France
Profile
| Country Number (63?) | 1989 | THIRD WAVE |
| Region | Europe | |
| Television commenced | 1949 | |
| Colour System | 1967 | SECAM |
| TV Sets | 1990 | 22 million |
| Language/s | French |
Television Stations / Channels
France began its television service in 1949. Colour transmissions with the SECAM system commenced in 1967. All foreign television programmes are dubbed into French.
Doctor Who was initially broadcast by Television Francaise (TF1), on Channel 1.
France 4 aired one serial from the classic series in May 2012 as a prelude to the New Series.
DOCTOR WHO IN FRANCE (DOCTEUR WHO)
France was about the 63rd country to screen Doctor Who.
DALEK MOVIES
PETER CUSHING Movies
The two Peter Cushing Dalek films played in French cinemas during the 1960s:
- "DR WHO CONTRE LES DALEKS"
- "LES DALEKS ENVAHISSENT LA TERRE".
The films have aired on French television:
On Friday, 18 May 1990, at 11.10pm, the French channel RTL aired "LES DALEKS ENVAHISSENT LA TERRE".
The second of the two Dalek movies was also shown on pay-TV channel, Canal+, on 3 May 2000 (at 8.30am), at 7.15am on 20 May 2000, and again on 22 May 2000 at 1.55am.
SELLING DOCTOR WHO TO FRANCE
The BBC made several attempts over the years to sell Doctor Who to France:
- February 1977: At the annual Brighton BBC Showcase, the BBC was unsuccessful in luring European buyers to pick up the series. "TOO TERRIFYING FOR EUROPE" was the press reaction (see Europe for clipping.)
- September 1979: In a letter to French writer, Jean-Marc Lofficier, producer Graham Williams informs him that France is to be offered the series again "later this year".
- 1979-1981: Lofficier pens The Doctor Who Programme Guide, a side-project he developed while researching for an article about the series for French genre magazine, L'Ecran Fantastique (PROGRAMME GUIDE)
- 1986: Alain Carrazé, executive producer for the 'magazine' programme Temps X, tries to interest channel TF1 into buying Doctor Who. He convinces them to let him make a documentary about the series…
- May 1986: A French film crew for Temps X visits the BBC studios to film segments for Who is Who, the 16 minute documentary about the series, and interviews the cast and crew during the filming of serial 7B of The Trial of a Time Lord (aka "Mindwarp"). A short segment is also filmed a week or so later featuring fans at the Forbidden Planet specialty store in London. (The DWAS newsletter Celestial Toyroom (July 1986) carries a full report of the shoot, complete with break down of elements used in the final production.)
- December 1986: It is reported in DWB (issue #41/42) that France is to screen a run of Tom Baker stories from January 1987, but with The Sontaran Experiment, The Android Invasion, The Masque of Mandragora and Horror of Fang Rock rejected by the buyers for being "too boring"! (There is reason to doubt the validity of this statement, since Carrazé had selected stories from Tom Baker's first two seasons only, a package which would not have included the latter two serials.)
- February 1987: Despite the gallant efforts of Alain Carrazé, TF1 passes on screening the series as presented. The fully dubbed episodes languish in a storage vault...
- 1987: Although the series was no longer to feature as part of the Temps X line-up, eight novelisations translated into French by Editions Garanciére were published, with covers adorned with the images of "Temps X" hosts Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff:
- DOCTEUR WHO -
- Entre en Scène (An Unearthly Child)
- Les Croisés (The Crusade)
- Les Daleks (The Daleks)
- Les Daleks Envahissent la Terre (The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
- Le Cerveau de Morbius (The Brain of Morbius)
- Le Masque de Mandragore (The Masque of Mandragora)
- L'Abominable Homme des Neiges (The Abominable Snowmen)
- Méglos (Meglos)
- 19 February 1989: After a very long delay of several years, Carrazé's editions of Doctor Who finally make it onto French television screens, airing as part of the Club Dorothée Dimanche Sunday morning cartoon line-up - but even then, its journey was far from plain-sailing... (see Transmission below...)
- TIME SCREEN: A full account of Carrazé's struggle to get Doctor Who onto French television was published in issue #17 of Time Screen magazine (cover dated Spring 1991). The full article can be read here:
When Doctor Who finally aired in France, it joined the many European countries of the THIRD WAVE of sales in the late 1980s (see Selling Doctor Who). It was roughly the 63rd country to screen the series.
BBC Records
In DWM issue 52 (May 1981), there is a report that an omnibus edition of "La Genèse des Daleks" (Genesis of the Daleks) had screened in France, but there is no solid evidence that such a broadcast ever took place.
Since Doctor Who was sold to France in late 1986, it is not named in the 1987 memo that appears in The Eighties – THE LOST CHAPTERS.
In DWM, France is identified in 8 story Archives: 4A, 4D, 4E, 4F, 4H, 4G, 4J, 4K.
Stories bought and broadcast
TOM BAKER
11 stories, 46 episodes bought, but only six (26 episodes) screened:
| 4A | Robot | Robot | 4 |
| 4C | The Ark in Space | L'Arche de l'Espace | 4 |
| 4B | The Sontaran Experiment | (unknown) | 2 |
| 4E | Genesis of the Daleks | La Genèse des Daleks | 6 |
| 4D | Revenge of the Cybermen | La Revanche des Cybernators | 4 |
| 4F | Terror of the Zygons | La Terreur des Zygons | 4 |
| 4H | Planet of Evil | La Planète Diabolique | 4 |
| 4G | Pyramids of Mars | (unknown) | 4 |
| 4J | The Android Invasion | (unknown) | 4 |
| 4K | The Brain of Morbius | (unknown) | 4 |
| 4L | The Seeds of Doom | (unknown) | 6 |
France therefore bought part of GROUPs A and B of the Tom Baker stories.
According to a posting on the French Doctor Who fan forum GALLIFRANCE, only six stories / 26 episodes, not two full seasons, were purchased and aired:
- Robot
- The Ark in Space
- Genesis of the Daleks
- Revenge of the Cybermen
- Terror of the Zygons
- Planet of Evil
But it would appear that this is just a summary of just those serials that went to air rather than the full package that was acquired by TF1.
The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes. TF1 prepared, recorded and dubbed full French soundtracks. The voice for the Doctor was provided by Jacques Ferrièr, and Ian Marter was (apparently) dubbed by Maurice Sarfati.
Composer Dudley Simpson provided new music cues, including for the serials for which he did not originally provide a score. (In the interview with Simpson in DWB issue 57 (August 1988), he says "BBC Enterprises asked me into their offices for a chat about the sale of the early Tom Baker's to France. They couldn't lift the voices off from the music track (they had to redub all the dialogue into French you see) and so they'd got the filmed stuff but without the music track and they couldn't find a copy of my music anywhere so I've had to lay down a completely new score for them on tape which will go on with the French dialogue".)
For the opening titles, as the words DOCTOR WHO appear, the voice over (again, Maurice Sarfati) announces "Doctor Who-who-who-who" which fades as the logo moves away.
Fate of the Tapes?
The French-dubbed video tapes of the Baker stories were apparently sent to the Canadian station TVO, which aired French language programmes on Sundays in the early 1990s. The tapes for "La Genèse des Daleks" surfaced again when France 4 aired a special "La Nuit Doctor Who" on 19 May 2012.
SYLVESTER McCOY
PAUL McGANN
TV Movie, 84 minutes:
| TVM | The TV Movie | 1 |
Transmission
TOM BAKER
After a very long delay (see the chronology above), the series finally started on Sunday, 19 February 1989, at 9.00am, part of the line-up of CLUB DOROTHÉE DIMANCHE (CDD) children's programmes. The first serial was Genesis of the Daleks. However, after only a few episodes had gone out, the series was dropped from the CDD line-up.
On 8 April, the series shifted to Saturdays at around 6.35am (the scheduled timeslot fluctuated between 6.34 and 6.39am). From 23 April, a second episode aired on Sundays, at the same time, now just prior to CDD.
According to Alain Carrazé, the second and third serials to air were The Ark in Space then Robot.
The newspaper listing for 30 April 1989 has Revenge of the Cybermen for that day, while the "Télé-VISIONS" site records an episode of Terror of the Zygons on 21 May 1989, and an episode of Planet of Evil was on 1 June 1989.
However placing the stories into that order and aligning them with the known airdates doesn't quite work, so we have placed Revenge of the Cybermen between The Ark in Space and Robot on our Airdates table.
The final episode listed was that on Saturday, 24 June 1989, which accounts for at least 26 episodes. Whatever the remaining five serials (20 episodes) were, they never aired.
Genesis of the Daleks received a repeat on Saturday, 19 May 2012, as part of France 4's La Nuit Doctor Who when they launched the New Series.
- A run down of the French episodes and titles can be found HERE.
PAUL McGANN
The 1996 TV Movie aired on channel France 2 on Tuesday, 18 March 1997, at the very late time of 11.00pm – its title was "Le Seigneur du Temps" (The Lord of Time / The Time Lord).
For the French dubs, the following actors voiced the lead roles:
- Pierre Hatet (for Sylvester McCoy)
- Pierre-François Pistorio (for Paul McGann)
- Céline Monsarrat (for Daphne Ashbrook)
- Patrick Floersheim (for Eric Roberts)
Additional credits for the French version:
- Version Française : Karina Films [Dubbing studio]
- Direction Artistique : Claudio Ventura [artistic director]
- Texte Français : Jacqueline Cohen [Adaptation]
Clips from the French dub of the TV movie can be seen at:
TV listings
 |
← 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 Parisian newspapers Le Monde, France-Soir and Le Parisien Libre. Of note, all three papers give slightly different timeslots for when the series aired. They also list the series as part of the Club Dorothée Dimanche line-up, but there's no actual certainty that the series did air on those days (which is why we have not numbered the episodes in the Airdates table).
All listings give the series name as "Docteur Who". Sometimes they say Série or (Série). Only one Le Monde billing gave a story title – La Revanche des Cybernators on 30 April 1989.
Websites
There are several French fan sites:
France in Doctor Who
- An Unearthly Child: Barbara gives Susan a copy of a book on The French Revolution.
- The Reign of Terror: The story is in 1792 France, during the French Revolution. This period of history is the Doctor's favourite.
- Planet of Giants: Arnold Farrow plans to holiday on the rivers of France.
- The Romans: The TARDIS crew stay at Giscard's villa while he is away fighting in Gaul.
- The Crusade: Reference is made to Philip of France.
- The Time Meddler: William the Conqueror is name-checked.
- The Massacre: The story is set in Paris, August 1572.
- The Tenth Planet: International Space Command security-general, Wigner (Steve Plytas) appears to be French.
- The Highlanders: The freed Scots prisoners plan to sail the captured ship, The Albatross, to France.
- The Moonbase: Jules Benoit (Andre Maranne) is a crew member on the Gravitron base.
- The Evil of the Daleks: Maxtible tells Ruth and Arthur that Victoria has gone to France. France was allied with the UK against Russia in the Crimea.
- The Mind Robber: Cyrano de Bergerac, d'Artagnon, and a giant book called "Un Renarde" appear in the Land of Fiction.
- The War Games: Napoleonic troops are kidnapped by the War Lord.
- Spearhead from Space: Paris is mentioned.
- Doctor Who and the Silurians: The first foreign victim of the Silurian plague dies in France.
- The Ambassadors of Death: Taltalian (Robert Cawdron) appears to be French - although his accent changes from scene to scene. Mars Probe 7 was being tracked by monitors in Nancy.
- Inferno: The Doctor once met the Queen's great grandfather in Paris.
- Day of the Daleks and The Monster of Peladon: Napoleon Bonaparte gets a name-check.
- The Time Warrior: Irongron refers to "Norman ninnies".
- Pyramids of Mars: The Doctor uses a French pick-lock, given to him by Marie Antoinette.
- The Masque of Mandragora: Several of the dignitaries invited to attend the masque are from France. The Doctor mentions the Battle of Agincourt.
- The Robots of Death: The Doctor mentions Marie Antoinette again.
- The Talons of Weng-Chiang: The Doctor mentions the Battle of Agincourt again.
- Horror of Fang Rock: Lord Palmerdale's yacht was returning from Deauville.
- Destiny of the Daleks: The Doctor accuses Davros of misquoting Napoleon.
- City of Death: The story is set in Paris, 1979.
- The Visitation: Richard Mace was taught the art of lock-picking by a French acrobat.
- Frontios: The Doctor compares the TARDIS to a chicken vol-au-vent.
- The King's Demons: The Master poses as French swordsman, Sir Giles Estram. Philip of France is name-checked again.
- The Two Doctors: The second Doctor mentions famous French chef, Escoffier.
- The Trial of a Time Lord: The Doctor quotes from A Tale of Two Cities.
- Time and the Rani: The Rani kidnaps Louis Pasteur.
- Remembrance of the Daleks: A speech by Charles de Gaulle is heard in the opening sequence. Ace finds a book on The French Revolution in one of the classrooms.
- TV Movie: The Doctor claims he knew Marie Curie.
