United States--1972

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1972

Time Life Films logo
  • With the expansion of educational and public television services across the country, all hungry for quality material, the BBC strikes a distribution deal with Time Life Films, the film and television distribution division of media empire, Time Life. This deal gives Time Life the exclusive rights to sell BBC product throughout the United States and Latin America. The deal includes such fare as War & Peace (a co-production between Time Life and BBC), The Ascent of Man, and Doctor Who.
  • At the time the deal is signed off, the ninth season of the series (starring Jon Pertwee), is drawing to a close. The package offered includes 13 serials, 72 episodes, all in full colour. These episodes are converted from the PAL to NTSC (525-line 2-inch colour video tapes). Pertwee's debut serial, Spearhead from Space is not included in the package, presumably because it was on colour film:


JON PERTWEE


13 stories, 72 episodes:

Time Life Films ad, 30 April 1973
Time Life Films ad, 3 April 1972 - DR WHO in the sixth TV down
Time Life Films ad, 26 March 1973 - Dr Who in the bottom row, second square
TV Guide, June 1972
BBB Doctor Who and the Silurians 7
CCC The Ambassadors of Death 7
DDD Inferno 7
EEE Terror of the Autons 4
FFF The Mind of Evil 6
GGG The Claws of Axos 4
HHH Colony in Space 6
JJJ The Daemons 5
KKK Day of the Daleks 4
MMM The Curse of Peladon 4
LLL The Sea Devils 6
NNN The Mutants 6
OOO The Time Monster 6


- Inferno is supplied with an early edit of part five, featuring a scene deleted from the UK broadcast. (This highlights that the BBC still held the original colour tapes of these three seasons as late as 1972.)

- Day of the Daleks is called "The Daleks" in publicity material, and subsequently appears under that title in many of the TV billings.

  • ADVERTISING: Time Life Films promotes the series in several publications:
    • BROADCASTING MAGAZINE – 3 April 1972 features a full-page promo for several BBC programmes, including Doctor Who.
    • The 10-16 June 1972 issue of TV GUIDE has a two-page feature, Yoo-Hoo, Monsters! introducing viewers to "Dr Who", the Sea Devils and the Master. It reveals that the series was coming in "the fall".



  • 21 AUGUST 1972: Doctor Who makes its USA TV debut on WPHL, channel 17, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia Inquirer billing, Dr Who (Premiere), 21 August 1972