Greece

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GREECE is a south European country on the Mediterranean Sea.

Profile

Country Number (NK) 1986 THIRD WAVE
Region Europe
Television commenced 1966
Colour System 1976 SECAM / PAL
Population 1987 9.9 million
TV Sets 1987 1.725 million
Language/s Greek English (subtitled)


Television Stations / Channels

Doctor Who aired on two different TV stations in Greece:

Elliniki Radiophonia Tileorassi (ERT-2-TV, Channels 5,8,30) (which broadcast in the SECAM colour system), and Mega Channel (MEGA 2) (which used the PAL colour system).


Languages

The principal language is Greek. Foreign TV programmes were usually subtitled.


DOCTOR WHO IN GREECE

Greece was the eighth country in Europe to screen the series.


Peter Cushing and the Daleks

The second of the two Peter Cushing Dalek films may have been shown at cinemas in Greece in the late 1960s, since that had a far wider distribution across Europe than the first.

According to IMDB Here and Here, the two movies were also released on video in Greece under the following titles:

  • O Dr Who kai oi Dalekoi
  • Daleks: Eisvoli Sti Gi / Oi Iptamenoi Diskoi Epitithentai / Ντάλεκς: Εισβολή στη Γη / Οι ιπτάμενοι δίκοι επιτίθενται / Εισβολείς απο το διάστημα

These titles all failed to produce anything relevant when performing an online search.

However, after a bit of digging, we found a VHS and Betamax listing for the second film only - HERE.

Cover of the Greek VHS of "Daleks Invasion" - the shadow of the removed "Greek Subtitles" sticker [like the one at right] is still visible over the Roboman's left leg
"Greek Subtitles" sticker usually affixed to Thorn/EMI tapes


Back cover blurb of the Greek tape of "Daleks Invasion"

While many Greek VHS tapes have cover inserts that have the translated title, this does not appear to be the case for Thorn / EMI releases, which used the original English inserts but with a sticker stating "ελληνικοί υπότιτλοι" ("Greek Subtitles") affixed to the front cover instead.

At a first glance, the cover shown appears to be that of the 1982 UK release - but while there is no "Greek Subtitles" sticker affixed, the shadow outline where it used to be is still visible - bottom right, across the Roboman's left leg.

But most significantly, the site also has a link to the back cover - which gives the title, blurb and copyright notices in Greek.

The Greek title of the second Dalek film is ΕΙΣΒΟΛΕΙΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΔΙΑΣΤΗΜΑ (Invasions from Space / Invaders from Space), which is similar to but a couple of letters different from one recorded on IMDB, which would explain why none of those titles produced accurate search returns.

The subtitled film was released (circa 1985/86) on both VHS and Betamax by MTC Video A.E. most likely for the Rental market.

The boxed text at the foot states that MTC Video was "ΑΠΟΚΑΕΣΤΙΚΟΙ ΑΝΤΙΠΡΟΣΩΠΌ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ-ΚΥΠΡΟΥ", which is "EXCLUSIVE REPRESENTATIVES OF GREECE-CYPRUS" - which indicates the tape may have also been available in Cyprus.

And since there is no listing for the first film on that site, either by title or listed under actor Peter Cushing or director Gordon Flemyng, might we conclude there wasn't a Greek edition of that movie?



BBC Records

The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS records a sale of "(5)" stories by 10 February 1987. These would be for the five sold to ERT-2.

Greece is not identified in any of the DWM story Archives.


Stories bought and broadcast

TOM BAKER

Two separate runs of Tom Baker stories aired – the first from 1986 to 1987, the other 1990 and 1991.

The first consisted of 22 episodes, and from anecdotal evidence is believed to have included the following stories from GROUP A and GROUP B of the Tom Baker stories:

DOCTOR X, 5 December 1986

Five stories, 22 episodes

4A Robot 4
4C The Ark in Space 4
4D Revenge of the Cybermen 4
4E Genesis of the Daleks 6
4F Terror of the Zygons 4

This selection of serials is the same as the group that was sold that same year to France (although the French sale included one more story: Planet of Evil), while three of them were also sold to Yugoslavia; it's unlikely to be a coincidence, so presumably the rights on the stories first sold to France were extended partially to cover sales to other countries within Europe.

Since ERT broadcast in English (with Greek subtitles), they would not have received the same "music/effects" tapes that were supplied to TF1 for dubbing into French.


The two MEGA CHANNEL runs included at least two stories from season 17, with others believed to be from seasons 13 and 16.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that it was these eight stories, 32 episodes:

unidentified 4-parter 4
4K The Brain of Morbius 4
5A The Ribos Operation 4
5B The Pirate Planet 4
5C The Stones of Blood 4
5H City of Death 4
5K Nightmare of Eden 4
5L The Horns of Nimon 4

The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes with the original English soundtracks (Greek subtitles would have been added). (It appears that the ABC in Australia sent copies of The Brain of Morbius to "Athens" in 1990.)

City of Death and Nightmare of Eden were later edited into omnibus editions in 1991. Presumably the other seven 1991 omnibuses were re-edits of the other six listed here, plus one other.

That these screenings carried a "(1984)" copyright date on them (see below) it's possible these were PAL or SECAM conversions taken from the Lionheart NTSC master tapes created for the US market, which also often display a "1984" or "1985" copyright date.


SYLVESTER McCOY

PAUL McGANN

TV Movie, 84 minutes:

TVM The TV Movie 1


Transmission

ERT2 listings for "Doctor X"; December 1986
City of Death, 6 July 1991
Nightmare of Eden, 13 July 1991
Untitled "film", 20 July 1991

TOM BAKER

ERT-2-TV commenced its 22-episode run of Doctor Who from Friday, 5 December 1986, at 8.00pm. The newspapers incorrectly give the title as "DOCTOR X", a printing error also repeated on 2 and 9 January 1991.

None of the billings had story titles, so it is unclear what aired, but to account for the "(5)" stories recorded as being sold, a 22-episode run would consist of one 6-parter and four 4-parters. Alternatively, 22 consists of five 4-parters and a single 2-parter, but that would be a total of 6 stories.

According to the listings (see below), no episode aired on 6 February or 17 April (due to it being Easter). However that accounts for only 21 episodes. It is likely that the listing for 6 February was incorrect.

This run ended on 8 May 1987.

Three and a half years later, from Sunday, 7 October 1990, Doctor Who returned to Greece TV, this time on the MEGA CHANNEL channel 2 (which was launched on 20 November 1989).

The first four episodes aired at 4.00pm; the series moved to the earlier slot of 12.30pm for the fifth episode, then 11.30am for the next 11 weeks. From 27 January 1991, the timeslot moved back to 12.30pm. There was no episode on 7 April 1991, to allow for special Easter programming.

The final two listings (1 and 8 May 1991) both have longer timeslots – 12.00 to 12.45pm, and 12.00 to 1.00pm respectively – which might indicate double episodes. If so, then 31, 32 or 33 episodes aired in this run. We think it's more likely to be an even number, as there are no odd-numbered Tom Baker stories.

If it's 32, then that allows for eight 4-parters.

It's not known if MEGA played any of the same serials that ERT-2-TV had aired.

After a two month break, the series returned for nine weeks, from Saturday, 6 July 1991, with a two hour timeslot running from 11.00am to 13.00pm for the first four, then a 90 minute slot of 9.45am to 11.15am for the remaining five. These were all omnibus editions, the first of which was City of Death, followed by Nightmare of Eden on 13 July. The other seven weeks/stories are not named. They would all have been 4-parters to account for the regular 90 minute timeslot. It is likely they were the same eight stories that screened episodically in 1990, with the addition of a ninth (unidentified) story, or possibly a repeat or rescheduled pre-emption of one of the others.

This run ended on 31 August 1991.


PAUL McGANN

The 1996 TV Movie aired on ERT in late 1996/early 1997. We have not been able to ascertain the exact date/s.


There is no clear record that Greece aired Doctor Who again.


TV listings

Airdates in Greece
 ← AIRDATES ...... (CLICK ICON TO GO TO TABLE SHOWING EPISODE BREAKDOWN AND AIRDATES - N/S = story title is Not Stated)

TV listings are from the Athens News, an English language newspaper.

The first listing gives the title as "DOCTOR X", an error also repeated on the 2 and 9 January 1991 listings. The billing goes on to describe the series as being a "Science fiction BBC series. In 22 episodes." No story titles are given.

With the switch to the MEGA CHANNEL, the listings change; there are still no story titles given, but the listings describe the series as being a "British science fiction series".

For the 1991 omnibus editions, the listings give the titles for the first two of these only, with the description: "FILM: "DR WHO Q CITY OF DEATH" (1984) British science fiction by David Agnew with Tom Baker, Lola Ward". The miss-spelling of Lalla Ward's name and the stray letter Q aside, it is curious to see the date of (1984) given for this 1979 serial. (Is 1984 a reflection of when these compilations were supplied? Are they NTSC to PAL/SECAM conversions from the mid-80s United States compilations?)

The billing for the next "FILM", Nightmare of Eden repeated the date, author credit and actors' names.

The 20 July billing just had "FILM: "DR WHO" (1984)", with the same (but incorrect) author and cast credit without a story title to identify what it was. The next six billings just said FILM: "DR WHO" (1984)" without any additional credits.


Greece in Doctor Who

NOTE: There are a number of characters, planets, places and items named by letters of the Greek alphabet (Beta Darts in The Space Pirates for instance), far too many to identify and list all of them here!


Links

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