Dr Who - standing the test of time

Matt Smith attends the preview screening of the first episode of the new series of Dr Who at BFI...
Matt Smith attends the preview screening of the first episode of the new series of Dr Who at BFI Southbank in London last month. (Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images)
New Zealand was the first country outside the United Kingdom to screen Doctor Who.

The show was broadcast in full black and white to a decent, hard-working and thin-lipped nation with one television station from September 1964.

Black and white!

Doctor Who premiered in the United Kingdom the day after John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

The very next day!

The most recent version of Doctor Who is broadcast weekly in about 50 countries, including Bulgaria.

Bulgaria! Where is that?

What do Bulgarians think of Doctor Who?

In Latin America, the original series was known as Doctor Misterio, and was shown in Venezuela from 1967.

1967!

In Croatia it is broadcast on Hrvatska radiotelevizija, or Croatian RadioTelevision, which also broadcasts the popular Croatian show Ples sa zvijezdama (Dancing with the Stars) on a Saturday.

Ples sa zvijezdama!

All these are very interesting facts about a show that comes back to Prime with the 11th Doctor in episode 1 of the seventh series of the rejigged version on Thursday.

Asylum of the Daleks features the really quite good Matt Smith as a foppish sort of Doctor.

Incredibly, there is a Matt Smith in both the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, and the Tasmanian state parliament.

They are probably different people, to be fair, but that is quite the coincidence.

As most of you will know, the Daleks were originally Kaleds from the planet Skaro, mutated by the scientist Davros and housed in tank-like mechanical armour.

The Doctor has never had a good relationship with the Daleks, and in Asylum, he is kidnapped by his old foes.

He is "acquired" by a blonde woman in a hooded robe and high-heeled boots, who, despite the kinky outfit, initially claims she has escaped from a Dalek prison camp.

''Ha ha ha," replies the Doctor.

''No-one escapes the Dalek camps."

He is, of course, correct.

No-one escapes the Dalek camps.

Our blonde friend's head develops a large hole, through which a Dalek eye protrudes, and a Dalek stun gun emerges from her arm.

Before you can say "exterminate", the Doctor and his two friends, Amy and Rory, are whisked through time and space to a Dalek flying saucer, and hauled before the Dalek Parliament.

Yes, the Daleks have a Parliament.

They also have a prime minister, having clearly (and surprisingly) used the New Zealand parliamentary system as a model for their own.

The adventures begin, in a series that promises our heroes saving a spaceship full of dinosaurs, and a race against time through the streets of Manhattan.

This is clearly the stuff of television legend.


- Charles Loughrey.

 

Add a Comment