Bahrain
The island nation of BAHRAIN is on the Arabian / Persian Gulf, off the east coast of Saudi Arabia.
Profile
| Country Number (N/K) | 1975? | SECOND WAVE |
| Region | Middle East | |
| Television commenced | 1973 | |
| Colour System | 1973 | PAL |
| Population | 1980 | 270,000 |
| TV Sets | 1980 | 80,000 (50,000 colour) |
| Language/s | Arabic and English | Dubbed and Subtitled |
Television Stations / Channels
Bahrain, the smallest Arabic / Gulf country, began its television service - which was also broadcasting in the PAL colour format - in 1973, which provided an alternative to the then-monochrome broadcasts from the nearby ARAMCO compound in Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain Television is a government-owned commercial broadcaster. It operated two channels: Channel 4, which was exclusively Arabic, and Channel 55, which was exclusively English. In 1981 Doctor Who screened on Channel 55.
Language/s
The principal language of Bahrain is Arabic, although English is also a major language. Television broadcasts were in both languages, or with Arabic subtitles.
DOCTOR WHO IN BAHRAIN
الدكتور هو
We are unsure of when Doctor Who first aired in Bahrain.
BBC Records
Researched undertaken by Stephen James Walker revealed that The Ark in Space may have been sold to Bahrain in mid-1975.
The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS records a sale of "(7)" stories to Bahrain (by 10 February 1987).
In DWM, Bahrain is identified in the story Archive for 4A only. The year of sale is given as 1981.
Stories bought and broadcast
TOM BAKER
Seven stories, total number of episodes unknown:
| 4A | Robot | 4 |
| 4C | The Ark in Space | 4 |
| ? | Five other stories | ? |
BAHRAIN therefore bought at least part of GROUP A of the Tom Baker stories.
The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes with English soundtracks.
Transmission
TOM BAKER
BBC Records indicate there was a run of season 12 Tom Baker stories in 1975. We have not been able to find or access any TV listings for this period.
The only run of Doctor Who we could find for Bahrain was a brief 12 week run on Channel 55 in 1981-82.
The run commenced on Tuesday, 8 December 1981, at 6.30pm. The series ended 12 weeks later on 23 February 1982. The episode-count would consist of three 4-parters, two 6-parters, or a 2-parter, one 4-parter and one 6-parter.
Due to the country's proximity to other Gulf countries, viewers in Bahrain could also receive transmissions from ARAMCO/Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, so even if Doctor Who had aired only briefly on Channel 55 itself, Bahraini viewers would have had the opportunity to see many other Doctor Who serials, from 1975 right up through until 1990 (see Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates).
There is no record that Bahrain screened Doctor Who again after 1982.
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) |
The 1981-82 TV listings have been obtained from the Bahraini newspaper Gulf Mirror.
We have not been able to access any Bahraini or Gulf newspapers prior to 1977, so if there was an earlier run we have no details for this.
