Portugal
PORTUGAL lies on the Iberian peninsula, to the west of Spain.
The classic TV series did not screen on any local Portuguese television stations, but the series was known through other means:
DOCTOR WHO (DOUTOR WHO) IN PORTUGAL
Peter Cushing and the Daleks
The first of the two Peter Cushing Dalek movies was never released in Portugal. But the sequel was submitted to the Portuguese film registration board in August 1968. It was given a "12" age rating.
However, it wasn't for another 15 months that the film got released to theatres. Under the title "A Invasão da Terra" (The Invasion of Earth) it premiered on 18 November 1969 at the Olimpia cinema (aka Olympia) in Lisbon. The subtitled film screened at 7pm daily for one week, with its final showing on 24 November 1969.
The 23 November 1969 issue of the Diario de Lisboa carried a review of the film, calling it "a mediocre science fiction film … there is a certain naive tone and a remarkable humour … [a] delicious adventure, which takes place in the middle of cardboard sets and miniature flying saucers".
The film then went into general circulation. On Thursday, 29 January 1970 it was the "B" picture - in a double-bill with a romantic comedy! This was at Lisbon's Chiado Terrasse cinema, paired with "Os Loucos do Amor" (The Fools of Love, the 1969 film The April Fools); the single session (with a "17" year age limit, no doubt on account of the more "adult" of the two films) was at 9pm. The unusual double-bill pairing was on for only six days, with the final screening being on Tuesday, 3 February 1970.
The film was also shown in smaller regional theatres, later in the year: we found a single entry in the 24 November 1970 edition of Jornal de Lousada (from a town in the north of the country). It was shown at the Cine-Teatro S. Martinho in Penafiel (a town to the south of Lousada) on 3 December 1970.
This was also in a double-bill - with "Os Mosqueteiros do Oeste" (Musketeers of the West; which, based on the named cast, appears to be the 1955 western Kentucky Rifle). This shared screening had a "12" age restriction.
The two films did become available on the Spanish / Portuguese pay cable / satellite station Canal Hollywood - both screening in April and June 2000 (and possibly other dates). (Since Spain is one hour 'ahead' of Portugal, the start times in each country are an hour different.)
The station carried two channel feeds, one for Spain, the other for Portugal, and both channels played the same schedule: for Spain, films were shown dubbed, and for Portugal the same film was played but in English with subtitles. HOWEVER, on some rare occasions - probably when a subtitled edition was not available - the Portuguese feed had an entirely different film (but one of the same duration).
For instance, on 18 April 2000, while Canal Hollywood Spain showed "Dr Who y los Daleks" (dubbed) at noon, Hollywood Portugal instead had "A Invasão da Terra" (subtitled) at 11am (and hour 'out' due to date line adjustment).
And on 26 June 2000, the same occurs, with the first film on Spain (at 6pm) and the sequel on the Portugal side (at 5pm).
This suggests that an English / subtitled edition of the first Dalek film did not exist (which is why it was not released to cinemas in the 1960s).
(The same April schedule shows that while all the programmes and films playing between 1pm/5pm to midnight/11am are identical, "Conan the Destroyer" was broadcast on the Spanish feed (at midnight), but on the Portugal feed, it was "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (at 11pm).)
On 18 March 2009, the Dalek sequel was released on DVD in Spain by StudioCanal / Universal; the Spanish-dub had Portuguese subtitles as an option.
Novelisations
In 1982, Editorial Presença, published the first of ten Portuguese translations of Target novelisations as part of their "Colecção Andrómeda" range; the other nine were published in 1983:
- (1) DOUTOR WHO E A INVASÃO DOS AUTONES (and the Invasion of the Autons) (Spearhead from Space)
- (2) DOUTOR WHO E OS MONSTROS DAS CAVERNAS (and the Monsters of the Caves / the Cave Monsters) (Doctor Who and the Silurians)
- (3) DOUTOR WHO E OS DEMÓNIOS (The Daemons)
- (4) DOUTOR WHO E A ARMA TOTAL (and the Ultimate Weapon) (Colony in Space)
- (5) DOUTOR WHO E OS DEMONIOS MARINHOS (and the Sea Demons) (The Sea Devils)
- (6) DOUTOR WHO E O DIA DOS DALEKS (Day of the Daleks)
- (7) DOUTOR WHO E OS DALEKS (The Daleks)
- (8) DOUTOR WHO E OS CRUZADOS (The Crusade)
- (9) DOUTOR WHO E OS ABOMINAVEIS HOMENS DAS NEVES (The Abominable Snowmen)
- (10) DOUTOR WHO E OS ZARBI (and the Zarbi) (The Web Planet)
These paperbacks - translated by Eduardo Nogueira and Conceição Jardim - featured unique wrap-around artwork covers painted either by Rui Ligeiro or "Shanti".
The books retained all the original internal illustrations drawn by Chris Achilleos and others (the Target fonts and interior layout were also preserved). (In Dia dos Daleks, the Daleks chant "Será exterminado!", which is "He will be exterminated!")
On Television
From 24 March 1987, Doctor Who was available in Portugal on the British satellite station Super Channel, and in the early / mid-1990s on BBC World Service Television Europe, later rebranded as BBC Prime.
- According to the This Week in Doctor Who website, The Face of Evil was seen on BBC Prime in Portugal from 18 July to 8 August 1998.
The Azores group of islands - an autonomous territory of Portugal - was the location of the United States Air Force's Lajes Field base. Circa 1986, a run of Tom Baker stories was shown there via the US Armed Forces AFRTS closed-circuit station.
Several of the TV stations in Spain could be viewed in parts of Portugal:
In the north, viewers in the major city of Porto (and no doubt other towns close to the border with Spain) could receive signals from the Galician station TVG; between February 1988 and September 1991, TVG aired and repeated several dubbed Tom Baker stories under the title "Doutor Who". (The Galician language shares much with Portuguese.)
And in the Algarve, the southernmost region of Portugal, Canal Sur - which also aired Tom Baker stories in late 1989 - was available.
The German cable station RTL Plus was also available from the late 1980s: dubbed episodes of Doctor Who aired on that channel starting in 1989.
According to ITV's Teletext service, it was announced in mid-1996 that Portugal was one of several countries to show an interest in purchasing the Paul McGann TV Movie, but as far as we have been able to tell, no local TV stations broadcast the film - although it was later released on VHS (see below).
VHS / DVD
There appears to have been a Portugal VHS release of the TV Movie in 1997. The box cover may have had the title "O DOUTOR" on it, but we have not been able to track down an image of the packaging to confirm exactly how the tape was stylised.
This subtitled tape was released by MCA/Universal/CIC Video and Edivideo Edição e Produção de Video LDA, based in Lisbon, most likely for the Rental market only. It had a M/12 certificate.
The 1999 DVD release of the special re-edit of The Five Doctors had Portuguese as a subtitle language option (although it's not known whether the DVD was actually sold in Portugal):
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And as noted above, the 2009 DVD of the second Peter Cushing / Dalek movie that was released in Spain had Portuguese subtitles.
Portugal in Doctor Who
- The crew of the Mary Celeste sight the island of Santa Maria, which is one of the Azores group (The Chase).
- A brochure for "Summer Holidays in Spain & Portugal" can be seen in the travel agency window in Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD.
- The Doctor drinks "a very fine old Madeira" in The Smugglers.
- The Underwater Menace takes place on (and inside!) an island on the Atlantic ridge, west of Gibraltar, south of the Azores.
- Soldiers from the Peninsular War fought in The War Games.
- Duncan Lamont (Galloway in Death to the Daleks) was born in Lisbon.
- The Brazilian native, Latoni, speaks Portuguese (Black Orchid).
