Netherlands
The Netherlands (also known as Holland) is located in the west of, north of France.
Contents
Population
When Doctor Who screened in Netherlands in 1974, the population was 13.4 million, and licensed TV sets numbered nearly 4 million (per WRTH, 1966). By 1984, these figures had increased to 14.25 million, and 6 million (WRTH, 1984).
TV & system
Netherlands began its television service in 1951.
There is just one television station: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS). This later became Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting (TROS).
Colour transmissions began in 1968 using the PAL colour broadcast system.
Language/s
The main language of Netherlands is Dutch, however English is also in common usage. Foreign television programmes are broadcast with their original language, with Dutch subtitles.
DOCTOR WHO IN THE NETHERLANDS / HOLLAND
The Netherlands was the 37th country to screen Doctor Who, but the first in Continental Europe (see Selling Doctor Who).
It was also the very first country to air Tom Baker stories, playing season 12 less than seven months, and season 13 less than four months after their original UK broadcasts.
BBC Records
The Seventies records a sale of 9 stories to Holland by 28 February 1977. This figure is correct in terms of the number of Tom Baker stories that did air 1975 to 1976.
The Eighties the Lost Chapters records a sale of 20 stories to Holland (by 10 February 1987).
The DWAS newszine Celestial Toyroom reported in the November 1985 issue that "The Dutch are trying Doctor Who again after a long break from the programme, Holland have bought the first twelve Peter Davison stories". Since only nine stories aired, either the reported figure of 12 is wrong, or three additional stories were purchased but did not go to air.
If The Eighties total of 20 includes the 1977 total of 9, then there are 1 additional stories; and yet CT says it was 12, but only 9 aired, so there is an error somewhere within these three totals.
In DWM, Holland is identified in 17 story Archives; it is not named in the Archive for 4A
In issue 54 (XXXX), a reader from Holland reports that "XXXXXXXXXXXXXX". And issue 168 (November 1990) features a full in depth article by Patrick Bremmers about the series playing in Holland.
Stories bought and broadcast
TOM BAKER
Nine stories, 36 episodes:
| 4A | Robot | 4 | Robot |
| 4B | The Sontaran Experiment | 2 | Het Sontaran Experiment |
| 4C | The Ark in Space | 4 | Het Ruimtestation (The Space Station) |
| 4D | Revenge of the Cybermen | 4 | Der Wraak van de Cybermaten |
| 4F | Terror of the Zygons | 4 | In de Greep van de Zygonen (In the Grasp of the Zygons) |
| 4H | Planet of Evil | 4 | De Onheilsplanet (The Evil Planet) |
| 4J | The Android Invasion | 4 | Invasie der Androiden (Invasion of the Androids) |
| 4K | The Brain of Morbius | 4 | Het Brein van Morbius |
| 4L | The Seeds of Doom | 6 | De Zaden van het Kwaad (The Seeds of Fear) |
The Netherlands therefore bought GROUP A and B of the Tom Baker stories, with the exception of two stories (4E and 4G, presumably due to censorship.
The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes with English soundtracks, which were aired with subtitles in Dutch.
PETER DAVISON
Nine stories, 34 episodes (but not aired in the correct order):
| 5W | Four to Doomsday | 4 | Monarch (Monarch) |
| 5X | The Visitation | 4 | Het Betzoek (The Visit) |
| 5Y | Kinda | 4 | De Kinda |
| 6B | Earthshock | 4 | Aardshock |
| 6C | Time-Flight | 4 | Tijd-Vlucht |
| 6E | Arc of Infinity | 4 | In Levensgevaar (Life in Danger) |
| 6D | Snakedance | 4 | Slandendans |
| 6F | Mawdryn Undead | 4 | Een Nieuwe Bedreiging (A New Threat) |
| 6A | Black Orchid | 2 | De Zwarte Orchidee |
The Netherlands therefore bought GROUP A and B of the Peter Davison stories, with the exception of Castrovalva.
If the report in CT was correct, and 12 Davison stories were purchased, then three of these did not go to air.
The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes with English soundtracks, and broadcast with Dutch subtitles.
Transmission
TOM BAKER
The series started on Monday, 28 July 1975, at 7.05pm, with Robot. (The station was NOS.) The series aired at this time until 20 October when it changed to 7.30pm. As with all other screenings around the world, The Sontaran Experiment played before The Ark in Space, in terms of their respective production codes 4B and 4C.
During Revenge of the Cybermen, the series shifted to playing on a fortnightly basis,
Two stories were missed – Genesis of the Daleks and Pyramids of Mars – presumably on account of censorship. One of the reasons why the series was eventually dropped by NOS was due to the horrific nature of the series.
As noted HERE, the BBC found it difficult to sell the series within Europe for that very reason...
And the time that the Baker stories were airing, a series of translations of the Target Books novelisations was published:
- XXXXXXXXX
- YYYYYYYYY
- ZZZZZZZZZ
- AAAAAAAAA
- BBBBBBBB
- FFFFFFFFF
- GGGGGGGG
- HHHHHHHH
PETER DAVISON
After a nine year gap, Holland's TV broadcaster (now called TROS) gave the series another go. From Monday, 30 September 1985, the Peter Davison era began, not with Castrovalva, but with Four to Doomsday. The next two stories aired in production coder order (5X and 5Y.
The nine story run played at different times, ranging between 3.30pm and 4.47pm. The stories aired in English with Dutch subtitles. There were three weeks when the series was pre-empted.
One of the stories to air was Arc of Infinity, which had its location filming undertaken in Amsterdam.
The run ended on 7 July 1986, with both episodes of Black Orchid airing back to back (from 4.18pm to 5.05pm).
TV listings
TV listings have been obtained from DWM issue 168 (November 1990), and the Dutch fan website: DE NEDERLANDSE DOCTOR WHO PAGINA
This contains summaries of the Tom Baker and Peter Davison screenings – complete with newspaper clippings and listings for the stories that aired:
Holland in Doctor Who
- The character of Van Lutyens (Fury from the Deep) is Dutch.
- Arc of Infinity was filmed and is set in Amsterdam.
- others?????
References
