Sweden
SWEDEN is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe. It shares a border with Norway and Finland, and is in close proximity to Denmark.
Profile
| Country Number (68?) | 1996 | THIRD WAVE |
| Region | Europe | |
| Television commenced | 1956 | |
| Colour System | 1 April 1970 | PAL |
| Population | 1996 | unknown |
| TV Sets | 1996 | unknown |
| Language/s | Swedish | Subtitled |
Television Stations / Channels
Sweden began its television service in 1956.
There is just one state-owned television station: Sveriges Television AB (SVT). Colour transmissions began 1 April 1970 under the PAL colour broadcast system. (SVT screened the new series from 2007: NEW DOCTOR WHO ON SVT)
From 24 March 1987, Sweden could watch a run of Doctor Who on the UK satellite station Super Channel, and on BBC Prime in the mid-1990s.
Sweden also has a number of its own satellite stations - ZTV, launched in May 1992, screened 'classic' Doctor Who in the late 1990s.
The Swedish-based satellite / cable station, TV4 Science Fiction, later aired all the available classic episodes from early 2008, while another channel of the TV4 group - TV4 - also screened the Peter Cushing movies.
Language/s
The principal language of Sweden is Swedish, although English is also spoken. Foreign programmes are usually subtitled.
DOCTOR WHO IN SWEDEN
Sweden was about the 68th country (the 14th in Europe) to screen Doctor Who (see Selling Doctor Who).
BBC Records
In a BBC memo dated 7 July 1965, Sweden was one of several European countries to which an offer of the new series had been made but not yet accepted. The stories auditioned were The Daleks, The Sensorites and The Dalek Invasion of Earth (tellingly, only 'futuristic' stories and no historicals!). However, the offer was not accepted and no sale eventuated. (Of note, the same three stories were also offered to Finland and Switzerland, suggesting some kind of proposed 'region deal'.)
Sweden is not recorded in any known BBC Records. According to the Australian fanzine, Data Extract (issue 150), Tom Baker's first season aired there in 1997.
The website DOCTOR WHO IN SVERIGE provides detailed background to the series (old and new) in Sweden.
Stories bought and broadcast
JON PERTWEE
One story, 6 episodes:
| English Title | Swedish | Translation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZZZ | Planet of the Spiders | 6 | Spindlarnas Planet | Spiders Planet / Planet of Spiders |
TOM BAKER
Eight stories, 34 episodes:
| English Title | Swedish | Translation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4A | Robot | 4 | ||
| 4C | The Ark in Space | 4 | Rymdarken | Space Ark |
| 4D | Revenge of the Cybermen | 4 | ||
| 4E | Genesis of the Daleks | 6 | Dalekarnas Födelse | Daleks' Birth / Birth of the Daleks |
| 4F | Terror of the Zygons | 4 | ||
| 4G | Pyramids of Mars | 4 | ||
| 4H | Planet of Evil | 4 | ||
| 4J | The Android Invasion | 4 | Androiderna Anfaller | Android Attack / Attack of the Androids |
Sweden therefore bought part of GROUPs A and B of the Tom Baker stories. (The Sontaran Experiment was not purchased, possibly because the BBC had not made a "music / effects only" soundtrack for it back in 1986.)
The programme was supplied (presumably) on PAL colour video tapes complete with the original English soundtrack.
Transmission
JON PERTWEE
The run on ZTV commenced with the final adventure of the third Doctor, Planet of the Spiders, which aired Saturdays and Sundays, from 24 August 1996.
The serial was later repeated twice, from 12 January 1997 and again from 1 June 1997.
TOM BAKER
A run of eight Tom Baker serials commenced on Saturday, 14 September 1996, on the same Saturday/Sunday cycle. The stories aired in production order. There was no episode on 28 December 1996.
The week after the conclusion of The Android Invasion, a repeat run of the same nine serials commenced from 12 January 1997.
A third run of the episodes commenced 1 June 1997. After the repeat of part one of Robot, the series shifted to Mondays and Tuesdays (so for that week only, it aired four days in a row).
The second repeat concluded at the end of Genesis of the Daleks, on Tuesday, 19 August 1997. (There was no episode on 18 August.) The other four serials were not repeated for a second time.
"TV4 SF Repeats"
From 3 March 2008, the Swedish station TV4 Science Fiction commenced airing all the available classic series episodes, but skipping some of the Dalek ones. (See that profile for further details.)
Peter Cushing
The two Peter Cushing Daleks movies were shown on TV4 SF many times between 14 February 2009 and 29 November 2009. These would have been in English with subtitles.
The movies were also shown four times each on station TV4, but since these dates mirror those of TV4 SF, it's likely TV4 was relaying the feed from its sister channel.
Dr Who and the Daleks
- Saturday, 29 August 2009 (9.30pm)
- Sunday, 30 August 2009 (9.55am)
- Sunday, 22 November 2009 (3.35am and 9.00pm)
Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD
- Sunday, 30 August 2009 (3.20am and 9.50pm)
- Sunday, 29 November 2009 (4.00am and 9.00pm)
Merchandise
In circa 1986, Sesam Video released a commercial VHS video-cassette of Pyramids of Mars - under the title "PYRAMIDERNA PÅ MARS", with the original English audio soundtrack and Swedish subtitles. (The company also released the same story on video in Finland and Norway.)
PAUL McGANN Video
The 1996 TV Movie was released on videotape by MCA/Universal/CIC Video/Esselte Video in late 1996. The subtitled tape was possibly for Rental Only.
The cover just said "Doctor Who" (but not using the movie's logo), with the tagline "Han är tillbaka och det är verkligen på tiden!" (He is back and it is really about time!)
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 sourced from the website:
Print TV listings are from Dagens Nyheter. Although the billing from 24 August 1996 says "med Tom Baker", the first serial was the Jon Pertwee story, Planet of the Spiders. Interestingly, despite the listings being in Swedish, the story titles published were the familiar English ones, rather than the Swedish equivalents.
Sweden in Doctor Who
Coincidentally, the only two on-screen references to Sweden in Doctor Who occur in stories with the word "Seeds" in the title!
- There is a T-Mat terminal in Stockholm (The Seeds of Death)
- Harrison Chase says he has dedicated his "Floriana Requiem" to Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist (The Seeds of Doom).
