Rhodesia / Zimbabwe

This country, located in south east Africa, was known as RHODESIA until 1 June 1979 when it was renamed ZIMBABWE RHODESIA. Previously a British colony, it achieved independence in 17 April 1980, when it was renamed just ZIMBABWE. It was a member of the British Commonwealth until 2003.

Profile

Country Number (9)	1965	FIRST and THIRD WAVE
Region	Africa	Commonwealth (until 2003)
Television commenced	1960
Colour System	1984	PAL
Population	1966	4,136,000
TV Sets	1966	39,000
Language/s	English

Television Stations / Channels

South Rhodesia began its television service in 1960, and North Rhodesia began its service a year later.

There is just one television station: Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation (as it was called at the time), a government-owned commercial broadcaster.

Colour transmissions began in 1984 using the PAL colour broadcast system. When Doctor Who screened in 1980, the episodes would have been broadcast in black and white.

However, this does not necessarily mean that the episodes were supplied in that format – i.e. as 16mm black and white film prints. Although the 14 episodes that aired in 1980 may have been Jon Pertwee stories - as the BBC was still marketing his stories as 16mm film prints in that year (as was the case with Bangladesh) - there is strong supporting evidence that these serials may have actually been Tom Baker stories.

The biggest clue that these were supplied on video tape lies in the fact that on 1 January 1981, the SF series Blakes 7 commenced. That series was never telerecorded onto film, so must have been supplied on colour video tape. The same would have been the case with Doctor Who.

This would be the only known instance in the broadcast history of Doctor Who in which Tom Baker stories were transmitted at source in black and white.

Language/s

The principal language of Rhodesia / Zimbabwe is English.

DOCTOR WHO IN RHODESIA / ZIMBABWE

Rhodesia / Zimbabwe was the ninth country to screen Doctor Who (see Selling Doctor Who). It was the second in Africa.

BBC Records

The Stanmark Productions Ltd advertisement from 1966, identifies Rhodesia as being one of the twelve countries screening Doctor Who in that year.

The Seventies records a sale of "(11)" stories by 28 February 1977. The Handbook identifies these as being: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L.

In DWM, Rhodesia / Zimbabwe is identified in the Archives of the same 11 stories.

The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS records a sale (by 10 February 1987) of "(4)" stories to Rhodesia and "(4)" to Zimbabwe. Rather than this being a total of 8, it's more likely the record means 4 total to "Rhodesia / Zimbabwe". Certainly the breakdown of the available episodes supports there being only four stories in total.

Stories bought and broadcast

WILLIAM HARTNELL

Eleven stories, 53 episodes:

An Unearthly Child, 26 September 1965

The Cave of Skulls, 3 October 1965

A	An Unearthly Child	4
B	The Daleks	7
C	Inside the Spaceship	2
D	Marco Polo	7
E	The Keys of Marinus	6
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

Rhodesia therefore bought the standard package of stories from GROUPs A, B and C of the William Hartnell stories.

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

Origin of the Prints?

Nigeria was the previous African country to screen the William Hartnell stories in 1965, so it’s possible that Rhodesia was sent the same set of prints shortly after transmission in Nigeria.

TOM BAKER

Four stories, 14 episodes:

The titles are not confirmed, but it is likely to have been these four stories, as these were a standard package being offered by the BBC at the time:

4A	Robot	4
4B	The Sontaran Experiment	2
4C	The Ark in Space	4
4D	Revenge of the Cybermen	4

Zimbabwe therefore may have bought part of GROUP A of the Tom Baker stories.

The programme would have been supplied on PAL colour video tapes with English soundtracks, however they would have been broadcast in black and white, as Zimbabwe did not introduce colour transmissions until 1984.

Transmission

WILLIAM HARTNELL

Rhodesia saw the first episode on Sunday, 26 September 1965, at 5.40pm. The series remained on that day and timeslot until at least 9 January 1966. TV listings after that date have not been located. If the series aired uninterrupted, then it ran until 25 September 1966.

Fate of the Prints

It is known that Rhodesia sent its prints to Zambia.

TOM BAKER

Dr Who, 2 October 1980

Fourteen years later, the series returned in 1980.

For 14 weeks from Thursday, 2 October 1980 until 1 January 1981 viewers saw Doctor Who at 6.15pm. According to The Eighties, there were 4 stories to air prior to 1987. As noted above, it's more than likely these were four Tom Baker stories rather than Jon Pertwee. These screened in black and white, making Zimbabwe the only instance of Baker being broadcast in black and white.

TV listings

TV listings have been obtained from the newspaper The Rhodesia Herald.

1960s

For the Hartnell episodes, the listings for "DR WHO" were printed in a TV Week pull-out guide. Unfortunately the supplement was either no longer published after 9 January 1966, or it was simply not photographed during the transfer to microfilm. Therefore listings are not confirmed after Marco Polo episode three, and are therefore assumed in the Airdates guide.

1980s

In 1980, the listings gave the title as "Dr Who". None of the 14 episodes was given a story title.

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