985)

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Block 15: DAVISON ---– April 1983 to December 1983

Article about repeats of colour Pertwees; Courier Mail, Brisbane, 14 June 1983

First Run	6E----6D----6F----6G----6H----6J----6K
Repeats	6A----6B----6C----KKK----PPP----QQQ----RRR----GGG----HHH----LLL----NNN----OOO----TTT----UUU----XXX----YYY----ZZZ---4A----4C----4B----4E----4D----4F----4H----4G----4J----4L----4M----4N----4Q----4R----4S

The Robots and Death repeat (6.30pm), and The Five Doctors (7.30pm), 13 December 1983; Melbourne Age

• Peter Davison visited Australia from 7 to 23 April 1983, to participate as a guest presenter of the annual Australian television industry Logie Awards, held in Melbourne, and to undertake promotional signings.
• During his visit, and ahead of season 20, a short run of repeats five days a week began from Monday, 11 April 1983 (in SYDNEY, ADELAIDE, MELBOURNE, and BRISBANE); this run consisted of 6A, 6B and 6C. The following week, Peter Davison's second season commenced, from 25 April 1983. The season drew to a close on Tuesday, 24 May 1983.
• The following day, a further run of repeats. This consisted of the colour Jon Pertwee episodes, some of which had also recently been reissued for the United States market. It was during the preparation stages for this repeats run that the ABC discovered they still had the PAL tapes of QQQ that had been in storage at their Bond Store since 1973. The run also included NTSC to PAL conversions of GGG, HHH, LLL, NNN and OOO (which had been recovered from Canada a few years earlier) screening in colour in Australia for the very first time. The extended early edit of part two of PPP may also have aired.
• On 1 July 1983, the Australian Broadcasting Commission changed its name to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
• After the Pertwees, came yet another run of "G" rated Tom Bakers, starting with 4A (from Friday, 2 September 1983) and with all stories screening for the first time in the correct story order! (As was usual, the "A" rated 4K and 4P were skipped.)
• On 15 November 1983, MELBOURNE and BRISBANE pre-empted the series in favour of an hour of The Goodies.
• On Tuesday, 13 December 1983, the 20th Anniversary Special The Five Doctors (6K) aired at 7.30 to 9.00pm. However a severe electrical storm in New South Wales blacked-out much of Sydney, interrupting the broadcast.
• The repeat season concluded with part six of 4S, which ended a few days prior to Christmas, on 23 December 1983.

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Block 16: DAVISON / C BAKER ---– January 1984 to June 1984

First Run	6L----6M----6N----6P----6Q----6R----6S
Repeats	6K----4V----4T----4X----6H----6J----5N----5Q----5R----5P----5S----5T----5V----5Z----5W----5Y----5X----6F----6G

"Dr Who (Rpt)" 6.05-6.54pm (Horror of Fang Rock, parts one and two, 17 February 1984 (Sydney)

• On Sunday, 8 January 1984 (in MELBOURNE, and possibly other cities), the US show-biz news programme Entertainment This Week (on channel 10) featured coverage of the Doctor Who - The Ultimate Celebration convention held in Chicago the weekend of 26-27 November 1983.
• On Sunday, 22 January 1984, at 4.30pm, a special "repeat" screening of The Five Doctors was played in SYDNEY only, to make up for the interrupted 13 December 1983 transmission.
• From Friday, 17 February 1984, further Tom Baker repeats aired, five days a week; these were the first three stories from season 15. (4V parts one and two aired back to back.)
• Season 21 commenced on Monday, 5 March 1984, a unique occasion in which Australia aired new episodes while the same season was still being broadcast in the UK. Because of this, and the fact that the episodes were airing five nights a week, the ABC caught up with the UK screenings very quickly. On-screen announcements the week of 19 March stated that the scheduled story (6P) could not be shown due to "transport difficulties"! It was necessary to squeeze in some repeats, with 6H and 6J replaying between 6N and 6P, from 19 to 26 March 1984.
• Peter Davison's final adventure was held up due to censorship issues; the serial was pulled from the schedules while it could be evaluated by the censors. To fill the gap, a further run of repeats was scheduled: 5N to 5X, then a jump to 6F to 6G, from 6 April 1984 to 18 June 1984. (6A, 6B and 6C were skipped because they had been repeated in April 1983; for some reason 6E and 6D were not repeated.)
• A heavily cut 6R finally made it to the screens from Tuesday, 19 June 1984.
• Colin Baker's debut story aired from 25 to 28 June 1984, bringing the Block to a conclusion.

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Block 17: PERTWEE ---– October 1984 to January 1985

K9 and Company, 24 December 1984 (Sydney)

First Run	WWW----K9 and Company
Repeats	AAA----BBB----EEE----MMM----TTT----6K

• Four months after Colin Baker's debut had ended, a short run of five Jon Pertwee stories aired, five days a week, from Monday, 1 October 1984.
  • Unusually, this run included two black and white serials, BBB and EEE, neither of which had been seen since their last appearance in 1974.
  • ABC narration SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE repeat 1984
  • ABC narration DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS repeat 5 and 9 OCTOBER 1984

• Also screening for the first time in colour was MMM (the NTSC tapes had been recovered from Canada in 1981, and the serial had recently aired in the UK in 1982.) TTT was repeated (apparently scheduled in order to explain the change of companion!) followed by the first-ever screening of WWW, albeit in its modified five-episode format – from Monday 5 to 9 November 1984.
• On Christmas Eve 1984, the spin-off K9 and Company aired, from 6.05 to 6.54pm.
• SYDNEY, BRISBANE, ADELAIDE, MELBOUNRE (and other regions?) viewers enjoyed a repeat screening of The Five Doctors on Saturday, 12 January 1985, at the very late hour of 10.40pm.

• CONTINUED: 1985-1990

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