William Hartnell stories

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WILLIAM HARTNELL

The First Doctor (1963-1966)

Selling the first Doctor

  • See the table in SELLING DOCTOR WHO for a list of the countries that screened the First Doctor.

The Hartnell series was sold in seven "Groups" of stories, which were in - or very close to - multiples of 13 episodes.

Click on the story title to go to the list of countries where that serial was screened.


GROUP A (13 eps)

A An Unearthly Child 4
B The Daleks 7
C Inside the Spaceship 2


GROUP B (13 eps)

D Marco Polo 7
E The Keys of Marinus 6
  • Groups A and B were the biggest selling batch of stories, selling to 34 countries.


GROUP C (27 eps)

F The Aztecs 4
G The Sensorites 6
H The Reign of Terror 6
J Planet of Giants 3
K The Dalek Invasion of Earth 6
L The Rescue 2
  • Nine stories from groups A, B and C were dubbed into Arabic.
  • The same nine stories were also dubbed into Spanish.


GROUP D (14 eps)

M The Romans 4
N The Web Planet 6
P The Crusade 4
  • Only the second story from Group D was dubbed into Spanish.


GROUP E (14 eps)

Q The Space Museum 4
R The Chase 6
S The Time Meddler 4
  • The first two stories from Group E were dubbed into Spanish.
  • It's possible that the BBC anticipated from the outset that the historicals wouldn't sell as widely as the more futuristic adventures, which is why the cliffhanger endings on the final instalments of Marco Polo, The Keys of Marinus, The Sensorites, The Reign of Terror, The Web Planet, The Chase and The Time Meddler don't necessarily lead directly into the following serial, and could easily be removed by foreign broadcasters if so desired, without affecting the intra-serial narrative. In fact, one can see how in the Latin American countries that did not screen The Romans it would not have been too confusing for viewers who watched the TARDIS fall into the ravine at the end of The Rescue to see the ship "falling" instead onto the surface of the planet Vortis at the beginning of The Web Planet!
  • The fact that the BBC retained the negatives for the majority of Groups A to E (they were found in storage in 1978) could be down to the BBC having negotiated with Actors' Equity, the Writers' Guild and the Musicians' Union some sort of "blanket" sales contract which gave them the ability to sell those 17 stories to a much broader worldwide market, without having to renegotiate residuals and royalties. Therefore, of course the BBC would hold onto the negatives of those programmes for which it had a greater freedom to sell, and destroy those episodes for which it did not...
  • As noted on the Bicycling Chains page, the closure of the Suez Canal in June 1967 may have been a significant factor as to why many countries in Africa stopped buying the series after that year – see So Who Bailed on Who First? below.


GROUP F (36 eps)

T Galaxy 4 4
U The Myth Makers 4
W The Massacre 4
X The Ark 4
Y The Celestial Toymaker 4
Z The Gunfighters 4
AA The Savages 4
BB The War Machines 4
CC The Smugglers 4
  • Only six countries (all in the Commonwealth, and all unaffected by the closure of the Suez Canal) bought stories from Group F in the 1960s and 1970s.


GROUP G

DD The Tenth Planet 4
  • Only three Commonwealth countries bought this serial, making it the lowest-selling Hartnell serial.


UNSOLD

T/A Mission to the Unknown 1
V The Daleks' Master Plan 12
  • These two serials were not sold anywhere, due to censorship or rights issues.

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So who bailed on Who first?

The following table charts at which story each country stopped screening the series, which emphasises that the majority of countries dropped the series after The Rescue or at the conclusion of season two.

As noted above, and on the Bicycling Chains page, the June 1967 closure of the Suez Canal, which was the principal delivery route to east Africa may have been the key contributing factor for why a number of countries [those marked **] stopped screening the series that same year.

New Zealand bailed out after the first 13 episodes, making it not only the first to screen the series after the UK, but also the first to 'defect'! However, it did come back a year later, and subsequently stuck with the series to the end, hence the split listings (a) and (b). Nigeria also has two listings as there was more than one broadcaster screening a different package.


A B C D E F G
New Zealand (a) X X X
Canada X X X X X
Bermuda X X X X X
Ghana X X X X X
Cyprus X X X X X X X
A B C D E F G H J K L
Malta X X X X X X X X X X X
Aden** X X X X X X X X X X X
Rhodesia X X X X X X X X X X X
Trinidad X X X X X X X X X X X
Uganda** X X X X X X X X X X X
Hong Kong X X X X X X X X X X X
Kenya** X X X X X X X X X X X
Thailand X X X X X X X X X X X
Tunisia X X X X X X X
Morocco X X X X X X X X X
Saudi Arabia X X X X X X X X X
Jordan X X X X X X X X X
Libya X X X X X X X X X
Algeria X X X X X X X X X
A B C D E F G H J K L M N P Q R S
Venezuela X X X X X X X X X X X X
Mexico X X X X X X X X X X X X
Chile X X X X X X X X X X X X
Costa Rica X X X X X X X X X X X X
Iran X X X X X X X X X X X X
Singapore X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Gibraltar X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Nigeria (a) X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Jamaica X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Mauritius** X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Ethiopia X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
A B C D E F G H J K L M N P Q R S T U W X Y Z AA BB CC
New Zealand (b) X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Zambia** X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Barbados X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Sierra Leone X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Australia X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Nigeria (b) X X X

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Hartnell repackaged

From 1985, the BBC reissued the surviving 17 complete Hartnell stories for the United States market, but also sold to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Sweden also aired them in the 2000s.



  • The Hartnell to Troughton regeneration scene was apparently spliced onto the end of some copies of The War Machines for US broadcasts.



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