Monaco
The tiny Mediterranean Principality of MONACO is bordered with southern France and in close proximity to northern Italy.
Profile
| Country Number (NK) | 1983 | THIRD WAVE |
| Region | Europe | |
| Television commenced | 19 November 1954 | |
| Colour System | 1973 | PAL and SECAM |
| Population | 1982 | 33,000 |
| TV Sets | 1984 | 17,200 (9,000 colour) |
| Language/s | French, Italian | Dubbed and/or Subtitled |
Television Stations / Channels
Monaco began its own television service on 19 November 1954.
At the time there was just one television provider, Télé Monte Carlo (TMC), the oldest private TV station in Europe. The broadcaster operated one channel in French – channel 10.
Colour transmissions were introduced in 1973 using the SECAM colour broadcast system.
A second colour channel – channel 35 - was launched in 1974, using the PAL colour broadcast system. This Italian-language channel was set up specifically to rival the Italian PAL station, RAI.
In March 1982, RAI acquired a 10% ownership of channel 35. After the takeover, the channel's signals were no longer broadcast from Monaco; instead they were transmitted from Italy. The "new" station became known as Telemontecarlo – or just Montecarlo, while the Monaco-based French-language channel was still known by the original name, Télé Monte Carlo.
Some of the local stations in Italy carried the Telemontecarlo feed, and dual branded the channel with both station names, per this 1984 sample from Telenapoli (Channel 34) in Naples:
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The fact that Doctor Who aired on the ex-Monaco, now-Italian based station in 1983 could be regarded as another repeat screening by RAI of Italy and therefore be covered on the profile for that country. However, for the sake of clarity, and for the fact that the World Radio Television Handbooks list channel 35 under "Monaco", BroaDWcast is treating the "Telemontecarlo" screenings separately, and thus given Monaco its own profile page.
Television transmissions from not only Italy but also France could be received, so viewers in Monaco could also have been able to see episodes of Doctor Who broadcast from the former in 1980 and 1981, and the latter in 1989.
The proliferation of satellite stations operating from the UK, such as BBC Prime and Super Channel, meant that Doctor Who (in English) could also have been available in Monaco from the early 1990s – refer to our coverage of these Cable and Satellite stations.
Also available were various European satellite stations - such as Luxembourg's RTL9 which aired the TV Movie.
Language/s
The principal language of Monaco is French, although Italian and English are just as common. French and Italian television programming was provided on separate channels, one for each language.
DOCTOR WHO IN MONACO
Monaco was one of the first countries from the THIRD WAVE of sales to air the series. (See Selling Doctor Who.)
BBC Records
Monaco is not named in any of the principal BBC Records we have referred to.
However, since the "Monaco" broadcasts of Doctor Who were actually coming from Italy, it is very likely that the "sale" to Monaco is included in the sale to Italy – which the 1987 memo from The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS records as "(9)" stories, although only seven aired. (See the profile on Italy for more on this anomaly.)
Stories bought and broadcast
TOM BAKER
Seven stories, 26 episodes:
| Code | English Title | eps | Italian Title | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4A | Robot | 4 | Robot | Robot |
| 4C | The Ark in Space | 4 | Arca Spaziale | Space Ark |
| 4B | The Sontaran Experiment | 2 | Esperimento Sontaran | Experiment Sontaran |
| 4D | Revenge of the Cybermen | 4 | La Vendetta dei Ciberniani | The Vendetta of the Cybermen |
| 4H | Planet of Evil | 4 | Il Pianeta del Male | The Planet of Evil |
| 4G | Pyramids of Mars | 4 | Le Piramidi di Marte | The Pyramids of Mars |
| 4F | Terror of the Zygons | 4 | La Sconfitta degli Zigoni | The Defeat of the Zygons |
The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes; these tapes were dubbed into Italian, and were supplied directly by RAI, who had used them from 1980 to 1981.
Transmission
TOM BAKER
The TMC run started on Wednesday, 9 November 1983, at 6.10pm. Episodes aired on subsequent weekdays, then Monday to Friday, always at that time.
Like the 1981 screenings in Italy, Terror of the Zygons was for some unknown reason aired last in sequence.
The final episode of Doctor Who was on Wednesday, 14 December 1983.
TV listings
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← AIRDATES ...... (CLICK ICON TO GO TO TABLE SHOWING EPISODE BREAKDOWN AND AIRDATES - N/S = story title is Not Stated) |
TV listings have been obtained from the online newspaper archive for the Italian paper, La Stampa and Radiocorriere.
The series is always named as "Doctor Who". The term "Telefilm" is also used from time to time, and which means "TV series".
The synopsis for The Sontaran Experiment part one, refers to the Doctor as a "Signore del tempo e dello spazio, scienziato galattico noto por la lunga sciarpa e la imprese mirabolanti", which translates as "A Lord of time and outer space, galactic scientist known for his long scarf and amazing feats …".
Some of the listings give the wrong episode number, for instance The Ark in Space part four, is instead billed as part one of The Sontaran Experiment; while part one of Revenge of the Cybermen is billed as The Sontaran Experiment, part four!
