Greece

Greece is a European country on the Mediterranean Sea.

Profile

Country Number (?)	1986	THIRD WAVE
Region	Europe	.
Television commenced	1966	.
Colour System	1976	Wikipedia:SECAMSECAM/PAL
Population	19xx	xx mill
TV Sets	19xx	xx mill
Language/s	Greek	English

Television Stations / Channels

Doctor Who aired on two different TV stations in Greece:

• Station: Elliniki Radiophonia Tileorassi (ERT-2-TV)

• Ident / Channel: ERT-2-TV, Channel 5,8,30

• Station: Mega Channel

• Ident: MEGA 2

This channel broadcast with the PAL colour system.

DOCTOR WHO IN GREECE

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

BBC Records

The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS records a sale of "(5)" stories by 10 February 1987.

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

It is believed that the first five Tom Baker stories aired.

Stories bought and broadcast

TOM BAKER

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

The first consisted of 22 episodes, believed to have included the following stories from GROUP A and GROUP B of the Tom Baker stories:

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

The two MEGA CHANNEL runs included at least two stories from season 17, with others believed to be from season 16.

5H	City of Death	4
5K	Nightmare of Eden	4
.	plus seven others	?

The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes.

PAUL McGANN

TV Movie, 84 minutes:

TVM

The TV Movie

1

Transmission

TOM BAKER

ERT-2-TV commenced its 22-epiode run of Doctor Who from Friday, 5 December 1986, at 8.00pm.

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

Three and a half years later, from Sunday, 7 October 1990, Doctor Who returned to Greek TV, this time on the MEGA CHANNEL (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 – 12.00pm to 12.45pm, and 12.00pm 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, an stere are no odd-numbered Tom Baker stories.

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 11.00 am 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. The other seven weeks/stories are not named. They would all have been 4-parters.

If Greece purchased and screened stories in order, then these seven other "FILM"s might have included 5L, and assorted serials from season 18 – possibly even Peter Davison stories from season 19.

This run ended on 31 August 1991.

PAUL McGANN

The 1996 TV Movie aired on ERT in late 1996/early 1997.

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

TV listings

TV listings are from the Athens News, an English language newspaper.

The first 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: still no titles are given, but the listings describe the series as being a "British science fiction series".

For the 1991 omnibus editions, the listings give 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. It is likely this is carry-over from the fact that the omnibus editions were originally made by Lionheart for the United States, and these often had newly made credits, which bore the 1984 or 1985 copyright date.

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

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.

Greece in Doctor Who

• The Myth Makers
• The Time Monster
• Underworld
• The Horns of Nimon
• Omega in The Three Doctors and Arc of Infinity
• The Hand of Omega (Remembrance of the Daleks)

Link

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