Doctor Who in Australia

Doctor Who in Australia refers to the Australian history and culture around the British Broadcasting Corporation science fiction programme Doctor Who. In many understated ways Australians have had many links to the series from its origins. Two Australian writers played key roles in the gestation of the whole series, C.E. "Bunny" Webber, and Anthony Coburn, who worked on the pre-production and first story, and the iconic Doctor Who theme music, was written by an Australian musician Ron Grainer. This theme has been used (with variations) in every series to date (bar the films), was copied by disco bands, and can be heard from time to time as uncredited background for a variety of programmes to make a point. One-time Australian Ballet composer, Dudley Simpson, wrote the incidental music for a great number of stories in the 1960s and 1970s. Janet Fielding played the popular companion, Tegan, in the 1980s. Outside the production itself, the Australian Broadcasting Commission was one of the first and longest term purchasers of the series from the BBC from its beginning, initially planning to screen the series in May 1964, within months of the UK premiere. The ABC later put up production money for an anniversary special The Five Doctors (1983), and organised a nationwide promotional tour by the then current Doctor, Tom Baker in 1979. Australia was also a key market for the many products licensed by BBC Enterprises, and the success of the series in Australia was an important factor in the worldwide penetration of the series. Generally speaking many other English-language countries in the Asia-Pacific bought whatever episodes the ABC had cleared for its use, and BBC Enterprises' office for the entire region was in Sydney and dealt with the censors and marketing. It was one of the largest English speaking countries to regularly purchase the series until a variety of local networks in the United States began regular screenings in the 1980s. Refer to the main article for details on the series itself.