Iran

IRAN is an Islamic Republic (formally known as Persia); it nestles between the Persian Gulf (Middle East) and the Asian continent.

Profile

Country Number (28?)	1968	FIRST WAVE
Region	Middle East
Television commenced	1966
Colour System	1973	SECAM
Population	1966	22.5 million
TV Sets	1966	100,250
Language/s	Farsi	Dubbed

Television Stations / Channels

Iran began its television service in 1966. To begin with, there was one commercial television broadcaster: Television of Iran, which operated channels 3 (also known as TV1) and 7 (TV2).

A second broadcaster was AFRTS, which was operated by the local US Air Force station; this was AFTV-Channel 8.

In May 1969, Television of Iran became National Iranian Radio & Television (NIRTV / NITV), operating channels 3, 7 and 9.

Doctor Who aired on Channel 3.

Colour transmissions began on NIRTV / NITV in 1973 using the SECAM colour broadcast system.

Language/s

27 May 1969 TV listing in Farsi (see below)

27 May 1969 TV listing in English (see above)

The principal language of Iran is Farsi. English is also recognised as a secondary language. All television is dubbed into Farsi. (It is a possibility that some programming, including Doctor Who, was simulcast in English.)

Doctor Who written in Persian, appears as (read from right to left):

دکتر هو

DOCTOR WHO IN IRAN

Iran was approximately the 28th country to screen Doctor Who. It was the fourth in the greater Middle East region (see Selling Doctor Who).

BBC Records

On 20 October 1967, the NZBC (New Zealand) sent episodes one and two of Marco Polo to Iran. These must have been supplied as "audition" prints (see Selling Doctor Who for more on these types of prints). Although Marco Polo was not included in the package of William Hartnell stories offered to non-English language countries (e.g. Arabic, Spanish), Iran must have considered Doctor Who a worthy purchase...

The Seventies records a sale of "(7)" stories by 28 February 1977. The Handbook identifies these as being: C, F, G, J, N, Q and R.

In DWM, Iran is identified in 8 story Archives: the same as above, plus L.

Although there are only eight stories recorded by these sources, Iran appears to have purchased (by July 1968) the standard package of twelve stories, 56 episodes that were supplied to non-English speaking countries (such as with Arabic and Spanish).

Stories bought and broadcast

WILLIAM HARTNELL

Twelve stories, 56 episodes:

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
N	The Web Planet	6
Q	The Space Museum	4
R	The Chase	6

Iran therefore bought GROUP A, B, C, D and E (but minus the four historicals) of the standard non-English package of William Hartnell stories.

The programme was supplied as 16mm black and white film prints.

Origin of the Prints?

Since NIRTV did its own dubbing into Farsi, it would have been supplied with prints that had just music and effects, presumably directly from the BBC. (There is a possibility that the prints were supplied also with English soundtracks, enabling the programme to be broadcast in both languages.)

Transmission

WILLIAM HARTNELL

The first clear listing on channel 3 for Doctor Who appears on Tuesday, 27 May 1969, commencing a run of 21 episodes that ended on 21 October 1969. (There was no episode on 5 August due to it being Constitutional Revolution Day.) The first six episodes aired at 9.00pm, with the remaining 15 episodes playing at the earlier time of 7.30pm.

Four months later, two additional listings appear, on Monday, 2 and 9 March 1970, at 7.30pm. However, the previous four weeks simply had "To Be Announced" listed in that half hour time slot, which might mean that six episodes of Doctor Who aired. (For many weeks prior to 2 February, that slot was occupied by a series billed as "Gaspar", which is probably a misspelling of "Casper", as in The Friendly Ghost".)

On Tuesday, 2 May 1970, the series returned, now at the much later time of 11.10pm. In fact, this was the last programme of the evening before "Sign Off". The slot changed to 11.20pm for the third episode before settling in at 10.50pm for the rest of the run of 18 episodes.

The 18th and last billing for "Dr Who? & Sign Off" appeared on 5 September 1970, with the same slot – through to 17 October - taken by a listing that simply said "FILM"; from 24 October the pre-Sign Off slot was filled by a news programme.

Allowing for the single pre-emption on 25 July (when the slot was filled by "All About Music")), with there being 18 episodes in this run, and with 21 in the 1969 run, that's 39 of the 56 episodes accounted for. Assuming that the two March 1970 episodes are the tail end of a longer run, and that the four "To Be Announced" are also for Doctor Who, those six bring the episode tally to 45, leaving 11 unaccounted for. And 11 is the episode count for the first two serials.

On that basis, we think the 27 May to 21 October 1969 run is Inside the Spaceship to Planet of Giants [*]; the six episodes in February / March 1970 is The Dalek Invasion of Earth (the reason for the four "To Be Announced" billings may have been down to uncertainty as to whether the Dalek story could be cleared in time for transmission); and the 2 May to 5 September 1970 run consists of The Rescue to The Chase, with the pre-empting "All About Music" neatly slotting in between The Space Museum and The Chase. This also means that The Chase part six is the last of the episodes billed as "Dr Who?" before the generic "FILM" listings kick-in the following week.

[* In the previous version of this profile, we had also surmised that this 21 episode run was Inside the Spaceship to Planet of Giants.]

This just leaves the first two serials / 11 episodes unaccounted for.

BBC records indicate that the series was sold to Iran by 11 July 1968. During May through August 1968, there was a high number of consecutive weekly listings in The Kayhan that simply said "To Be Announced".

There were no TV listings at all in the December 1968 issues of The Kayhan. However, during January 1969, the 7.00pm slot on Wednesdays was listed as "To Be Announced" for five consecutive weeks, while the 1 January 1969 issue was missing, and the 12 and 19 February papers had no listings at all for channel 3. (From 26 February, the listings for channel 3 reappeared.)

It's a bit of a stretch, but the fact that there is a run of 12 weeks without a clear indication as to what aired on Wednesdays at 7.00pm, the first 11 episodes of Doctor Who could have aired at this time. (If so, the series might have been pre-empted on 25 December.) The Airdates table has been noted accordingly.

There is no record that Iran screened Doctor Who again, even after the switch to colour in 1973.

Fate of the Prints?

In 1984, when Ian Levine spent hours telephoning or writing to foreign television stations in the search for missing episodes, he contacted an Iranian TV station asking if they still had any episodes of Doctor Who; the reply he got back was: "In the name of Allah, what are you talking about?"

With there being more than one TV station in Iran at the time, from that response, it would appear that Levine may have contacted the wrong one!

TV listings

Channel 3's line up, with Dr Who at ٠٠, ٢١ (21.00), 27 May 1969 Close up of Farsi listing for Dr Who = دکتر هو at ٠٠, ٢١ (21.00)

Same listing, in English; Dr Who at 21.00 "Dr Who?" at 19.30, 8 July 1969

"Dr Who?" at 23.10, 2 May 1970

Farsi listings are from the Persian / Iranian newspaper, Ittila'at.

English TV listings are from the English-language Iranian newspapers The Kayhan (International Edition) and Tehran Journal.

The Kayhan gave the title as "Dr Who", then "Dr Who?", complete with question mark. Most of the Journal's listings for the Doctor Who timeslot say "FILM". None of the listings gave episode titles.

Iran / Persia in Doctor Who

• Barbara says she feels like "Scheherezade", the teller of the Arabian Nights (The Crusade).

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