Australia Sales - Revision history

Jon Preddle at 01:14, 17 April 2026

2026-04-17T01:14:21Z

Jon Preddle at 18:40, 7 October 2025

2025-10-07T18:40:36Z

Jon Preddle at 23:06, 6 October 2025

2025-10-06T23:06:12Z

Jon Preddle at 23:04, 6 October 2025

2025-10-06T23:04:52Z

Jon Preddle at 20:49, 6 April 2025

2025-04-06T20:49:59Z

Jon Preddle at 20:41, 6 April 2025

2025-04-06T20:41:55Z

Jon Preddle at 00:20, 12 January 2025

2025-01-12T00:20:23Z

Show changes

Jon Preddle at 04:18, 21 December 2016

2016-12-21T04:18:21Z

Jon Preddle at 23:29, 19 December 2016

2016-12-19T23:29:23Z

Jon Preddle at 20:56, 19 December 2016

2016-12-19T20:56:24Z

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 Since the "A" ratings meant that the series could not be screened at 6.30pm, the ABC had little choice but to scrap the already announced schedule for the new series.
-It was too late to inform some of the newspapers of the unexpected change to the forthcoming line-up, and as a result, several minor New South Wales publications, such as the ''Lithgow Mercury'', the ''Scone Advocate'' and the ''Canberra Times'' announced in their TV listing pages of their editions the week of '''16 May 1964''' that the brand new series starring William Hartnell was starting on Channel 3 on Sunday 17 May at 6.30pm!
+It was too late to inform some of the newspapers of the unexpected change to the forthcoming line-up, and as a result, several minor New South Wales publications, such as the ''Lithgow Mercury'', the ''Scone Advocate'' and the ''Canberra Times'' announced in their TV listing pages of their editions the week of '''16 May 1964''' that the brand new series starring William Hartnell was starting on Channel 3 on Sunday 17 May at 6.30pm! The Brisbane edition of ''TV Times'' and ''TV Week'' both list an untitled "Adventure" in the 6.30pm slot for '''31 May 1964'''; this replaced the locally made serial '''The Stranger''', which had concluded the previous week.
 These early TV listings themselves identified the first episode as '''"The Unearthly Child"''' [sic], and all featured the very same promotional image of Hartnell. The following week, some of the same papers printed listings for episode two, '''"The Cave of Sculls"''' [sic]. But by the following week, the ABC must have officially notified them of the changes to the schedules, and no further premature listings for "Dr Who" appeared in print.
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 It was offered to the ABC on '''21 May 1996''' and screened six weeks later. It had a "PG" rating. (The VHS tape was assessed and passed uncut by the AFCB on '''26 June 1996'''; it was given a "M/15+" rating. It wasn't issued to shops until November.)
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← Older revision		Revision as of 18:40, 7 October 2025
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	Australia was the '''third''' country to screen the movie.		Australia was the '''third''' country to screen the movie.

−	It was offered to the ABC on '''21 May 1996''' and screened six weeks later. (The VHS tape was assessed and passed uncut by the AFCB on '''26 June 1996'''; it wasn't issued to shops until November.)	+	It was offered to the ABC on '''21 May 1996''' and screened six weeks later. It had a "PG" rating. (The VHS tape was assessed and passed uncut by the AFCB on '''26 June 1996'''; it was given a "M/15+" rating. It wasn't issued to shops until November.)

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:06, 6 October 2025
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	Australia was the '''third''' country to screen the movie.		Australia was the '''third''' country to screen the movie.

−	It was offered to the ABC on '''21 May 1996''' and screened six weeks later. (The VHS tape was assessed and passed uncut by the AFCB on '''26 June 1996''; it wasn't issued to shops until November.)	+	It was offered to the ABC on '''21 May 1996''' and screened six weeks later. (The VHS tape was assessed and passed uncut by the AFCB on '''26 June 1996'''; it wasn't issued to shops until November.)

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 *The ABC had two copies of [[The Chase]] part one: as noted above, the scratched copy was saved from destruction in 1969/1970, and is currently held by a private collector. The broadcast copy was allocated for return in 1975.
 *In 1984, part 4 of [[The Celestial Toymaker]] was found at the ABC's Film Library at the now-demolished Gore Hill TV centre (see below). The other three episodes had presumably been junked prior to 1975, which is why they were not included in the 1975 bulk return.
-*The ABC also had two copies of [[The War Machines]] part two: as noted above, the never-aired unused scratched copy was saved from destruction in 1969/1970, and is currently held by a private collector. The collector supplied the BBC with a copy of his print in 1978 (via Ian Levine),thus becoming the first "missing episode" to be returned to the BBC.
+*The ABC also had two copies of [[The War Machines]] part two: as noted above, the never-aired unused scratched copy was saved from destruction in 1969/1970, and is currently held by a private collector. The collector supplied the BBC with a copy of his print in 1978 (via Ian Levine); this became the first "missing episode" to be returned to the BBC.
 *The precise final fates of [[The Massacre]], the rest of [[The Celestial Toymaker]], [[The Gunfighters]], [[The Savages]] and [[The War Machines]] are unknown, but since they were '''not''' part of the bulk return in 1975, in all likelihood they were disposed of long before then: [[The Gunfighters]] may have been sent to [[Singapore]] in late 1972 (since [[New Zealand]] did not have a copy to send with the rest of the season three serials that were dispatched to [[Singapore]]), while the other serials were probably destroyed by the ABC in 1973 or 1974, when the sales rights periods had expired and not been renewed by the BBC. (See note in the next '''Fate of the Prints''' section below regarding the expiry of sales rights.)
 **See '''Fate of the Prints''' in the Jon Pertwee section below for more comments about the disposal of film prints...
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 Australia was the '''third''' country to screen the movie.

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 **This happened a couple of times with '''Doctor Who''' – see the commentary below for known examples.
 [[File:ABCFFL.JPG|right|thumb|400px|ABC's Federal Film Library label]]
-*'''FILM LIBRARY''': Once a Certificate of Registration had been issued, and any cuts had been made, the films were placed into the Federal Film Library. The Library affixed new labels and film leaders to each print -- see the sample here. Also filed were "Film Library Catalogue" sheets, which consisted of a detailed synopsis of each episode; these were used to aid in compiling of newspaper and TV guide summaries, as well as providing ABC staff with a quick and ready overview of what each programme / episode was about. (The ABC'S Federal Film Library was initially located within the Gore Hill studio complex, but in mid-1971, when it was deemed that the Gore Hill site was too small, the Library was relocated into the same building where the Bond Store was. The Film Library later became the Video Tape Library. By the mid-1980s the ABC became responsible for its own in-house censorship, so the Bond Store was no longer necessary. The Film and VT Library remained at that site until 1992, when what was left of the dwindling contents was transferred to a smaller facility at the ABC's new studio complex at Ultimo in downtown Sydney.)
+*'''FILM LIBRARY''': Once a Certificate of Registration had been issued, and any cuts had been made, the ABC's films were placed into its Film Library – officially called the Federal Film Library. The Library affixed new labels and film leaders to each print -- see the sample here. Also filed were "Film Library Catalogue" sheets, which consisted of a detailed synopsis of each episode; these were used to aid in compiling of newspaper and TV guide summaries, as well as providing ABC staff with a quick and ready overview of what each programme / episode was about. (The ABC'S Federal Film Library was initially located within the Gore Hill studio complex, but in mid-1971, when it was deemed that the Gore Hill site was too small, the Library was relocated into the same building where the Bond Store was. The Film Library later became the Video Tape Library. By the mid-1980s the ABC became responsible for its own in-house censorship, so the Bond Store was no longer necessary. The Film and VT Library remained at that site until 1992, when what was left of the dwindling contents was transferred to a smaller facility at the ABC's new studio complex at Ultimo in downtown Sydney.)
 *'''PURCHASE''': Once a Certificate had been issued, and the ABC took possession of the films, it was at that stage that a programme was deemed to be "sold", and payment was made to the BBC, usually in increments paid out quarterly. This gave the ABC the rights to screen a programme by all regions within a (usually) three year period, with the right to extend that period if required (i.e. they wanted to repeat it if it was popular enough). (In the case of '''Doctor Who''', a single repeat was automatically built into the "three year" agreement.)
 *'''PRE-BROADCAST PREP''': Prior to being sent out for broadcast, most film prints underwent a final check and clean by the telecine department. New leaders would also be affixed if required.
 **On the odd occasion, it was during this preparatory stage that a film was found to be not up to broadcast standards due to scratches or other physical faults. If necessary, a replacement was requested to be sent. (This happened a couple of times with '''Doctor Who''' – see the commentary below for known examples.)
-**The ABC's presentation department sometimes made its own edits to the films, usually the removal of the "Next Episode" captions, since there were times that the serials were shown out of order (this was certainly the case with the episodes screened in 1966, and particularly so when stories were repeated during school holidays, which was often out of sequence and with long gaps between serials). (This editing is why [[The Celestial Toymaker]] part 4 is missing the "Next Episode" captions, and why the print of [[The Moonbase]] part 4 that exists in private hands no longer has the "Next Week The Macra Terror" caption.)
+**The ABC's presentation department sometimes made its own edits to the films, usually the removal of the "Next Episode" / "Next Week" caption from the last episode of a serial, since there were times that the serials were shown out of order (this was certainly the case with the episodes screened in 1966, and particularly so when stories were repeated during school holidays, which was often out of sequence and with long gaps between serials). (This editing is why [[The Celestial Toymaker]] part 4 is missing the "Next Episode" captions, and may explain why the print of [[The Moonbase]] part 4 that exists in private hands no longer has its "Next Week The Macra Terror" caption.)
 *'''REGIONAL BICYCLING''': Films (and later Video Tapes) were bicycled around the metropolitan regions (by air-freight; the ABC had a contract account with the airline TAA), and returned to the Library (usually by train) once the final station in line had screened them. The same process applied for any subsequent repeats.
 **'''DUPLICATION''': Films were copied onto 2 inch Quad Video Tape if they were required to be broadcast in more than one region on the same day, or less than two days apart. This came under a clause in the ABC's purchase agreement which gave them the '''"right to videotape for normal syndication"''' purposes.

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 *'''ACCEPTANCE''': When a series was approved and accepted, the BBC was advised of this. The BBC in London duly struck the remaining prints and had the consignment flown to Sydney.
 **NOTE: The above '''AUDITION''' steps did not apply to the ongoing receipt of episodes for series that the ABC had already acquired. All the following steps however did still apply to all existing programmes.
-*'''BOND STORE''': As noted above, programmes had to be registered and certified before they could be broadcast. With hundreds of films coming into Australia every week (that's films for the ABC, the other three TV networks and independent stations, plus all the cinema chains), they needed to be stored ''somewhere'' while waiting to be registered. All the Australian TV networks and the major cinema distributors ran their own "Bond Store", a facility in which to place all the "unregistered" films as they arrived into the country. (The ABC's Bond Store was housed in a building on the same street as their main studio complex in Gore Hill, North Sydney. Films that arrived at Sydney airport were transported directly to the Bond Store.)
+*'''BOND STORE''': As noted above, programmes had to be registered and certified before they could be broadcast. With hundreds of films coming into Australia every week (that's films for the ABC, the other three TV networks and independent stations, plus all the cinema chains), they needed to be stored ''somewhere'' while waiting to be registered. All the Australian TV networks and the major cinema distributors used a "Bond Store" in which to place all the "unregistered" films as they arrived into the country. (The ABC had its own Bond Store, which was housed in a building on the same street as their main studio complex in Gore Hill, North Sydney. The other TV networks used the services of independent Bond providers. Films that arrived at Sydney airport were transported directly to these Bond Stores.)
 [[File:ABCfilmstrip.JPG|thumb|right|100px|ABC film leader]]
 *'''CENSORSHIP''': The government's censorship department the AFCB was notified of all the films that arrived "in Bond". When they were ready to do so, the censorship board called up the films from Bond, these were delivered by a dedicated courier company to the censors' office in downtown Sydney, where they were scheduled and viewed by two members of the censorship team. An ABC liaison officer would travel into the city to sit in on these viewing sessions; while the censors were looking at the films in terms of providing a classification rating, the ABC assessor was viewing them for entertainment value and film quality. (If a liaison officer was not able to attend the same session, they would hold their own screening later at Gore Hill.)

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:18, 21 December 2016
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−	If this is indeed a true and accurate account of events, how has the figure of "300 approx" been arrived at? There were 253 Hartnell and Troughton episodes, plus 78 Pertwees on 16mm film, out of which 17 Hartnell episodes had been sent to [[New Zealand]] in 1967, and some Pertwees to [[Singapore]] in 1974, with the bulk sent to London in mid-1975, so that's less than 200. But as we've noted on the [[Australia TX 1965-1967]] page, there may have been two, three or four duplicates of certain stories within each Block of the first two Doctors alone, so taking that into consideration, a figure of 300 or so wouldn't be that far off the mark. There is also the fact that he recalls destroying that many personally, but of course he may not have been the only one charged with undertaking that particular task at that time and someone else destroyed all the others…	+	If this is indeed a true and accurate account of events, how has the figure of "300 approx" been arrived at? There were 253 Hartnell and Troughton episodes, plus 78 Pertwees on 16mm film, out of which 17 Hartnell episodes had been sent to [[New Zealand]] in 1967, and some Pertwees to [[Singapore]] in 1974, with the bulk sent to London in mid-1975, so that's less than 200!

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-Australia therefore bought '''all''' of the [[Peter Davison stories]]. [[The Five Doctors]] was supplied in its 90 minute version. (It has been often reported that the ABC co-funded the production of [[The Five Doctors]], howeverthe ABC had no financial input.)
+Australia therefore bought '''all''' of the [[Peter Davison stories]].
-The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes with English soundtracks. The BBC edited the original 50 minute episodes of [[Resurrection of the Daleks]] by cutting them in half at a convenient moment, creating 'new' cliffhangers, but without adding recaps. The Episode number captions were also removed:  Parts Two, Three and Four did not have 'number' captions.
+The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes with English soundtracks.
-The episodes were censored between March 1982 and April 1984, usually only a few months after completion of each season in the UK.
+*[[The Five Doctors]] was supplied in its 90 minute version. (It has been often reported that the ABC co-funded the production of [[The Five Doctors]], however the ABC had no financial input into this story.)

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-'''AUSTRALIA'''
+'''[[Australia|AUSTRALIA]]'''
 {{TOC right}}
-This page details the '''Doctor Who''' serials purchased by Australian broadcasters between '''1964''' and '''1997''':
+This page details the '''Doctor Who''' serials purchased by [[Australia|Australian broadcasters]] between '''1964''' and '''1997''':
 ==STORIES BOUGHT and BROADCAST==
-The BBC offered the series to the ABC, which had first-refusal on all BBC productions over the other Australian television networks. By '''March 1964''', the broadcaster had purchased the rights to the first batch of stories, with the provision for a first screening (across all regions), plus a repeat (across all regions). All subsequent repeats were renegotiated, usually with the provision of two screenings across all regions.
+The BBC offered the series to the ABC, which had first-refusal on all BBC productions over the other [[Australia|Australian]] television networks. By '''March 1964''', the broadcaster had purchased the rights to the first batch of stories, with the provision for a first screening (across all regions), plus a repeat (across all regions). All subsequent repeats were renegotiated, usually with the provision of two screenings across all regions.
 Of the 158 '''Doctor Who''' stories made from 1963 to 1989, there have been nine that did not air in Australia during first-run screenings in the 1960s and 1970s. These nine are: