Tunisia

TUNISIA is located in North Africa, on the Mediterranean sea. It was a French colony until XXX. In achieved independence in XXX.

Population

When Doctor Who screened in Tunisia in 1967, the population was circa 4.5 million, and licensed TV sets numbered only 500! (per WRTH, 1966).

TV & system

Tunisia began its television service in 1966. Programming was in both "Arabe" and French.

There is just one television station: Radiodiffusion-Television Tunisienne, a government-owned commercial broadcaster.

Colour transmissions began in 1976 using the PAL colour broadcast system, although Doctor Who did not screen after 1967.

Language/s

The main languages of Tunisia is French and Arabic. Television programming catered for both languages, with channels dedicated to one or the other, as well as for Italian; Tunisia's close proximity to the southern tip of Italy meant that they could receive broadcasts from Italy.

DOCTOR WHO IN TUNISIA

Tunisia was the 24th country to screen Doctor Who. It was also the first of the Arabic-speaking nations to purchase the series (see Selling Doctor Who).

BBC Records

The Seventies records a sale of 4 stories by 28 February 1977. The Handbook identifies these as being: C, F, G and J.

In DWM, Tunisia is identified in 6 story Archives: the above four, plus A and E.

However, it appears that B was also aired, making seven in total.

Tunisia was the first country to receive the Arabic prints that had been dubbed by the BBC with the assistance of the Union of Art.

Stories bought and broadcast

WILLIAM HARTNELL

Seven stories, 29 episodes:

A	An Unearthly Child	1
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

As with the other Arabic nations, they appear to have aired just the first episode of An Unearthly Child.

Tunisia therefore bought the standard GROUP A, B and C of the William Hartnell stories that had been dubbed into Arabic, but without The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Rescue. The reasons for missing out on these two stories may have been due to the on-going issues at the time that had risen between the BBC and Dalek creator Terry Nation. During late 1966 and all of 1967 Nation was having discussions with American TV networks with regard to the setting up of a spin-off series featuring the Daleks. The BBC has agreed that it would not continue to sell any Daleks serials, other than any that had already been negotiated before the moratorium was placed. Tunisia must have completed its purchase of The Daleks before the "moratorium" period, but missed out on purchasing The Dalek Invasion of Earth; presumably The Rescue was withdrawn at the same time.

The programme was supplied as 16mm black and white film prints with Arabic soundtracks. The programmes may have aired with French subtitles.

Transmission

WILLIAM HARTNELL

Although 29 episodes were bought, only 23 episodes have been accounted for.

The series started on Thursday, 13 April 1967, and aired weekly. The timeslots were 8.00pm or 8.05pm. As with the other Arabic nations, they appear to have aired just the first episode of An Unearthly Child. The third episode of the series aired on 27 April; the next numbered episode was the 8th, on 22 June, which was actually eight weeks later. The papers for 1 May, 1, 8 and 15 June were missing, so it's certain that three episodes were pre-empted during this period.

The 23rd and "dernier" (last) episode aired on 5 October 1967.

[[THIS WILL REQUIRE REVISING IF I FIND THE OTHER 6 EPISODESE!!!!]]

There is no record that Tunisia screened Doctor Who again, even after the switch to PAL colour in 1976.

TV listings

TV listings have been obtained from the French language newspapers L'Action and La Presse de Tunisie.

Listings call the series Docteur Who, and is listed under the "PROGRAMME ARABE" section, meaning it was broadcast in Arabic. (The papers also list programmes in French and Italian.)

The papers did not identify episodes by name, instead they just numbered them in French: "2eme episode", "3e episode", "dernier episode".

Fate of the Prints

The next Arabic country to air Doctor Who was Morocco in May 1968. Given their very close proximity to each other, it is more than likely that Tunisia sent its prints of the Hartnell stories to Morocco.

Tunisia in Doctor Who

There are no instances where Tunisia is mentioned in the series.

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