Russia

The classic series was not shown on any local terrestrial channels in RUSSIA (which until 1991 was part of the Soviet Union (USSR)).

As far as we can determine, UK satellite and cable stations such as Super Channel, BBC World Service Television Europe and BBC Prime were not available, so until the New Series aired in Russia from March 2006, Doctor Who - or "Доктор Кто" as it is called there - was an unknown entity.

DOCTOR WHO ("Доктор Кто") IN RUSSIA

Although not seen on TV, Classic Doctor Who merchandise later became available in Russia.

Books

A number of publications featuring the Classic Doctors have been translated into Russian.

Translated fiction books include:

Published by Eksmo:

• Доктор Кто. 11 докторов. 11 историй (the short story anthology 11 Doctors 11 Stories) (2015)

Russian novelisations of Douglas Adams stories

Published by AST:

• Доктор Кто - Шада (Shada) (May 2016)
• Доктор Кто - Город смерти (City of Death) (Feb 2018)
• Доктор Кто - Пиратская планета (The Pirate Planet) (June 2018)
• Доктор Кто - против Криккитян (The Krikkitmen) (June 2019)
• Доктор Кто - Сказки Повелителя времени (Time Lord Fairy Tales anthology (January 2017)

Translated non-fiction books include:

Russian edition of 50th anniversary book The Vault

• Доктор Кто - Жизни и времена (The Doctor - His Lives and Times) (August 2016)
• Доктор Кто Энциклопедия персонажей (Visual Dictionary) (2016)
• Доктор Кто - Веселые квесты Повелителя Времени (Time Lord Quiz Quest) (in April 2017)
• Доктор Кто Архив (The 2013 50th Anniversary celebration book Doctor Who The Vault by Marcus Hearn) (April 2018)
• Доктор Кто - Энциклопедия Тардис (The TARDIS Handbook) (July 2018)

A number of the novels and anthologies based on the New Series and Torchwood have also been translated.

Links

• Russian fan site
• List of Russian books

USSR / Russia in Doctor Who

• Moscow was the third capital city to be targeted by WOTAN (The War Machines)
• Mollie's uncle was killed, and Arthur Terrill was wounded at Inkerman in the Crimea. The Doctor tells Jamie that "in the Crimean War, the English, the French and the Turks fought the Russians" (The Evil of the Daleks)
• Tanya Lernov was a crewmember on The Wheel in Space and The War Games
• Moscow went off the air during the Cybermen invasion. Later, a Russian rocket fitted with a warhead was used to destroy the Cyber-ships (The Invasion)
• A photo of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (with CCCP on his helmet) was dispayed in Eldred's museum. There was a T-Mat base in Moscow (The Seeds of Death)
• Soldiers from the Crimean War (including Ivan Petrov), and the Japan/Russian war of 1905 were abducted for The War Games
• Volgograd is mentioned in The Ambassadors of Death
• Ten units of Axonite were sent to Baikonur; the Baikonur Cosmodrome (from which the rockets carrying Sputnik and Gagarin were launched) is in Kazakhstan, then part of the USSR (The Claws of Axos)
• Troops were massing along the Russian-Chinese frontier in Day of the Daleks
• The Doctor says (jokingly?) that he injured his leg, possibly in the Crimea The Sea Devils
• Dr Tyler says "Yanks, and the other lot" had seen his cosmic ray research test results (The Three Doctors)
• Slave units were being prepared in Moscow (The Green Death)
• A hidden bunker beneath Whitehall was built during the Cold War days (Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
• Russia was one of the superpowers to give Great Britain the locations of its hidden atomic missile sites. The Think Tank people designed and built an atomic shelter back in the Cold War days (Robot)
• Alexander Alekhine - who played in the 1927 World Chess Championship - was Russian (The Androids of Tara)
• Romana said Russian dolls were "a model of the universe" (Nightmare of Eden)
• Professor Hayter thought they had been taken behind the Iron Curtain to Siberia by the Russians (Time-Flight)
• Zbrigniev was a Russian member of UNIT (Battlefield)
• Moscow, the Kremlin, and Russian soldiers including Sorin, Sgt Prozorov, Vershinin, Petrossian and Gayev are mentioned / appear in The Curse of Fenric