Italy

From BroaDWcast
Revision as of 04:54, 31 January 2011 by Jon Preddle (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigationJump to search

ITALY is in southern Europe.

Profile

Country Number (54?) 1980 SECOND WAVE
Region Europe
Television commenced 1954
Colour System 1977 PAL
Population 1980 57 million
TV Sets 1980 12.87 million / incl. 1.18 million colour
Language/s Italian Dubbed


Television Stations / Channels

Italy began its television service in 1954.

There are a number of privately-owned stations, but the national broadcaster – and home to Doctor Who - is:

All foreign television programmes are dubbed into Italian.


DOCTOR WHO IN ITALY

Italian movie poster

Italy was the seventh country in Europe to screen Doctor Who. It was also one of a large group of countries that bought the series towards the end of the SECOND WAVE of sales (see Selling Doctor Who).

And as we've noted in the chapter, 110 Million Viewers, 54 countries had bought the series by then.

But many years before the good Doctor appeared on their television screens, Italians were exposed to Doctor Who in the form of the second of the two Peter Cushing Dalek movies, which screened theatrically in 1966 – under the title: "Daleks, Il Futuro fra un Milione di Anni" (Daleks – The Future of a Million Years)

.

.

BBC Records

The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS, records a sale of "(9)" stories to Italy (by 10 February 1987).

Given that only seven stories aired, it could be that two further stories were purchased but didn't air (one of these being 4E, if the DWM reference is correct). Of course, the records could be inaccurate, or the tally also includes the repeat screenings of two of the serials.

In DWM, Italy is identified in only 2 story Archives: 4E and 4H, in 1979. 4E did not air in Italy, but it may have been purchased but withheld form broadcast – perhaps due to censorship?


Stories bought and broadcast

TOM BAKER

Seven stories, 26 episodes:

Code English Title eps Italian title
4A Robot 4 Robot Robot
4C The Ark in Space 4 Arca Spaziale Space Ark
4B The Sontaran Experiment 2 Esperimento Sontaran Experiment Sontaran
4D Revenge of the Cybermen 4 La Vendetta dei Ciberniani Vendetta of the Cybermen
4H Planet of Evil 4 Il Pianeta del Male The Planet of Evil
4G Pyramids of Mars 4 Le Piramidi di Marte The Pyramid of Mars
4F Terror of the Zygons 4 La Sconfitta degli Zigoni The Defeat of the Zygons

The opening title sequence was adapted to include the Italian translations of the episode names:

ItalyRobot.jpg Arca spaziale.jpg
Esperimento Sontaran.jpg 04 La vendetta dei Ciberniani.jpg
Il pianeta del male.jpg Le piramidi di Marte.jpg
Sconfitta degli Zigoni.jpg
  • Italy was one of the few countries to screen 4B, 4C, 4H, 4G in the correct order.

The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes, which were dubbed into Italian.

In Italian, the character of the Doctor is called "Il Dottore". The Italian actors who portrayed the lead roles were:

Diego Reggente – Il Dottore Who!
  • Diego Reggente (Doctor Who)
  • Germano Longo (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart)
  • Piera Vidale (Sarah Jane Smith)
  • Guido de Salvi (Harry Sullivan)


And although it is not covered by BroaDWcast, here are details of the voice-over actor for the new series:


Transmission

TOM BAKER

Although there are nine stories recorded in the 1987 sales document, only seven stories screened.

The series started on Wednesday, 6 February 1980, at 7.20pm.

It aired weekly in the same timeslot for 22 weeks, until 1 March 1980. The six stories aired in the correct story order, which was highly unusual, as many foreign broadcasters tended to screen those stories in production code order.

Nineteen months later, on Saturday, 3 October 1981, at 12.05pm in the afternoon, the series returned, with the "missing" Zygon story. This was followed by a repeat screening of Il Pianeta del Mal and Le Piramidi di Marte (which might account for the total of nine stories in the 1987 memo.)

There were 13 weeks in this run, but only 12 episodes: La Sconfitta degli Zigoni is billed for the first five weeks, so presumably for one of those dates the episode was pre-empted.

The series ended on 26 December 1981.

As far as can be determined, the series did not screen in Italy again.


TV listings

Airdates in Italy
← AIRDATES ...... (CLICK ICON TO GO TO TABLE SHOWING EPISODE BREAKDOWN AND AIRDATES - N/S = story title is Not Stated)
Billing for Pianeta del Male with Michael E Briant credited as director

TV listings have been obtained from the Rome newspaper Il Tempo.

Listings always gave the series name as "DOCTOR WHO".

In Il Tempo, there were a number of "oddities". On 22 February, the listing given was for La Sconfitta degli Zigoni, but the following week, it was not stated (N/S); but the next two weeks had Il Pianeta del Male; so presumably the Zygon story was dropped in favour of this other serial. (The paper also incorrectly billed Michael E Briant as the director.) .



The Italian TV Guide published in Italy ("Sorrisi & Canzoni TV") published its own listings, including a four-page introductory article about the series (which features several photos of Louise Jameson as Leela, despite the fact that none of her stories aired!):


Page 1 Page 2


The weekly billings included brief summaries and photos:

Robot
Arca Spaziale
Esperimento Sontaran
La Vendetta dei Ciberniani
Il Pianeta del Male
Le Piramidi di Marte
La Sconfitta degli Zigoni



.


PAUL McGANN

Although the Paul McGann TV Movie has not screened on Italian television, it was released on VHS video, and dubbed into Italian, by these actors:


Italian DVDs

Two DVD box sets of William Hartnell stories were released on DVD in the late-2000s, with Italian duds:

The voice-artists were:

  • Enrico Maggi (Doctor Who)
  • Cinzia Massironi (Barbara)
  • Claudio Beccari (Ian)
  • Elisabetta Spinelli (Susan)


Fandom in Italy

In 1983, the address of the Italian Doctor Who Fan Club was given as via Bologna 33/23, Genova 16127, Italy in the book, Doctor Who – A Celebration.

Today, Italy has a very active online presence; the following are the source of many of the clippings used (with permission) on this site:

(Grateful thanks are due to Gabriella for providing the screen-grabs and clippings.)


Italy in Doctor Who


Links