New Chains

The Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee Junkings - Take 3 (for now)

There are potentially dozens of different paths the film prints of the William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee stories could have taken as they were bicycled from country to country over the years.

These tables summarise a fresh series of possible and potential distribution paths taken by groups of consecutive stories, using a scientific approach taking into account some of the available "film traffic" information, research into distribution methods (see Bicycling Chains Introduction) – with a smattering of educated guesswork! (The previous version of this page is here.)

(This is just our latest take using the available information that's to hand – what is presented here could be hopelessly wrong, but it's been a fun exercise nevertheless.)

We have tried to keep each "chain" as simple as possible without resorting to the complicated exchange of different countries supplying different stories to different recipients; generally, the same grouping of consecutive stories would have been bicycled from the same provider to the same recipient, as opposed to stories being split up and sent to different recipients.

• We've added the Jon Pertwee serials that were sold as 16mm prints, since most of those were also distributed to the same countries that had acquired the first and /or second Doctors, and therefore along the same chains. As a result of this, we have revised the country of origin of the Troughton serials that were bicycled to Gibraltar which required the most revision.
• We've arranged each series of chains with the same "first country" as a separate table to make it easier to view
• Stations that had TIE Ltd as programme distributor probably did bicycle films solely within that network
• By reorganising the various chains the number of prints of each story in circulation has been reduced by one or two.
• Costa Rica has been added to the list of Spanish-dubbed prints.
• We have not taken into consideration the "Taiwan Prints" that may have been sold to the AFRTS stations, since we have been unable to verify whether those episodes ever did screen on the American Forces Networks.
• Notes relating to the "analysis" and thought process behind how these chains have been tabulated are at the bottom of this page and on the Bicycling Chains introduction page.

SEASONS ONE -- TWO

Suppressed Field Telerecordings

• All the season one and two stories (with the possible exception of one -– see note following) were telerecorded onto 16mm film using the Suppressed Field method. For some of these, the recordings were made during the actual live transmission on the BBC. For others, the copies were made some days later. (There is no clear pattern as to which stories / episodes were done "live" and which were filmed later; it was probably down to if and when the telerecording equipment was available.)
• The edited ex-New Zealand copies of The Time Meddler (S) that were returned from Nigeria were Stored Field telerecordings. The set of uncut prints of 1,2,3 found a few years later in the UK were also Stored Field and dates etched onto the films indicate they had been telerecorded during the actual live broadcast in July 1965. On that basis, we feel sure that the initial film recordings of that serial were made using that method, rather than the Suppressed Field method utilised for the rest of season two. (It's certain that The Chase was telerecorded as Suppressed then later as Stored, which places that serial as being the last one to be recorded by both methods.) But rather than placing S on its own, we have included it alongside all the other Suppressed Field serials in the tables, since the serial would have been supplied and bicycled at the same time as the others in the same batch
• The BBC held a complete set of prints of The Time Meddler in late 1976 but these were junked in 1977. The likely sources for those prints are Australia, Jamaica, Mauritius or Sierra Leone. Are these the same uncut UK-sourced Stored Field prints that were later recovered from a UK film collector and that exist today?

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Australia	A---B---C---D---E---F---G M---N---P	Most of these episodes were junked or destroyed by July 1976 Two episodes of E are held by an Australian film collector	It's possible that the existing print of N part 6 with the "Next Episode: The Space Museum" caption is from Australia, since the repeat screening in Canberra in 1967 skipped P, and in Queensland the order in which the stories were repeated was F, P, M, N, so the caption may have been altered for both regions to reflect that the next repeat would be of Q
Australia --- New Zealand	H---J---K---L	H and J were both destroyed in NZ in 1971 Other episodes junked in late 1974 (buried in a landfill in Wellington)	K did not screen in New Zealand
Australia	Q---R---S	Most of these prints were returned to the BBC in 1975 or destroyed by July 1976 It's possible that the prints of Q episode 1 and S episodes 1,2,3 that were found in the possession of a collector in the early 1980s came from this batch A print of R episode one (the original or a duplicate?) was saved from incineration in Australia in late 1969/early 1970 by a film collector (along with prints from BB and KK – see below)	The ABC may have used duplicate prints for some of these episodes to enable screening of the same episode in different regions NOTE: S likely to be Stored Field

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
New Zealand --- (Denmark)	A---B---C	Sent to Denmark in 1968 as Audition Prints	Did not screen in Denmark

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Canada	A---B---C---D---E		The CBC used kinescope duplicates of the episodes for broadcasting by some of the remote stations These low grade copies would likely have been destroyed It's possible that the original prints were bicycled to Trinidad, Bermuda or Ghana – see below

OR

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Canada --- Ghana	A---B---C---D---E		As an alternative to the above chain, it's possible that the original CBC prints were bicycled to Ghana simply because both only ever aired these 26 episodes

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Singapore --- Hong Kong --- Thailand	A---B---C F---G---H---J---K---L		A Suppressed Field print of H part 1 was sold on eBay in 2012; markings on the metal film can (assuming it was the original can) are very similar to those on cans that have been also been returned from Hong Kong. Is that print of H therefore from this chain? (Of note, the aluminium can is very similar to the type of can that the NZ print of D part 7 was kept in; were metal cans being used by the BBC in 1966 when these two serials were in circulation?)
Singapore --- New Zealand --- (Iran)	D	Episodes one and two only sent to Iran in 1967 as Audition Prints Other episodes junked in NZ in late 1974 (buried in a landfill in Wellington) (although the film can for part 7 was retained)	D did not screen in Iran Did Iran send them for Audition in another Middle East country?
Singapore --- New Zealand	M---N---P---Q	P was junked in late 1974. The film print of part one was salvaged, and returned to the BBC in 1999 Other episodes junked in late 1974 (buried in a landfill in Wellington)	Hong Kong did not get M to S probably because Singapore had already sent them to New Zealand, and none of the African countries had aired them yet N and P did not screen in New Zealand
Singapore --- New Zealand --- Nigeria	S	New Zealand sent the films to Nigeria in 1973 Films discovered in Nigeria, and returned to the BBC in 1984	NOTE: S was Stored Field It's worth noting that since New Zealand supplied the prints of S, it's most likely that by 1973 none of the previous broadcasters in Africa still had it or the BBC didn't want any sets split up – i.e. the set held by Sierra Leone
Singapore	E---R

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Gibraltar --- Aden --- Trinidad --- Bermuda --- Jamaica --- Barbados --- Ethiopia	A---B---C---D---E		Sold by TIE Ltd
Gibraltar --- Aden --- Trinidad --- Jamaica --- Barbados --- Ethiopia	F---G----H---J---K---L		Sold by TIE Ltd?
Gibraltar --- Jamaica --- Barbados --- Ethiopia	M		Sold by TIE Ltd?
Gibraltar --- Barbados --- Jamaica --- Ethiopia	N---P---Q---R---S		NOTE: S likely to be Stored Field Sold by TIE Ltd? S didn't screen in Ethiopia (probably because by the time the series was sold to ETV in late 1971, S had not yet been renewed for its second five year rights period?)

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Rhodesia --- Zambia --- Uganda	A---B---C---D---E---F---G----H---J---K---L		The episodes aired twice in Zambia
Zambia --- Mauritius	M---N---P---Q---R---S	Zambia TV was checked in 2008, and it no longer held the episodes Mauritius sent the films back to the BBC (N may have been sent to Nigeria in 1973)	NOTE: S likely to be Stored Field The episodes aired twice in Zambia R did not screen in Mauritius Could the existing prints of S be from Mauritius?

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Malta --- Cyprus	A---B---C		Cyprus sent these episodes somewhere as Audition Prints? Or they were destroyed during the 1974 civil war?
(Cyprus) --- Uganda	A---B---C		Cyprus sent these films to Uganda, but since UTV had already aired them, it's possible that the films were destined for another country in Africa with Uganda merely the intermediary in the delivery process Cyprus may have received a set of these stories as Audition Prints, and sent to Uganda unaired, then got another set of the same three stories from Malta at a later date
Malta --- Cyprus --- Hong Kong --- Thailand	D---E		We’ve noted on the Hong Kong page that RTV may have expected to get D from Singapore, but since that serial had gone instead to New Zealand, HK's prints were sourced from Europe
Malta --- Cyprus	F---G---H	Some films destroyed during 1974 civil war Episodes from F, G, H discovered in Cyprus and returned to the BBC in 1984	H did not screen in Cyprus
Malta	J---K---L

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Kenya --- Mauritius	A---B---C---D---E---F---G---H---J---K---L	Mauritius sent the films back to the BBC	Sold by TIE Ltd?

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Nigeria	A---B---C---D---E---F---G---H J---K---L---M---N---P---Q---R---S		Were the prints retained with the intention of bicycling them within Nigeria? Are these the prints that were destroyed in the mid-1990s? (see note below)

• A Suppressed print of The Daleks part five was held at the BBC's film studios until late 1972 or early 1973 when it was "permanently borrowed" (along with a print of The Daleks' Master Plan part 2 (see below). If this was a print that had been returned from overseas, there are only a few "last in the chain" locations that it could have come from (Mauritius or Thailand?)
• It has been reported that an African TV station contacted the BBC in the mid-1990s asking what to do with episodes of Doctor Who. After establishing that what was held was from seasons one and two, the unhelpful receptionist told the caller that the episodes were not wanted and to destroy them. It's not known which country this was, but Nigeria and Ethiopia are two of the likely candidates. (In "Wiped!", Richard Molesworth offers that it was Nigeria.)

Stored Field Telerecordings (Dubbed)

• In early 1966, the BBC offered a selection of season one and two Doctor Who serials to Spanish-speaking countries. It commissioned dialogue-free Music / Effects only audio tracks, which were created by mid-1966 by Eddie Montague (who is interviewed here). And to create new prints without the English soundtracks the BBC struck fresh telerecordings using the superior Stored Field method. A smaller package of the same episodes was later supplied to Arabic countries

SPANISH DUBS

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Venezuela --- Chile --- (Dominican Republic?) --- Costa Rica	A---B---C---E---F---G---J---K---L---N---Q---R	Possibly returned to the BBC between 1973 and 1976 (to account for the handful of Spanish prints held by the BBC at that time, and later found in the possession of film collectors)	Prints from negatives dubbed into Spanish in Mexico R didn't screen in Venezuela Films may have been sent to Dominican Republic before the sale was "cancelled"

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Mexico	A---B---C---E---F---G---J---K---L---N---Q---R	The films were still held by the Televisa SA TV station in Mexico in 1984; presumably they are still there now!	Prints from negatives dubbed into Spanish in Mexico

ARABIC DUBS

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Tunisia --- Iran	A1---B---C---E---F---G---J	NIRTV was contacted a few years ago, and they confirm the films are no longer held	Prints from negatives dubbed into Arabic in Lebanon Only 23 of the 29 episodes screened in Tunisia Iran would have also received Music / Effects tracks tapes for the same seven stories to enable dubbing into Farsi
Iran	K---L---N---Q---R	NIRTV was contacted a few years ago, and they confirm the films are no longer held	These five stories (and also possibly another set of A to L (see above)) would also have been supplied along with Music / Effects tracks tapes to enable all twelve stories to be dubbed into Farsi D had also been sent by New Zealand in 1967 as an unaired Audition copy

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Morocco --- Algeria	A1---B---C---E---F---G---J---K---L	Possibly returned to the BBC before 1976 (to account for the full set of Arabic prints held by the BBC at that time) Arabic print of F part four (with Morocco TV label) junked, but salvaged by film collector	Prints from negatives dubbed into Arabic in Lebanon

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Saudi Arabia --- Jordan --- Libya	A1---B---C---E---F---G---J---K---L	Prints likely "lost" during September 1969 Libyan Revolution	Prints from negatives dubbed into Arabic in Lebanon

Stored Field Telerecordings (English)

• At the same time that the new "non-English" telerecordings were being made (see above), the BBC took the opportunity to replace all of their old Suppressed Field telerecordings of the season one and two serials with newly struck Stored Field telerecordings. (As noted above, The Time Meddler was only ever done as Stored Field, in July 1965.) Some stories even had a second "new" negative but without a magnetic soundtrack -- i.e. a mute print -- struck in 1967, 1968 or 1969 (which may have been done in preparation for mixing in "Music / Effects" tracks for potential sales to Spanish and / or Arabic speaking countries, which ultimately never eventuated)

• If the new Stored prints were introduced into the bicycling system from April / May 1967, it's unlikely that the Suppressed prints already being used within an established chain were intercepted and replaced with Stored prints while still in transit between countries. Therefore, only those countries at the start of a chain would have received the new Stored prints. The only chains where that would be the case are the Caribbean chain (but only with a partial set), and West Africa (which was the only "new" chain to potentially receive a full set)

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Sierra Leone	A---B---C---D---E---F---G---H J---L---M---N---P---Q---R---S	All episodes were returned to the BBC in 1974	Sold by TIE Ltd? Sierra Leone did not purchase K Stored Field prints of H episodes 3 and 6 -- owned by UK film collectors since the 1970s -- were returned to the BBC in the early 1980s; were these from Sierra Leone? The existing Stored Field print of part 3 of P (held in 1976) may be from this batch Could the existing prints of S be from Sierra Leone?

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Nigeria	N	Discovered in Nigeria, and returned to the BBC in 1984

• Some of the prints of The Web Planet (N) returned from Nigeria still had the BBC's VT clock on the leader; this does suggest they were supplied directly by the BBC in 1973 (perhaps as Audition prints?) since the majority of prints sent overseas had the VT clock strip removed and replaced with a fresh leader by one of the broadcasters. That these prints retained the clock and not a leader from another broadcaster does strongly suggest that they were not copies that had been bicycled into Nigeria from another country. (But if they had been bicycled from elsewhere, then Ethiopia or nearby Sierra Leone would be possible sources.)

SEASONS THREE -- FOUR -- FIVE -- SIX

• All the serials from these four seasons were telerecorded using the superior Stored Field method during their BBC transmission
• Prints of Mission to the Unknown and The Daleks' Master Plan were despatched to Australia in early 1966 along with the first couple of serials from Season 3. It's doubtful that the BBC would have pre-struck another set of prints intended for a subsequent sale so early on, especially without the confirmed first sale from Australia. And with the censorship issues in Australia arising in September 1966, and the subsequent arrangement with Terry Nation to withdraw all Dalek serials around that same time, again it's doubtful that the BBC would have struck any additional prints until both issues had been satisfactorily resolved. (As it transpired, the censorship problems did not get resolved at all, but the block on sales of Dalek stories was lifted by the end of 1967, by which time it was too late (and therefore too expensive!) to sell The Daleks' Master Plan to anywhere else as part of the Season 3 package.)
• A print of The Daleks' Master Plan episode 2 was held at the BBC's film studios until late 1972 or early 1973 when it was "permanently borrowed". The BBC also still held prints of episodes 3 and 4 at that time, and episodes 5 and 10 turned up in 1983. (These may well have been the Australian prints, assuming the episodes had been returned to the BBC soon after it had been "rejected" by the ABC in mid-1967.)
• The BBC still had a complete set of prints of The Tenth Planet in 1973. Part 4 "disappeared" soon after it had been borrowed by Blue Peter, with only the other three still held in 1976. Unlike the case with Mission to the Unknown and The Daleks' Master Plan above, it's possible that this set of prints was struck to be included in the package of episodes sold to Barbados in mid-1967. But because The Power of the Daleks had been withdrawn from sale in 1966, The Tenth Planet was probably also pulled from sale and the "unsold" Barbados prints held "on the shelf" until such time as the restriction on Daleks was removed. When The Tenth Planet was re-issued for sale again in 1968 and sold to New Zealand, the BBC may have overlooked that it had a set prepared earlier (see what we did there?!) and sent a fresh set to NZ

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Australia	T---T/A---U---V---W---X---Y---AA---BB--- CC---DD---EE---FF---GG---HH---JJ---KK---LL--- MM---NN---OO---PP---QQ---RR---SS--- TT---UU---VV---WW---XX---YY---ZZ	Most of the films were returned to the BBC in 1975 or 1976; those that weren't returned were destroyed or junked by the end of 1976 (see note [2] below) Y episode four was retained in error by the ABC, and returned to the BBC in 1984 BB episode two and KK episode one (the originals or duplicates?) were saved from incineration in Australia circa late 1969/early 1970 (along with a print from R -- see above) One of the two copies of HH episode 4 that exist is missing the "Next Week: The Macra Terror" caption. The print of T part 3 and Y episode 4 that were ex-ABC are also missing their "Next Episode" captions. Is this print of HH therefore from the ABC? Episode three of T and episode two of GG were junked by the BBC shortly after their return from Australia, but salvaged in the early 1980s, and subsequently returned to the BBC in 2011 TT was retained by the BBC	The ABC may have used duplicate prints for some of these episodes to enable screening of the same episode in different regions T/A and V did not screen The print of V episode 2 "borrowed" in 1973 and recovered in 2004 may be from the rejected Australian set The prints of V episodes 5 and 10 recovered in 1983 may be from the rejected Australian set The prints of DD episode 2 and NN episode 2 that were found in the possession of a film collector in the early 1980s may be from this batch Some of the prints from XX, YY and ZZ may have been sent by the BBC to Zambia in 1976 (see note [3] below)
Australia --- Singapore	Z		An alternative is that Singapore's prints of Z were supplied directly from BBC London, and is why the negatives survived being purged in 1974. Or, the prints were perhaps ones prepared for but not purchased by New Zealand?

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Barbados --- Zambia --- Sierra Leone	T---U---W---X---Y---Z---AA---BB---CC	All episodes were returned to the BBC in 1974	Sold by TIE Ltd? As noted above, are the existing prints of DD ones originally intended to be sold as part of the Barbados package? See note [1] below

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
New Zealand --- Singapore	T---U---W---X---Y---AA---CC---DD---EE		NZ sent to Singapore in two separate batches in 1972
New Zealand --- Singapore --- Nigeria	BB	NZ sent to Singapore in 1972 Singapore sent to Nigeria in 1973 Discovered in Nigeria, and returned to the BBC in 1984	Hong Kong didn't acquire this same back-catalogue probably because there were no further Minor Commonwealth "quota" remaining
New Zealand	LL---MM---NN---OO---PP---QQ---RR---SS	Other episodes destroyed or junked by the end of 1974 (buried in a landfill in Wellington)	OO and RR did not screen

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Germany	OO		Sent as Audition prints in May 1968 If the films were sent only to Germany, then back to the BBC, they may be the ones subsequently sent to Hong Kong (see above)

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Uganda --- New Zealand	FF---GG---HH---JJ---KK	KK returned by NZ to the BBC in 1970 (Are the existing prints of parts 1 and 3 from this return?) Other episodes destroyed or junked by the end of 1974 (buried in a landfill in Wellington) (although the film can for HH part three was retained)	EE and LL were not available to Uganda; the former had been withdrawn from sale and the latter had not yet been purchased by Australia Did Zambia receive a damaged print of episode 3 from Hong Kong, and received a replacement via New Zealand? Is the print of part one held by the BBC also from Zambia, or is it the one returned from New Zealand?

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Singapore --- Hong Kong --- Zambia	FF---GG---HH---JJ---KK	Zambia TV did not have any BBC material when it was checked in 2008	EE had been withdrawn from sale, hence it was not part of this package; LL was not yet available Zambia may have received replacements prints of KK from New Zealand, which is why the serial aired much later than the rest of the season Zambia's prints of GG ep 3, HH eps 2 and 4 and KK eps 1 and 3 may be the ones that exist today
(Hong Kong) --- Singapore --- Hong Kong	MM	MM discovered in Hong Kong, and returned to the BBC in 1992	To account for the out of sequence screening, it's very likely that Hong Kong sent MM to Singapore unaired, and RTS sent it back to Hong Kong. Hong Kong may have accidentally retained the films until 1991 because they were recorded as being sent to Singapore!
Hong Kong --- Singapore	LL OO---RR		Is the print of The Evil of the Daleks part 2 found in 1987 from this chain? Are the prints of The Ice Warriors found in 1988 from this chain? (Those films, plus empty can for RR part 6, had "Cutting Copy" labels, but they may have been put on after their return from overseas.)
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- Nigeria	NN---PP---QQ---SS---TT	PP and QQ (but not ep 3) discovered in Nigeria, and returned to the BBC in 2013	The recovered print of QQ episode 5 had the words "COPY B" written on it; Hong Kong was indeed the second country after Australia to screen that story = "B" could mean "second print" struck One of the film cans for QQ has markings on it which record that the film prints were examined by the RTS in Singapore on 6 May 1970 The sale of TT was to a different TV station in Nigeria
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- Gibraltar	UU---VV---XX---YY---ZZ		Are some of these prints the ones held by the BBC in 1976? (see note [2] below) One of the prints of VV that exists today apparently had a NZBC leader on it; was this a spare leader from a different film print that had been sent from New Zealand and which was put on the VV print by one of these stations? The final three season six stories may have been returned to the BBC first, then sent to Zambia years later (see note [3] below)
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- Gibraltar --- Nigeria	WW

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Gibraltar --- Zambia	NN---OO---PP---QQ		Was Gibraltar still being sold by TIE Ltd? Gibraltar received and aired season six and seven before season five, but Zambia received and aired these seven stories in the correct order, albeit three years apart Gibraltar received six season five serials as a "back catalogue" purchase, after the UU to CCC package The season six serials may have been originally intended for New Zealand, but forwarded unsold to Gibraltar from BBC Sydney Is the recovered print of NN part 2 from this chain? Is the print of QQ episode 1 that the BBC held as early as 1976 from this chain?
Gibraltar	RR---SS---TT		Gibraltar sold by TIE Ltd? Gibraltar received UU to CCC before it received NN to TT and EEE to OOO Are the prints of SS episode 3 and TT part 5 that came into the possession of a film collector circa 1973 or 1974 from Gibraltar? (see note [2] below)

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
(Australia or Gibraltar) --- Zambia	XX---YY---ZZ		The three season six stories may have been returned to the BBC first, then sent to Zambia years later (see note [3] below) See note [2] below

• Three different prints exist for part 5 of The Dominators: one came back from Australia in 1975 (it has the Australian censor edits, and is the one that was reissued for broadcast in 1984 and used for the 1990 VHS release); one was held by a film collector as early as 1973 or 1974 (so was probably returned from Gibraltar); and another was given to the BFI in 1977 (so is probably the one that had been bicycled to Nigeria). The tables here account for three copies across three chains –- so if all the known prints of one of the episodes struck for one serial sold to the same countries were returned to the BBC and can be accounted for, then it's logical to assume that all the other serials sold to the same set of countries would have been returned to the BBC at the same time…

SEASONS SEVEN -- EIGHT -- NINE -- TEN -- ELEVEN

• All the serials from these five seasons were telerecorded as 16mm black and white prints using the superior Stored Field method

• Gibraltar received AAA, BBB and CCC at the same time as UU through ZZ, which probably came from the same source: Hong Kong / Singapore
• A damaged print of an episode of CCC exists, but the origin of this print is unknown

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Australia --- New Zealand	AAA---BBB	AAA and BBB were sent to New Zealand as Audition Prints in mid-1974 TVNZ junked the prints of AAA and returned BBB to the BBC in 1984
Australia --- Bangladesh	AAA		The prints of AAA were likely the new set acquired by the ABC for the 1978-1979 colour repeats
Australia	CCC---DDD EEE---FFF---GGG---HHH---JJJ KKK---MMM---LLL---NNN---OOO RRR---PPP---QQQ---SSS---TTT WWW	Some of these films prints were returned to the BBC or destroyed by the end of 1976	DDD, FFF, JJJ, TTT, WWW did not screen The prints of PPP episodes 1,2,3 and WWW episode 1 that were found in the possession of a UK film collector in the early 1980s were probably from this batch Some of the season ten serials may have gone to Singapore
Australia --- Gibraltar	UUU		Australia acquired UUU on b/w film and colour Video Tape; the film may have been used by regional stations that had not yet converted to colour Australia likely supplied the b/w films of UUU to Gibraltar because Singapore was no longer buying the series and Hong Kong had acquired the story on colour video tape only, effectively shutting down the same supply line to Gibraltar, per the Singapore / Hong Kong to Gibraltar chains that follow

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- Gibraltar	AAA---BBB---CCC EEE---GGG---HHH KKK---MMM---LLL---NNN---OOO		After Singapore aired AAA to CCC, it acquired a "back-catalogue" package of T to EE from New Zealand to fill in the schedules before it aired EEE onwards See note [2] below
Singapore --- Hong Kong --- Gibraltar	RRR---PPP---QQQ---SSS		Some of these episodes may have been supplied from Australia Was the print of PPP part 3 that was sold on eBay in 2013 from this chain? See note [2] below

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Lebanon --- Saudi Arabia --- Qatar?	AAA		Dubbed into Arabic NOTE: It's not clear whether AAA aired in Qatar in b/w or in colour; if the former, they would likely have been supplied from Saudi Arabia
Lebanon --- Saudi Arabia --- Bangladesh	CCC---DDD---EEE		Dubbed into Arabic Films may have also had English soundtracks, hence they were sent to Bangladesh DDD and EEE did not screen in Lebanon
Saudi Arabia	FFF---HHH---JJJ MMM---LLL---NNN---OOO RRR---QQQ---SSS		Dubbed into Arabic Sale of RRR cancelled; did not screen in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia --- Lebanon	BBB		Dubbed into Arabic
Saudi Arabia --- Bangladesh	GGG		Dubbed into Arabic Films may have also had English soundtracks, hence they were sent to Bangladesh
Saudi Arabia --- Qatar?	KKK---PPP		Dubbed into Arabic NOTE: It's not clear whether Qatar got films or PAL tapes; if the former, they would likely have been supplied from Saudi Arabia

• As noted on the 1974 Recall page, a batch of episodes was returned to the BBC in 1981/1982, and despite the "do not destroy" order on them, they were junked. It's possible that those returns were Pertwees from the Middle East, since the screenings of the b/w Pertwees had concluded by 1979 and were not part of the 1974 recall.

General Summary

WILLIAM HARTNELL STORIES

Keeping the bicycling routes as simple as possible, if we assume that country X generally always supplied country Y with its prints, then:

• Australia – always had its own prints, and returned all but a few to the BBC in 1975
• Countries in West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone) and those in East Africa (Rhodesia, Zambia, Mauritius and Ethiopia) likely shared prints from time to time; of note, Nigeria acquired The War Machines from Singapore and The Time Meddler from New Zealand in 1973; Sierra Leone still had its prints of both serials at that time (they weren't returned to the BBC until 1974), so it does raise the question as to why Nigeria didn't source those two serials from closer to home! (One likely answer is that the BBC didn't want to split up Sierra Leone's holdings, as it may have planned to further sell those episodes as a complete set elsewhere; the Singapore and NZ prints were already from broken sets and therefore could be sent to Nigeria.)
• The New Zealand censors classified the season three episodes between May and July 1968, which was before or during the broadcasts in Barbados and Zambia, so New Zealand's prints cannot have been sourced from either of those countries
• It's a matter of recorded fact that New Zealand sent its prints to Singapore in 1972; since New Zealand did not have The Gunfighters, Singapore's prints of that must have been supplied from elsewhere else (Australia?) or from the BBC

PATRICK TROUGHTON STORIES

Keeping the bicycling routes as simple as possible, if we assume that country X generally always supplied country Y with its prints, even after an interim period of several years, then:

• Australia – always had its own prints, and returned all but a few to the BBC in 1975
• New Zealand – bicycled in as well as acquired fresh sets of prints. It had disposed of most of its prints by the end of 1974
• Hong Kong and Singapore always shared prints; a number of them may have ended up in Africa; in fact, it does appear that it was deliberate that the "Asian" prints eventually made their way to Africa and/or Gibraltar, bringing them closer to 'home' for the inevitable "recall" to London
• The BBC may have automatically struck prints of the season six stories for New Zealand, but when these were not purchased by the NZBC, they were sent to Gibraltar instead, which may explain why Gibraltar got those episodes before it got season five (which were bicycled over from Singapore rather than being fresh prints)

JON PERTWEE STORIES

Keeping the bicycling routes as simple as possible, if we assume that country X generally always supplied country Y with its prints, even after an interim period of several years, then:

• Australia – always had its own prints, and likely returned all but a few to the BBC by 1975, when colour broadcasts commenced
• Hong Kong and Singapore always shared prints
• The BBC may have automatically struck prints of the season seven stories for New Zealand, but when these were not purchased, they were sent to Gibraltar instead

NOTES

• [1] – Barbados and Zambia either shared the same prints OR, they had their own set of prints. (There's also the important factor that Barbados had TIE Ltd as its programme supplier, but Zambia was not part of that network.) There is a window of only three to four months between the airdates in Barbados and Zambia, but Zambia could well have received its prints before Barbados, but scheduled the serials to screen much later.
  • If the former, Zambia either got its prints of the season three stories directly from the BBC (in which case the films would have been sent the "long way" around the southern cape of Africa since the Suez Canal was closed at the time), or they were bicycled in several shipments from Barbados; the shipping distances from either point of origin to Zambia is roughly the same, although it's likely that the films were sent to London or via another mid-way point first (via Gibraltar?) rather than directly between Barbados and Zambia
  • If the latter, then the Caribbean prints may have been retained in case Jamaica or Trinidad picked up the series later on, which clearly did not happen. Why? It's a "chicken or egg" scenario: did the films go from Barbados to Zambia because Jamaica and Trinidad did not want them, or did Jamaica and Trinidad miss out because the films had been sent to Zambia? There is only a gap of a year between Barbados screening season three and when Jamaica aired season two. If Barbados kept the prints, why didn't Jamaica carry on after season two? Or was it simply a matter that both Jamaica and Trinidad rejected the offer of more episodes, leaving Barbados free to bicycle the films to Africa instead? For this reason alone, we believe the prints were no longer in the Caribbean by the time Jamaica caught up and wanted more, hence we've grouped Barbados and Zambia in the same chain for season three only

• [2] – It seems very likely that the majority of the stray Patrick Troughton episodes kept by the BBC and those that were later recovered from UK film collectors were all from the same sources: mostly from Gibraltar, Zambia and Australia, and some from Singapore. The prints of the Jon Pertwee serials up to the end of season 9 held by the BBC at the end of 1976 may have also been returns from Gibraltar, since that run of episodes had concluded in late 1974, and Gibraltar was the final Commonwealth country to air them; it would seem that the BBC deliberately sold and therefore carefully channelled the films through the various countries in Asia, the Caribbean and Africa so they would end up in Gibraltar so they could be returned to "near-by" London at a much lower cost. (Were these returned at the same time in the 1974 "recall" of the first two Doctors?) Gibraltar certainly has form for returning material to the BBC soon after broadcast as late as 1978 (being geographically 'close' to London makes returning films a matter of convenience over storing the films awaiting the inevitable "return" instructions that'll come anyway), so it's safe to accept that it did so consistently and regularly. The b/w prints of the three serials that didn't air – DDD, FFF, JJJ - may well have been struck and intended for the Hong Kong / Singapore set, but left unsold "on the shelf".
  • Since the BBC retained the original telerecording negative for many episodes but did not necessarily also hold a positive print for each, with various prints being returned from overseas on a regular basis, they may have taken the opportunity to retain any print for which they also had the negative -- and to use that returned copy as a viewing print -- and discard all of those for which they did not also have a negative. (For instance, the BBC retained the original Stored Field telerecording negative for The Crusade part three. In 1976 they also held a Stored print of the same episode; that print may have been struck directly from the negative for the purpose of having a viewing copy on file (which means it was paid for by Enterprises), or the BBC deliberately preserved that print when it arrived from overseas for the purpose of having a viewing print on file. If it is the latter scenario, there are -- per this table at least -- only two possible overseas sources for this print.)

• [3] – Since Australia and Gibraltar had presumably returned all retained prints to the BBC by 1975, and these three stories (XX, YY, ZZ) were sent to Zambia in 1976, what was despatched to ZTV may well have been a miss-matched selection of film prints from both countries, including some of the ex-ABC films with censor cuts.

• For comparison, the original Bicycling Chains table is HERE