Algeria
ALGERIA is in North Africa; it is the second largest country on the African continent. Once a French colony, it gained its independence in 1962.
Profile
| Country Number (35) | 1973 | SECOND THIRD WAVE |
| Region | Africa | |
| Television commenced | December 1956 | |
| Colour System | 1979 | PAL |
| Population | 1974 | 14,700,000 |
| TV Sets | 1974 | 155,000 |
| Language/s | Arabic | French |
Television Stations / Channels
Algeria began its television service in 1956. Colour transmissions began in 1979 with the PAL colour system. There is just one television station: Radiodiffusion Television Algerienne (RTA).
Language/s
The principal languages of Algeria are Arabic and French; Doctor Who would most certainly have been broadcast with the Arabic soundtrack that was provided by the BBC. Given that the French newspapers had TV listings in French, it is likely that the broadcasts also had French subtitles.
DOCTOR WHO (ادكتورهو / LE DOCTEUR WHO) IN ALGERIA
Algeria was the 35th country to screen Doctor Who. It was the last to screen the William Hartnell stories (that is before the reissue to the United States from 1985. (See Selling Doctor Who.)
BBC Records
The Seventies records a sale of "(4)" stories: C, E, K and L.
In DWM, Algeria is identified in eleven story Archives – see table below.
Stories bought and broadcast
WILLIAM HARTNELL
Nine stories, 37 episodes:
| A | An Unearthly Child | 1 |
| B | The Daleks | 7 |
| C | Inside the Spaceship | 2 |
| E | The Keys of Marinus | 6 |
| F | The Aztecs | 4 |
| G | The Sensorites | 6 |
| J | Planet of Giants | 3 |
| K | The Dalek Invasion of Earth | 6 |
| L | The Rescue | 2 |
The programme was supplied as 16mm black and white film prints with Arabic soundtracks.
Only part one of An Unearthly Child was dubbed into Arabic, and supplied to Algeria.
Origin of the Prints?
Libya was the Arabic nation that had screened Doctor Who prior to Algeria – the same 37 episodes were purchased by that country in late 1969. Therefore it is highly likely that Algeria's prints came from Libya.
Transmission
WILLIAM HARTNELL
The series started on Monday, 31 December 1973, at 7.30pm, and screened seven days a week in the same timeslot until Tuesday, 7 February 1974 - an almost uninterrupted run of 37 episodes over a 39 day period. The 12 and 13 January scheduled episodes must have been pre-empted, as the same two episodes are also listed as screening on 14 and 15 January.
There is no clear record that Algeria screened Doctor Who again, even after the introduction of PAL colour.
Fate of the Prints?
Algeria was the last country to purchase the William Hartnell stories. The BBC was already at that time (1973/74) actively selling the Jon Pertwee stories in both colour and b/w formats.
It is not known what happened to these Arabic prints. The fact that the BBC held a collection of Arabic prints in late 1976 might indicate that Algeria sent the films to England sometime after broadcasts had completed.
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 newspaper El Moujahid, a French language paper published in the capital, Addis Abbas.
In the French paper, the series was called Le Docteur Who, which is the French equivalent of the Arabic title الدكتور هو.
The 31 December issue called the series "un feuilleton d’aventure des science-fiction", which translates as "a science fiction adventure series". It also names the main cast as "Carrol Ann, William Russel, William Martnell et Jacqueline Hill" (sic). The lead actor for The Keys of Marinus part one, are named as "William Wartnel, William Russel, Carrol Ann Ford, Jacquelie Hill".
A majority of the listings also give the episode number - e.g. 1ere partie 1st part), 12eme partie (12th), 23eme partie (23rd), 34 partie.
Some of the listings also give the name of the director (réalisé par), although in some cases these are wrong, with Frank Cox, John Cox (!) or Melvin Pinfield (sic) sometimes being credited for episodes they didn’t direct.
"La Planet des Geants" is credited three times – on 27, 28, 29 January – but the first for which should be part six of The Sensorites.
French titles
The newspaper identified the episode titles by their French translation of the adopted Arabic titles, which in some cases differ significantly from the original English:
| 1 | Suzane | Susan |
| 2 | La Planete | The Planet |
| 3 | Les Survivants | The Survivors |
| 4 | L'Evasion | The Escape |
| 5 | not known | |
| 6 | La Mobilisation | The Mobilisation / The Liquidation |
| 7 | Le Malheur | The Misfortune / Bad Luck |
| 8 | Le Sauvetage | The Rescue / Salvage |
| 9 | La Destruction | The Destruction |
| 10 | Le Desastre | The Disaster |
| 11 | La Mer Morte | The Dead Sea |
| 12 | L'Araignee | The Spider |
| 13 | La Foret Bruyante | The Noisy Forest |
| 14 | La Terreur | The Terror |
| 15 | La Sentence de Mort | The Sentence of Death |
| 16 | Les Yeux de Maurinius | The Eyes of Marinus |
| 17 | Le Temple | The Temple |
| 18 | Les Soldats de la Mort | The Soldiers of Death |
| 19 | Le Sacrifice | The Sacrifice |
| 20 | Jours Sombres | Dark Days |
| 21 | Etrangers dans l'Espace | Strangers in Space |
| 22 | Variations | Changes |
| 23 | Danger | Danger |
| 24 | La Race Eteinte | The Extinct Race |
| 25 | not known | |
| 26 | not known | |
| 27 | La Planete des Geants | The Planet of the Giants |
| 28 | not known | |
| 29 | not known | |
| 30 | not known | |
| 31 | Les Daleks | The Daleks |
| 32 | Le Jour du Retour | The Day of Return / of Recurrence |
| 33 | not known | |
| 34 | not known | |
| 35 | not known | |
| 36 | L'Ennemi | The Enemy |
| 37 | Mesures Desesperees | Desperate Measures |
- Episode 24 is printed as "LA RAGE ETEINTE" in El Moujahid; we think this is a printing error, and that the title should be "LA RACE ETEINTE", "The Extinct Race", which in the context of the narrative, makes better sense than does "The Extinct Rage".
