Bahamas
The BAHAMAS is a group of islands in the Caribbean, also known as the West Indies.
Profile
| Country Number (58?) | 1986 | THIRD WAVE |
| Region | Caribbean | Commonwealth |
| Television commenced | 1977 | |
| Colour System | 1977 | NTSC |
| Population | 1985 | 213,000 |
| TV Sets | 1985 | 50,500 |
| Language/s | English |
Television Stations / Channels
Bahamas began its television service in 1977. It has just the one station: Bahamas Television, ZNS-TV, Channel 13.
DOCTOR WHO IN THE BAHAMAS
The Bahamas was about the 58th country to screen Doctor Who; it was (possibly) the sixth in the Caribbean (see Selling Doctor Who).
BBC Records
The Bahamas are not identified in any available BBC records. It was reported in the September 1985 issue of Celestial Toyroom that the series had been sold to nine Caribbean countries, although those nine are not named. (The report is slightly misleading, as nine countries attended the event, but not all nine necessarily bought Doctor Who.
The sales junket at which these sales were made, was held in Nassau, in the Bahamas, from 21-24 July 1985, at the Cable Beach Hotel. So, it's no surprise that the hosting country would pick up the series, too! (See Our Caribbean page for more on this event.)
Stories bought and broadcast
It is not known what stories aired, but given that a package of assorted Tom Baker stories screened weeks apart in Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago from late 1985, it is more than likely that the Bahamas – also a NTSC broadcaster - aired the same – or at least some of the same – package.
TOM BAKER?
Unknown. With 21 known airdates (see below), if Bahamas followed the same pattern as Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago, then it was probably one 6-parter and four 4-parters (22 episodes), likely to be the first five stories of this grouping:
| 4C | The Ark in Space | 4 |
| 4D | Revenge of the Cybermen | 4 |
| 4E | Genesis of the Daleks | 6 |
| 4F | Terror of the Zygons | 4 |
| 4G | Pyramids of Mars | 4 |
| 4H | Planet of Evil | 4 |
| 4J | The Android Invasion | 4 |
| 4K | The Brain of Morbius | 4 |
| 4N | The Hand of Fear | 4 |
| 4M | The Masque of Mandragora | 4 |
| 4L | The Seeds of Doom | 6 |
These programmes would have been supplied as NTSC colour video tapes with English soundtracks.
Transmission
The series started on Thursday, 26 June 1986, at 6.30pm. It aired for 21 weeks, and was replaced by the UK comedy Butterflies from 20 November.
The fact that only 21 episodes aired suggests that there was at least one pre-emption during the run, or additional episodes screened without being billed. It's possible the debut listing for Butterflies was a week premature.
There is no clear record that Bahamas screened Doctor Who again.
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) |
TV listings have been obtained from the newspaper, Nassau Tribune.
All listings give the series name as Dr Who. The timeslot was 6.30pm to 7.00pm for all episodes. None of the episodes had titles (N/S).
The first listing for the series is on 26 June 1986. There was no billing the previous week, on 19 June. The last listing was 13 November, 21 weeks later.
Random dates for 1987 and 1988 were also checked, but there were no further listings.
