Nepal
NEPAL is a land-locked nation in central Asia.
Profile
| Country Number (N/K) | ||
| Region | Asia | |
| Television commenced | 5 January 1985 | |
| Colour System | 5 January 1985 | PAL |
| Population | 1987 | 17 million |
| TV Sets | 1990 | 27,000 |
| Language/s | Nepali, English | Subtitled |
Television Stations / Channels
Nepal began its regular PAL colour television service in January 1985.
There is just one Government-owned television service, Nepal Television Corporation (Channel 25 / TV25), operating from Kathmandu.
By the mid-1990s, a number of privately-owned stations have been established, as well as numerous satellite and cable channels available, including BBC World News and possibly also BBC Prime.
Language/s
The principal language of Nepal is Nepali. Foreign-language television programmes are usually subtitled.
DOCTOR WHO IN NEPAL
BBC Records
Nepal is not named in any of the main BBC Records sources that we have used.
We became aware of potential screenings in Nepal on this FORUM POSTING: "I have a friend who grew up in Nepal who said he watched black and white Dr. Who episodes in the early 1990s…", which is all we have to go on.
Stories bought and broadcast
The majority of all television sets sold and owned in Nepal were black and white, so the reference to "black and white" episodes does not necessarily mean that TV25 screened William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton stories. In all likelihood, the episodes would have been the more widely-sold Tom Baker stories.
Transmission
TV listings
We have no information regarding what screened or when. With the station having launched in the mid-1980s, Doctor Who could have aired several years earlier than the cited "early 1990s".
The only Nepalese newspaper we have been able to access was The Rising Nepal from 1989 to 1996. The paper did publish comprehensive TV listings for Nepal TV plus numerous external satellite and cable stations, such as Star Movies, STAR Plus and Channel V, but there were no listings for Doctor Who at all on any of them.
The paper did publish listings for a BBC channel screening drama as well as news and documentaries, which was probably BBC World News, one of the channels into which the old BBC World Service Television had split in January 1995.
The other split channel was BBC Prime which did carry Doctor Who periodically during the mid-1990s. Although there were no separate listings for BBC Prime in The Rising Nepal, it was probably available in Nepal, and was likely the source of the episodes the viewer in Nepal had seen.
