Poland
POLAND is in Eastern Europe.
Profile
| Country Number (N/K) | 1990s | THIRD WAVE |
| Region | Europe | |
| Television commenced | 1953 | |
| Colour System | 1972 | SECAM |
| Colour System | 1995 | PAL |
| Language/s | Polish | Dubbed |
Television Stations / Channels
Poland began its television service in 1953. There is just one television station: Telewizja Polska (TVP1)
Colour transmissions began in 1971 using the SECAM colour broadcast system that was common throughout Europe. TVP changed to the PAL system in 1995.
In Poland, foreign programmes are usually always dubbed.
By the 2000s, Poland had satellite stations. It was on digital station TELE5 (launched on 19 April 2002) that Doktor Who aired 2002 to 2003. (TELE 5 broadcast off the Astra-satellite, orbital position: 19,2° East, 10.832Ghz, horizontal, 27500Bytes)
DOCTOR WHO (DOKTOR WHO) IN POLAND
Poland was one of the last – at least ahead of Sweden – countries in Europe to screen the series (see Selling Doctor Who).
In Polish, the series was probably called Doktor Who.
BBC Records
Poland is not mentioned in The Seventies, The Handbook or DWM.
The Polish version of WikiPedia: (POLISH DOCTOR WHO) says:
W Polsce widzowie mogli po raz pierwszy zobaczyć Doktora Who w październiku 1979 r., kiedy TVP1 pokazała dwa niekanoniczne filmy kinowe o jego przygodach (Dr Who wśród Daleków oraz Inwazja Daleków). Na początku lat 90. XX w. jedna z prywatnych stacji telewizyjnych wyemitowała kilkanaście odcinków z Tomem Bakerem w roli czwartej inkarnacji Doktora. W 1997 r. TVP1 pokazała film telewizyny BBC Doctor Who z 1996 r.
This translates as:
In Poland, viewers could see Doctor Who in October 1979, when TVP1 showed two non-canonical motion picture adventures ("Dr Who and the Daleks" and "The Invasion of the Daleks"). In the early 1990s, one of the private television stations aired a few episodes with Tom Baker as the fourth incarnation of the Doctor. In 1997, TVP1 showed the 1996 BBC TV Movie "Doctor Who".
It is not known what "private station" this is, as no private TV stations are recorded in the 1990 World Radio Television Handbook.
Poland is mentioned as having aired the series in the 2003 Panopticon Convention souvenir handbook, under the 40 Fabulous Facts section: "Doctor Who has been shown in 66 countries around the world, from Abu Dhabi and Algeria, to Poland, Qatar, Taiwan and Zimbabwe". (The reference to 66 countries is out slightly – at best count, Polish was nearer the 70th mark...)
This would be in relation to the then-recent screenings of Tom Baker stories on the Polish satellite station TELE5, from early 2002 to mid-2003, which oddly enough is not mentioned in the Wikipedia entry...
Stories bought and broadcast
PETER CUSHING MOVIES
- "Dr Who and the Daleks"
- "Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD"
TOM BAKER
It is not known which Tom Baker stories would have been screened in the 1990s, but since the BBC always seemed to offer new purchasers Baker's first season - starting with Robot – it's likely these stories were the ones seen.
Four stories, 14 episodes?
| 4A | Robot | 4 |
| 4B | The Sontaran Experiment | 2 |
| 4C | The Ark in Space | 4 |
| 4D | Revenge of the Cybermen | 4 |
SYLVESTER McCOY
PAUL McGANN
| TVM | The TV Movie | 1 |
TOM BAKER (Continued)
Ten stories, 40 episodes?
| 4A | Robot | 4 |
| 4B | The Sontaran Experiment | 2 |
| 4C | The Ark in Space | 4 |
| 4D | Revenge of the Cybermen | 4 |
| 4E | Genesis of the Daleks | 6 |
| 4F | Terror of the Zygons | 4 |
| 4H | Planet of Evil | 4 |
| 4G | Pyramids of Mars | 4 |
| 4J | The Android Invasion | 4 |
| 4L | The Brain of Morbius | 4 |
TELE5 appears to have purchased the same dubbed episodes that had been used by the other Polish station, plus additional episodes, which were either dubbed into Polish, or broadcast in English but with Polish "narration" voice-over.
Transmission
- The two Peter Cushing Dalek movies aired on television in October 1979.
- A run of Tom Baker stories aired in the early 1990s.
- The 1996 Paul McGann TV Movie was screened by Filmnet. The sale of the film was reported in issue 235 (October 1996) of the DWAS newsletter Celestial Toyroom. Reportedly, Filmnet had the rights to screen the movie fifteen times!
- From early 2002, the Polish satellite station TELE5 broadcast as many as 40 episodes from Tom Baker's first two seasons, with episodes in Polish, or English, but with Polish narration. These aired Saturdays and Sunday at varying times, at 8.30am or 9.30am. Several of the season 12 stories were repeated a number of times – these were probably the ones that had been fully dubbed rather than narrated - with the run (which took a break for a few months in late 2002 / early 2003) ending in August 2003.
TV listings
No TV listings have been found. If you are able to assist, please drop us a line.
The TELE5 screenings summary has been collated from Benjamin F Elliott's online THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO.
Novelisations
Three of the Target novels were published in Poland, issued by Publishing Empire in 1993-1994:
- Dzień Daleków (translates as Day Daleks) (Day of the Daleks)
- Wladcy Czasu (translates as Rulers of Time) (The Three Doctors)
- Zemsta Cyborgów (translates as Revenge Cyborgs) (Revenge of the Cybermen)
Poland in Doctor Who
- The Doctor mentions Polish astronomer, Nicolas Copernicus (Robot).
- Actress Ingrid Pitt (The Time Monster, Warriors of the Deep) was born in Poland.
- Poland was annexed by Hitler in 1938, an event the Doctor attributes to the influence of the Silver Nemesis.
- Tomek Bork (Captain Sorin, The Curse of Fenric), was born in Poland.
- The Doctor claims to have known Polish-born scientist, Marie Curie (TV Movie).
