Marco Polo

Story Code: D / Season 1	UK Airdate: 22 Feb to 4 Apr 1964	Doctor: William Hartnell
First airings by location	UK Repeats / Foreign Cable and Satellite	Previous Story / Next Story

This story aired in the following countries. They are listed in chronological order according to known airdate. If no month is noted, the actual airdate is not confirmed, and is a close approximate. (Refer also to Selling Doctor Who for expanded airdates.)

New Zealand film can for episode 7 (with thanks to Graham Howard)

Australia	Apr 65	b/w
Canada	May 65	b/w
Singapore	Jul 65	b/w
Gibraltar	Jul 65	b/w
Malta	Aug 65	b/w
Aden	Oct 65	b/w
Nigeria	Nov 65	b/w
Rhodesia / Zimbabwe	Dec 65	b/w
Zambia	Jan 66	b/w
Trinidad & Tobago	Jan 66	b/w
Bermuda	Mar 66	b/w
Uganda	Apr 66	b/w
Ghana	May 66?	b/w
Jamaica	Jun 66	b/w
Cyprus	Jun 66	b/w
Barbados	Jul 66	b/w
Hong Kong	Aug 66	b/w
Kenya	Sep 66	b/w
New Zealand	Oct 66	b/w
Thailand	Dec 66	b/w
Mauritius	Jan 67	b/w
Sierra Leone	Jul 67	b/w
Ethiopia	Jan 71	b/w

• The TV serial was based in part on an 18-part radio serial written by John Lucarotti for Canada's CBC.
• Marco Polo holds the distinction of being the first complete story ever to be repeated; it was replayed in Sydney, Australia in 1965/66.
• The story was not dubbed for screening in any Spanish or Arabic language countries. And like The Reign of Terror, The Crusade and The Time Meddler, the negatives were not kept.
• At least seven sets of prints were struck and bicycled to provide for all 23 countries (see Bicycling Chains).
  • Cyprus sent its prints to Hong Kong.
  • Episodes one and two were sent from New Zealand to Iran as "Audition" prints on 20 October 1967. Although Iran did ultimately purchase the series, Marco Polo was not part of the package that was on offer, as it could not be supplied with a "Music / Effects" only soundtrack.
    • NOTE: If New Zealand was able to supply audition prints, we can deduce that by 1967, Aden (a country relatively close to Iran) and all those countries in Africa who had aired it, no longer held any copies of the series?
• The empty film can for the New Zealand print of episode seven was found in a TVNZ film storage facility in 1989.
• See Hartnell Junkings

US TV Guide descriptions (1960s Hartnells on CBC)

More Information
Title:  

• Episode 1: Dr. Who and his passengers search for food on the Pamir Plateau in Central Asia.
  
• Episode 2: While investigating the strange carvings on the wall of a cave, Barbara is captured by a band known as the Assassins.
  
• Episode 3: (no blurb)
  
• Episode 4: Marco Polo is tricked into capturing Dr. Who's spaceship.
  
• Episode 5: Marco Polo's caravan is attacked by Mongol bandits.
  
• Episode 6: Dr. Who and his passengers meet Kublai Khan.
  
• Episode 7: Tegana, a Mongol warlord, tries to kill Ian.
  

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