Canada
CANADA is of the North American continent, and shares its borders with the United States.
Profile
| Country Number (3) | 1965 | FIRST and SECOND WAVE |
| Region | North America | Commonwealth |
| Television commenced | 1946 | |
| Colour System | 1966 | NTSC |
| Population | 1966 | 19.9 million |
| TV Sets | 1966 | 5.1 million |
| Population | 1976 | 22.659 million |
| TV Sets | 1976 | 9.39 million |
| Language/s | English | also dubbed into French |
Television Stations / Channels
Canada has a number of major television networks providing broadcasts across the country. The country is also served by broadcasts from several hundred small privately-owned commercial stations across all the Provinces.
During its regular runs on Canadian television, Doctor Who was screened by these known broadcasters:
After an eleven year gap, Doctor Who returned, screening simultaneously on (at least these) three channels:
- CKVU in Vancouver from 1976 to 1982
- TV Ontario (TVO) from 1976 to 1991 (?)
- Co-operative Programming Network (CPN) in Saskatchewan from 1978 to 1979
When TVO lost its licence, the series was picked up by:
- YTV from 1989 to 1994
The one-off TV Movie debuted on:
- CITV in 1996
The final station to screen the series was:
- SPACE from 1997 to 2000
Of course, for many Canadians, another primary source of Doctor Who was PBS broadcasts from those of the United States that bordered with Canada. For instance, WTVS in Detroit, Michigan could be viewed in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and many parts of southern Ontario; and KSPS in Spokane, Washington, was available in Alberta.)
DOCTOR WHO IN CANADA
Canada was the third country to screen Doctor Who (see Selling Doctor Who). On 9 December 1964, a 16mm film print of the first episode was evaluated by technical quality advisers.
BBC Records
The Seventies records a sale of "(6)" stories by 28 February 1977. The Handbook identifies five of these to be: A, B, C, D and E. The sixth story is the Pertwee serial UUU.
The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS records a sale of "(64)" stories (by 10 February 1987).
As far as we can determine, this total is made up of the 14 Pertwees that aired on CKVU and TVO, plus 37 Tom Baker and 13 Davison serials that were sold to TVO.
In DWM, Canada is identified in 57 story Archives: five Hartnells (the same as above); no Troughtons; 16 Pertwees; 27 Tom Bakers; seven Davisons; no Colin Bakers; and two McCoys. The sales years are given as 1965, then 1977 to 1989. These 57 are a combination of the CBC and TVO screenings. (DWM includes Canada in AAA, FFF, and 4W, which must be a mistake, as those three did not screen in Canada until the 1990s.)
CANADIAN AIRDATES
The usual categories – Stories Bought and Broadcast, Transmission, and TV listings – are detailed on a separate profile page for each of these broadcasters:
PETER CUSHING MOVIE
The first Aaru movie played in theatres across Canada. The initial release dates are not known, but the film was played in provincial theatres in the late 1960s. In April 1969 the film played at the Chateau in Pine Falls, Manitoba.
It also aired on television - see the section on SPACE.
Novelisations
For many years the Target novelisations were readily available in Canada – the back covers of most but not all of the books bear a price in Canadian dollars. (From 1983 to 1989, CANCOAST BOOKS in Toronto, Ontario, is identified as the distributor.) New books published in 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982 and 1992 do not have Canadian prices.
- 1973: 95c
- 1974: 95c; $1.25; $1.35
- 1975: $1.35
- 1976: none
- 1977: none
- 1978: $1.50
- 1979: $1.50; $1.75; $1.95
- 1980: $1.95; $2.25; $2.50
- 1981: none
- 1982: none
- 1983: $3.75
- 1984: $3.95
- 1985: $3.95; $4.50
- 1986: $3.95; $4.95
- 1987: $4.50; $4.95
- 1988: $4.95; $6.95
- 1989: $4.95
- 1990: $4.95; $6.25; $6.50
- 1991: $5.95; $6.25
- 1992: none
The first Doctor Who The New Adventures novel, Timewyrm Genesys was priced $8.75 in 1991, but Canadian prices did not appear again until 1996's Just War ($6.99). The final New Adventures, The Dying Days, was $7.99 in 1997.
Canadian Merchandise
There are only a few known examples of exclusively Canadian items of merchandise. In 1984, Waddingtons Games Canada released four Doctor Who jigsaw puzzles; these featured artwork of Omega, Davros and the Daleks, Sontarans, and K9 taken from Andrew Skilleter's Profile Prints series.
Canadian Fandom
The Canadian fan club, Doctor Who Information Network (DWIN) was founded in 1980; they produce the excellent fanzine ENLIGHTENMENT.
We are grateful to Enlightenment, Michael J Doran, Ed Conroy, Alex Frazer-Harrison, Graeme Burk and Doug Orlowski for research material and general information about Canadian broadcasts.
Canada in Doctor Who
In a way, without Canada, Doctor Who wouldn't exist!
- SYDNEY NEWMAN, the man who devised Doctor Who, was born in Toronto in 1917
- Andrew Cartmel, the series' script editor from 1987 to 1989, was born in Canada
Several Canadian-born actors appeared in the series:
- Robin Phillips (Altos; The Keys of Marinus)
- Robert Beatty (General Cutler; The Tenth Planet)
- Garrick Hagon (Ky; The Mutants)
- Robert Jezek (Sgt Zbrigniev; Battlefield)
- The 1997 TV Movie TV Movie was filmed in Vancouver, and features Canadian actors
Other references to Canada include:
- Two of the Moonbase technicians - P Baker No 1 and E Braun No 12 – are Canadian (The Moonbase)
- Mention is made of the wheat plains of Canada in The Enemy of the World
- There is a T-Mat station in Ottawa (The Seeds of Death)
- Algonquin (Ontario) is named in The Ambassadors of Death
- Ottawa is mentioned in The Claws of Axos
- New Montreal is mentioned in Frontier in Space
- One of the sacred books of Marb Station is UK Habitats of the Canadian Goose by HM Stationery Office (The Trial of a Time Lord)
