Thailand
THAILAND is located in south east asia. It is not a member of the British Commonwealth.
Contents
Population
When Doctor Who screened in Thailand in 1966, the population was 30 million, and licensed TV sets numbered only 250,300 (per WRTH, 1966).
TV & system
Thailand began its television service in 1955.
Thailand has two television stations: THAI TV, and The Army Television HSA-TV, a privately owned broadcaster, run by the Thai army. It was on the Army TV channel 7 that Doctor Who aired.
Colour transmissions began in 1973 using the PAL colour broadcast system.
Language/s
The main language of Thailand is Thai, although English is recognised as a secondary language taught in schools.
Television was broadcast in both Thai and English; the Thai soundtrack would have been dubbed by locally; the English soundtrack was simulcast on FM radio bands.
DOCTOR WHO IN THAILAND
Thailand was the 20th country to screen Doctor Who. It was also the first non-Commonwealth country, and also the first non-English nation (see Selling Doctor Who).
BBC Records
The Seventies records a sale of 9 stories by 28 February 1977. The Handbook identifies these as being: A, C, D, E, F, H, J, K and L.
In DWM, Thailand is identified in 11 story Archives: the same nine as above, plus B and G.
Hong Kong was the previous Asian country to screen the series, so it’s possible that Thailand was sent the same set of prints shortly after transmission in Hong Kong.
Stories bought and broadcast
WILLIAM HARTNELL
Eleven stories, 53 episodes:
| A | An Unearthly Child | 4 |
| B | The Daleks | 7 |
| C | Inside the Spaceship | 2 |
| D | Marco Polo | 7 |
| E | The Keys of Marinus | 6 |
| F | The Aztecs | 4 |
| G | The Sensorites | 6 |
| H | The Reign of Terror | 6 |
| J | Planet of Giants | 3 |
| K | The Dalek Invasion of Earth | 6 |
| L | The Rescue | 2 |
Thailand therefore bought the standard package of GROUP A, B, and C of the William Hartnell stories.
The programme was supplied as 16mm black and white film prints with English soundtracks.
Transmission
WILLIAM HARTNELL
The series started on Saturday, 20 August 1966, at 5.30pm. It screened weekly at that time, or at 5.28pm for 17 episodes mid-way through the run. There were three weeks in which no episode aired (4 an 11 February 1967, and 30 September). However, the run ended after 68 weeks on 2 December 1967, which mean there were 12 "extra" weeks. But it's more likely these are due to pre-emptions rather than repeat or additional episodes not recorded per known BBC Records.
According to the book XXXXX, it is known that television stations in Thailand were notorious for not sticking to scheduled programming: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"QUOTE".
As noted above, programmes aired with a dubbed Thailand soundtrack, but simulcast with the original English soundtrack available by tuning into the FM radio station located at frequency 90.25 m/c for channel 7 (and FM 96.5 m/c for channel 4).
There is no record that Thailand screened Doctor Who again, even after the switch to PAL colour in 1973.
TV listings
TV listings have been obtained from the newspaper Bangkok Post.
Listings initially gave the series name as Dr Who?????????? None of the listings carry story titles, so we can only assume that the stories aired in the correct order. As noted earlier, there are 12 additional listings for the series.
Fate of the Prints
Thailand was the last of the five Asian countries to air the original 53 episode package of William Hartnell stories.
In XXXX, the possibility of missing episodes of Doctor Who being found in Thailand hit major newspapers; XXXXXX – [[[Need to find links]]]
Thailand in Doctor Who
There are no instances where Thailand is mentioned in the series.
References
