Canada YTV
YTV (1989-1994)
Channel Profile
YTV is a Canadian cable television channel, aimed at a younger audience; its on-screen slogans were "The Youth Channel" / "Canada's Youth Channel"/ "The Spirit of Youth". It was launched on 1 September 1988.
YTV successfully outbid TVO for the broadcast rights for Doctor Who in late 1989, and a year after its launch, the channel commenced regular weekly screenings of new Sylvester McCoy stories, as well as "repeats" of all the earlier Doctors. Being a commercial station, YTV interrupted its programming with advertising.
For the first time since 1965, Doctor Who was available nation-wide, rather than to just viewers in just one Province.
By this time, at least 67% of the population in Canada had cable TV, so the potential audience was sizeable.
YTV screened Doctor Who over a five-year period, from September 1989 to August 1994.
We have very limited broadcast details about the YTV screenings. If you can help in any way, please drop us a line: BroaDWcast@hotmail.com
Stories bought and broadcast
SYLVESTER McCOY
Eight stories, 28 episodes:
| 7H | Remembrance of the Daleks | 4 |
| 7L | The Happiness Patrol | 3 |
| 7K | Silver Nemesis | 3 |
| 7J | The Greatest Show in the Galaxy | 4 |
| 7N | Battlefield | 4 |
| 7Q | Ghost Light | 3 |
| 7M | The Curse of Fenric | 4 |
| 7P | Survival | 3 |
The first batch of episodes purchased by YTV was GROUP B and C of the Sylvester McCoy stories.
"REPEATS"
Starting from the first week of September 1989 through until August 1994, YTV aired all the existing complete stories of the earlier Doctors, five nights a week, initially at 5.30pm, then at various times (such as 4.00pm, then 7.00pm, then 2.30am!) during the five-year run. These stories were cycled through at least three times each.
WILLIAM HARTNELL
| A | An Unearthly Child | 4 |
| B | The Daleks | 7 |
| C | Inside the Spaceship | 2 |
| E | The Keys of Marinus | 6 |
| F | The Aztecs | 4 |
| G | The Sensorites | 6 |
| J | Planet of Giants | 3 |
| K | The Dalek Invasion of Earth | 6 |
| L | The Rescue | 2 |
| M | The Romans | 4 |
| N | The Web Planet | 6 |
| Q | The Space Museum | 4 |
| R | The Chase | 6 |
| S | The Time Meddler | 4 |
| X | The Ark | 4 |
| Z | The Gunfighters | 4 |
| BB | The War Machines | 4 |
YTV therefore bought the standard package of the 17 re-issued William Hartnell stories.
The first four stories had previously aired by:
PATRICK TROUGHTON
Five stories, 36 episodes:
| TT | The Dominators | 5 |
| UU | The Mind Robber | 5 |
| WW | The Krotons | 4 |
| XX | The Seeds of Death | 6 |
| ZZ | The War Games | 10 |
YTV therefore bought the standard package of the five re-issued Patrick Troughton stories.
YTV was the first Canadian broadcaster to screen Troughton episodes.
JON PERTWEE
24 stories, 127/128 episodes:
| AAA | Spearhead from Space | 4 |
| BBB | Doctor Who and the Silurians | 7 |
| CCC | The Ambassadors of Death | 7 |
| DDD | Inferno | 7 |
| EEE | Terror of the Autons | 4 |
| FFF | The Mind of Evil | 6 |
| GGG | The Claws of Axos | 4 |
| HHH | Colony in Space | 6 |
| JJJ | The Daemons | 5 |
| KKK | Day of the Daleks | 4 |
| LLL | The Sea Devils | 6 |
| MMM | The Curse of Peladon | 4 |
| NNN | The Mutants | 6 |
| OOO | The Time Monster | 6 |
| PPP | Carnival of Monsters | 4 |
| QQQ | Frontier in Space | 6 |
| RRR | The Three Doctors | 4 |
| SSS | Planet of the Daleks | 6 |
| TTT | The Green Death | 6 |
| UUU | The Time Warrior | 4 |
| WWW | Invasion of the Dinosaurs | 5/6 |
| XXX | Death to the Daleks | 4 |
| YYY | The Monster of Peladon | 6 |
| ZZZ | Planet of the Spiders | 6 |
YTV therefore bought all of the 24 reissued Jon Pertwee stories.
With Planet of the Daleks, the black and white third episode wasn't used, and instead a "new" colour episode three was created by editing together the last 10 minutes of part two and the first 15 minutes of part four.
Some of these episodes had previously aired on:
TOM BAKER
41 stories, 172 episodes:
| 4A | Robot | 4 |
| 4C | The Ark in Space | 4 |
| 4B | The Sontaran Experiment | 2 |
| 4E | Genesis of the Daleks | 6 |
| 4D | Revenge of the Cybermen | 4 |
| 4F | Terror of the Zygons | 4 |
| 4H | Planet of Evil | 4 |
| 4G | Pyramids of Mars | 4 |
| 4J | The Android Invasion | 4 |
| 4K | The Brain of Morbius | 4 |
| 4L | The Seeds of Doom | 6 |
| 4M | The Masque of Mandragora | 4 |
| 4N | The Hand of Fear | 4 |
| 4P | The Deadly Assassin | 4 |
| 4Q | The Face of Evil | 4 |
| 4R | The Robots of Death | 4 |
| 4S | The Talons of Weng-Chiang | 6 |
| 4V | Horror of Fang Rock | 4 |
| 4T | The Invisible Enemy | 4 |
| 4X | Image of the Fendahl | 4 |
| 4W | The Sun Makers | 4 |
| 4Y | Underworld | 4 |
| 4Z | The Invasion of Time | 6 |
| 5A | The Ribos Operation | 4 |
| 5B | The Pirate Planet | 4 |
| 5C | The Stones of Blood | 4 |
| 5D | The Androids of Tara | 4 |
| 5E | The Power of Kroll | 4 |
| 5F | The Armageddon Factor | 6 |
| 5J | Destiny of the Daleks | 4 |
| 5H | City of Death | 4 |
| 5G | The Creature from the Pit | 4 |
| 5K | Nightmare of Eden | 4 |
| 5L | The Horns of Nimon | 4 |
| 5N | The Leisure Hive | 4 |
| 5Q | Meglos | 4 |
| 5R | Full Circle | 4 |
| 5P | State of Decay | 4 |
| 5S | Warriors' Gate | 4 |
| 5T | The Keeper of Traken | 4 |
| 5V | Logopolis | 4 |
YTV therefore bought all of the Tom Baker stories, and was thus the first Canadian station to air The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Image of the Fendahl, The Sun Makers and Underworld, all of which had not been screened by TVO.
- Some of the stories, such as Pyramids of Mars and The Brain of Morbius were supplied from old Time Life Television tapes, which had the Howard da Silva voice-over introductions.
Most of these episodes had previously aired on:
PETER DAVISON
20 stories, equivalent of 74 half-hour episodes:
| 5Z | Castrovalva | 4 |
| 5W | Four to Doomsday | 4 |
| 5Y | Kinda | 4 |
| 5X | The Visitation | 4 |
| 6A | Black Orchid | 2 |
| 6B | Earthshock | 4 |
| 6C | Time-Flight | 4 |
| 6E | Arc of Infinity | 4 |
| 6D | Snakedance | 4 |
| 6F | Mawdryn Undead | 4 |
| 6G | Terminus | 4 |
| 6H | Enlightenment | 4 |
| 6J | The King's Demons | 2 |
| 6K | The Five Doctors | 1/4 |
| 6L | Warriors of the Deep | 4 |
| 6M | The Awakening | 2 |
| 6N | Frontios | 4 |
| 6P | Resurrection of the Daleks | (2/4) |
| 6Q | Planet of Fire | 4 |
| 6R | The Caves of Androzani | 4 |
YTV therefore bought all of the Peter Davison stories, including The Five Doctors (In its four-part version) which had not previously aired on TVO.
- For Earthshock part four, YTV altered the closing credits by dubbing in the usual theme tune to replace the 'silent' credit roll. To make the music fit the longer credit sequence, the theme was looped.
These episodes had previously aired on:
COLIN BAKER
Eight stories, equivalent of 44 half-hour episodes:
| 6S | The Twin Dilemma | 4 |
| 6T | Attack of the Cybermen | 2/4 |
| 6V | Vengeance on Varos | 2/4 |
| 6W | The Two Doctors | 3/6 |
| 6X | The Mark of the Rani | 2/4 |
| 6Y | Timelash | 2/4 |
| 6Z | Revelation of the Daleks | 2/4 |
| 7A | The Trial of a Time Lord | 14 |
YTV therefore bought all of the Colin Baker stories.
These episodes previously aired on:
SYLVESTER McCOY (Continued)
Four stories, 14 episodes:
| 7D | Time and the Rani | 4 |
| 7E | Paradise Towers | 4 |
| 7F | Delta and the Bannermen | 3 |
| 7G | Dragonfire | 3 |
YTV therefore bought all of the Sylvester McCoy stories.
These four stories had previously aired on:
TRANSMISSION
Sylvester McCoy
Doctor Who commenced on YTV from Sunday, 3 September 1989, at 7.00pm, with the first story to air being The Happiness Patrol; all the stories aired out of order. YTV promoted these episodes as "The New Dr Who".
- October 1989: Silver Nemesis aired.
- 26 November 1989: Part three of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy aired.
- 3 December 1989: Part four of Remembrance of the Daleks was accidentally aired in place of part four of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. The correct episode was aired a week later, on 10 December.
The first run of McCoy stories ended after 15 weeks on 10 December 1989.
The second block of McCoy episodes (from season 26) commenced only a few months later in early 1990, screening on Saturdays, at 5.30pm. Again, the stories did not air in the correct order. There was a transmission fault during part three of Ghost Light.
Repeats Transmissions
The REPEATS commenced on Monday, 4 September 1989, airing five nights a week, in the early evening, initially at 5.30pm. (These stories ran concurrent with the Sylvester McCoy serials, which aired weekly on Sundays.)
- 4 September 1989: An Unearthly Child commences.
- 23 November 1989: The Chase part five aired on the anniversary date.
- 19 December 1989: Patrick Troughton finally makes his television debut in Canada, when The Dominators part one airs.
- 30 January 1990: The Jon Pertwee era commences.
- First run screenings of season 26 Sylvester McCoy stories started around this time, early January 1990, airing Saturdays, at 5.30pm – see note above.
- July 1990: The Tom Baker era commences.
- March 1991: The Peter Davison era commences.
- The Five Doctors had its Canadian debut in the summer of 1991, and aired as a four-parter.
- July 1991: The Colin Baker stories commence. By this time, the timeslot has changed to 4.00pm.
- September 1991: The Sylvester McCoy era commences, starting with a "first run" of his first four stories which had not previously aired on YTV, followed by repeats of the eight stories that had aired back in September to December 1989.
- November 1991: The William Hartnell stories are cycled through again.
- The Dalek Invasion of Earth had finished by January 1992.
- The Chase was repeated circa April 1992.
- January 1992: It has been reported but not substantiated that around early 1992 a second stream of episodes commenced airing at 1.30am, seven nights a week. This run opened with the Sylvester McCoy stories, followed by the Jon Pertwee stories. This second stream ended in September 1992.
- Early-1992: The Patrick Troughton stories are repeated.
- The Mind Robber was repeated during the second or third week of May 1992 (before 24 May).
- June 1992: Another repeat of the Jon Pertwee stories commences.
- 14 September 1992: From this date, the series aired seven days a week, now at the very early time of 2.30am (i.e. the next day)! It was the last programme to air before the channel signed-off. For reasons unknown, the first five episodes of The Sea Devils were skipped, and only part six aired. (At the end of Day of the Daleks part three a voice-over announced that starting from "Monday next week", the timeslot was moving to 2.30am.)
- The second stream of stories had ended by this time.
- November 1992: The Tom Baker stories are repeated for the final time.
- 17 December 1992: Pyramids of Mars part one airs, with the Howard da Silva intros.
- May 1993: The Peter Davison stories are repeated for the second and final time.
- July 1993: The Colin Baker era is repeated for the second and final time.
- September 1993: The Sylvester McCoy era is repeated for the final time.
- October 1993: The William Hartnell stories are repeated for the third and final time.
- January 1994: The Patrick Troughton stories are repeated for the third and final time.
- February 1994: The final repeat of the Jon Pertwee era commences. During this run, the series switches from screening seven days a week to only once a week, Sunday mornings at 2.30am. This change occurs with part five of Inferno the night of 26 February 1994.
- 13 August 1994: With the screening of The Daemons part two, Doctor Who is dropped from YTV's line-up. (YTV's rights expired on 31 August 1994.)
Next Canadian broadcaster
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