Doctor Who in Australia - Censorship

Censorship

All overseas imported films had to be checked and rated by the Australian censors, so all stories were viewed by them, prior to purchase by the ABC. At this point some Doctor Who episodes failed to obtain a clearance for a pre 7pm timeslot, so they were not purchased by the ABC (such as The Daleks' Master Plan). Although, a few stories, such as the first two Dalek stories, despite being rated "A" (for Adult), were run in the first batch in 1965 because the ABC had initially scheduled the series to run after the national 7 PM news, so these stories were allowed to be screened at 7.30 PM. But they could not be repeated, as the ABC subsequently shifted the series from this later slot to the more family oriented time of 6.30 PM. In addition, stories could be accepted by the censors, but only if certain scenes, or even brief shots, were deleted. The issue of "A" rating again became a problem with the Jon Pertwee era and several stories were not screened as a result, e.g. The Ambassadors of Death, Inferno, The Dæmons, and The Mind of Evil). Only a few Tom Baker stories were thus rejected in full, such as The Deadly Assassin, and The Brain of Morbius. All were later re-rated and screened in the 1980s when the decision on these issues was decentralised down to the ABC, which passed these items. Some broadcast delays being due more to poor quality videotapes (sourced from countries with differing video format, such as the USA), or to episode availability in black and white only (having originally been filmed in colour). In many cases some of the cuts now seem utterly inconsequential, and it is hard to imagine why anyone was bothered, but they stand as a testament to changing community values over the decades.

In 1996, about 25 minutes worth of some very short censored black and white 16mm film clips were recovered from the National Archive vaults, snipped by the censor from a variety of 1960s episodes, these cut portions of 16mm film had not been in the hands of the ABC, and had been impounded by the Australian censors.