New Chains

The Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee Junkings – Updated 2026

There are potentially dozens of different paths the film prints of the William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee stories could have taken as they were bicycled from country to country over the years.

These tables summarise a fresh series of possible and potential distribution paths taken by groups of consecutive stories, using a scientific approach taking into account some of the available "film traffic" information, research into distribution methods (see Bicycling Chains Introduction) – with a smattering of educated guesswork! (The first version of this page is here.)

(This is just our latest take (of several so far!) using the available information that's to hand – what is presented here could be hopelessly wrong, but it's been a fun exercise nevertheless.)

We have tried to keep each "chain" as simple as possible without resorting to the complicated exchange of different countries supplying different stories to different recipients; generally, the same grouping of consecutive stories would have been bicycled from the same provider to the same recipient, as opposed to stories being split up and sent to different recipients.

• We've arranged each series of chains with the same "first country" as a separate table to make it easier to view
• Stations that had TIE Ltd as programme distributor probably did bicycle films solely within that network
• Notes relating to the "analysis" and thought process behind how these chains have been tabulated are at the bottom of this page and on the Bicycling Chains introduction page.

NOTE: In some of these bicycling sequences, the films may have been sent back to the BBC first - particularly those being moved out of Singapore and sent on to Africa - so any damaged or missing films could be replaced before being dispatched to the next country.

FIRST PRODUCTION BLOCK (SEASON ONE)

Suppressed Field Film-recordings

• All the stories from the first production block – An Unearthly Child to The Dalek Invasion of Earth (at least) - were film-recorded onto 16mm film using the Suppressed Field method. For some of these, the recordings were made during the actual live transmission on the BBC. For others, the copies were made from the Video Tapes several days later. (There is no clear pattern as to which stories / episodes were done "live" and which were filmed later; it was probably down to if and when the film-recording equipment was available.)
• Most of the countries that only aired Season One serials also acquired The Rescue as the final story. That Season Two 2-parter was probably only ever telerecorded as Stored Field (see below). But we’ve included it here along with the Suppressed episodes as it was part of the same sales package.

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Australia	A---B---C---D---E---F---G	Most of these episodes were junked or destroyed by July 1976 Two episodes of E are held by an Australian film collector
Australia --- New Zealand	H---J---K plus L	H and J were both destroyed in NZ in 1971 L was Stored Field – see below (we've included it here as these four serials were sent to New Zealand as a single batch Other episodes junked in late 1974 (buried in a landfill in Wellington)	K did not screen in New Zealand

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
New Zealand --- (Denmark)	A---B---C	Sent to Denmark in 1968 as Audition Prints	Did not screen in Denmark

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Canada	A---B---C---D---E		The CBC used kinescope duplicates of the episodes for broadcasting by some of the remote stations These low grade copies would likely have been destroyed It's possible that the original prints were bicycled to Trinidad, Bermuda or Ghana – see below

OR

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Canada --- Ghana	A---B---C---D---E		As an alternative to the above chain, it's possible that the original CBC prints were bicycled to Ghana simply because both only ever aired these 26 episodes

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Singapore --- Hong Kong --- Thailand	A---B---C F---G---H---J---K plus L		A Suppressed Field print of H part 1 was sold on eBay in 2012; markings on the metal film can (assuming it was the original can) are very similar to those on cans that have been also been returned from Hong Kong. Is that print of H therefore from this chain? (Of note, the aluminium can is very similar to the type of can that the NZ print of D part 7 was kept in; were metal cans being used by the BBC in 1966 when these two serials were in circulation?)
Singapore --- New Zealand --- (Iran)	D	Episodes one and two only sent to Iran in 1967 as Audition Prints Other episodes junked in NZ in late 1974 (buried in a landfill in Wellington) (although the film can for part 7 was retained)	D did not screen in Iran Did Iran send them for Audition in another Middle East country?
Singapore	E

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Gibraltar --- Aden --- Trinidad --- Bermuda --- Jamaica --- Barbados	A---B---C---D---E		Sold by TIE Ltd
Gibraltar --- Aden --- Trinidad --- Jamaica --- Barbados	F---G---H---J---K plus L		Sold by TIE Ltd?

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Rhodesia --- Zambia --- Uganda	A---B---C---D---E---F---G----H---J---K plus L		The episodes aired twice in Zambia

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Malta --- Cyprus	A---B---C		Cyprus sent these episodes somewhere as Audition Prints? Or they were destroyed during the 1974 civil war?
(Cyprus) --- Uganda	A---B---C		Cyprus sent these films to Uganda, but since UTV had already aired them, it's possible that the films were destined for another country in Africa with Uganda merely the intermediary in the delivery process Cyprus may have received a set of these stories as Audition Prints, and sent to Uganda unaired, then got another set of the same three stories from Malta at a later date
Malta --- Cyprus --- Hong Kong --- Thailand	D---E		We’ve noted on the Hong Kong page that RTV may have expected to get D from Singapore, but since that serial had gone instead to New Zealand, HK's prints were sourced from Europe
Malta --- Cyprus	F---G---H	Some films destroyed during 1974 civil war Episodes from F, G, H discovered in Cyprus and returned to the BBC in 1984	H did not screen in Cyprus
Malta	J---K plus L

IF Northern Nigeria did have an internal bicycling network:

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Nigeria	A---B---C---D---E---F---G---H---J---K plus L	Are these the prints that were destroyed in 1997? (see note below)	Prints were retained to be bicycled within Northern Nigeria

• It has been reported that an African TV station contacted the BBC in 1997 asking what to do with episodes of Doctor Who. After establishing that what was held was from seasons one and two, the unhelpful receptionist told the caller that the episodes were not wanted and to destroy them. It's not known which country this was, but Nigeria and Ethiopia are two of the likely candidates. (In "Wiped!", Richard Molesworth offers that it was Nigeria.)

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Kenya --- Mauritius --- Sierra Leone	A---B---C---D---E
Kenya	F---G---H---J---K plus L

IF Northern Nigeria didn't have an internal bicycling network:

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Nigeria --- Kenya --- Mauritius --- Sierra Leone	A---B---C---D---E		Sold in part by TIE Ltd?
Nigeria --- Kenya	F---G---H---J---K plus L

• A Suppressed print of The Daleks part five was held at the BBC's film studios until late 1972 or early 1973 when it was "permanently borrowed" (along with a print of The Daleks' Master Plan part 2 (see below). If this was a print that had been returned from overseas, there are only a few "last in the chain" locations that it could have come from (Mauritius or Thailand?)

SEASON TWO

Stored Field Film-recordings (English)

• All the stories of the second production block – starting with The Rescue - were telerecorded using the superior Stored Field (aka Fast Pull-down) method.
• Around this time, the BBC also took the opportunity to replace the Suppressed Field film-recordings of the First Production Block episodes (see above) with new Stored Field negatives. Some stories had a "new" negative made without an optical or magnetic soundtrack -- i.e. a mute print -- which may have been done in preparation for mixing in "Music / Effects" tracks for potential sales to Spanish and / or Arabic speaking countries (see below), which ultimately never eventuated). (Some of the season three serials which already existed as Stored Field recordings also had backup negatives made; The War Machines had a "2nd neg" created in May 1968.)

• If the replacement Stored prints were introduced into the bicycling system during late 1967, it's unlikely that the Suppressed prints already being used within an established chain were intercepted and replaced with Stored prints while still in transit between countries. Therefore, only those countries at the start of a chain receiving a set package of stories would have received the new Stored prints. The only chains where that would be the case are the Caribbean chain (but only with a partial set), and Africa (which was the only "new" chain to potentially receive a full set)
• Having said that, if films were bicycled via London, the BBC had the opportunity to replace the Suppressed Fields with Stored Fields during that step

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Australia	M---N---P---Q---R---S	Most of these prints were returned to the BBC in 1975 or destroyed by July 1976 It's possible that the prints of Q episode 1 and S episodes 1,2,3 that were found in the possession of a collector in the early 1980s came from this batch An unused scratched print of R episode one was saved from incineration in Australia in late 1969/early 1970 by a film collector (along with prints from BB and KK – see below)

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Mauritius --- Sierra Leone	F---G---H---J---K---L---M---N---P---Q---R---S	All episodes were apparently returned to the BBC in 1974	Sold by TIE Ltd? Mauritius aired the stories out of order, perhaps in the order in which they received the replacement Stored Field prints from the BBC? Sierra Leone did not screen K, although they may have received the prints with the others Mauritius did not screen R, although they may have received the prints with the others Mauritius sent the films back to the BBC The existing Stored Field print of part 3 of P (held in 1976) may be from this batch Could the existing prints of S be from Sierra Leone?

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Singapore --- New Zealand	M---N---P---Q	P was junked in late 1974. The film print of part one was salvaged, and returned to the BBC in 1999 Other episodes junked in late 1974 (buried in a landfill in Wellington)	Hong Kong did not get M to S probably because Singapore had already sent them to New Zealand, and none of the African countries had aired them yet N and P did not screen in New Zealand
Singapore --- New Zealand --- Nigeria	S	New Zealand sent the films to Nigeria in 1973 Films discovered in Nigeria, and returned to the BBC in 1984	It's worth noting that since New Zealand supplied the prints of S, it's most likely that by 1973 none of the previous broadcasters in Africa still had it or the BBC didn't want any sets split up – i.e. the set held by Sierra Leone
Singapore	R

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Gibraltar --- Zambia	M---N---P---Q---R---S	Zambia TV was checked in 2008, and it no longer held the episodes	Sold by TIE Ltd? The episodes aired twice in Zambia

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Nigeria	M---N---P---Q---R---S		This sale was to a different station that later aired S supplied by New Zealand above

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
(Jamaica) --- Barbados --- Jamaica --- Ethiopia	M---P---Q---R		Sold by TIE Ltd? Jamaica aired M before Barbados, but Barbados aired N (see below), P, Q, R and S (below) before Jamaica; it's possible JBC received the films first and sent them on ahead to CBC, who then sent them back to JBC

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Barbados --- Jamaica --- Ethiopia --- Nigeria	N	Discovered in Nigeria, and returned to the BBC in 1985 Some of the prints of The Web Planet returned from Nigeria still had the BBC's VT clock on the leader; this does suggest they were supplied directly by the BBC in 1973, since the majority of prints sent overseas had the VT clock strip removed and replaced with a fresh leader by one of the broadcasters. That these prints retained the clock and not a leader from another broadcaster does strongly suggest that they were not copies that had been bicycled into Nigeria from another country. (But if they had been bicycled from elsewhere, then Ethiopia would be the likely source, as shown in the table.)

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Barbados --- Jamaica	S		Sold by TIE Ltd? S didn't screen in Ethiopia

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Ethiopia	A---B---C---D---E---F---G---H---J---K---L		Sold by TIE Ltd? Given the late sale (in 1970), Ethiopia may be the only English-speaking country to receive all the Season 1 episodes as Stored Field prints

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Iran	(K---L)---N---Q---R	NIRTV was contacted a few years ago, and they confirm the films are no longer held	D had also been sent by New Zealand in 1967 as an unaired Audition copy NIRTV in Iran may have received serials A to L dubbed into Arabic Although they don't speak that language, the dubbed films may have bicycled within the Middle East. It's possible NIRTV also received these episodes in English since it was a dual-language broadcaster

Stored Field Film-recordings (Dubbed)

• In early 1967, the BBC offered a selection of season one and two Doctor Who serials to Spanish-speaking countries. It commissioned dialogue-free Music / Effects only audio tracks, which were created by early 1966 by Eddie Montague (who is interviewed here). And to create new prints without the English soundtracks the BBC struck fresh film-recordings using the superior Stored Field method. A smaller package of the same episodes was later supplied to Arabic countries

SPANISH DUBS

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Venezuela --- Chile --- (Dominican Republic?) --- Costa Rica	A---B---C---E---F---G---J---K---L---N---Q---R	Possibly returned to the BBC between 1973 and 1976 (to account for the handful of Spanish prints held by the BBC at that time, and later found in the possession of film collectors)	Prints from negatives dubbed into Spanish in Mexico R didn't screen in Venezuela; the prints may have entered the bicycling chain at Chile Films may have been sent to Dominican Republic before the sale was "cancelled"

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Mexico	A---B---C---E---F---G---J---K---L---N---Q---R		Prints from negatives dubbed into Spanish in Mexico

ARABIC DUBS

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Tunisia --- Iran	A1---B---C---E---F---G---J	NIRTV was contacted a few years ago, and they confirm the films are no longer held	Prints from negatives dubbed into Arabic in Lebanon Only 23 of the 29 episodes screened in Tunisia Although they don't speak Arabic in Iran, these dubbed films may have bicycled within the Middle East. It's possible NIRTV also received these episodes in English since it was a dual-language broadcaster

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Morocco --- Algeria	A1---B---C---E---F---G---J---K---L	Possibly returned to the BBC before 1976 (to account for the full set of Arabic prints held by the BBC at that time) Arabic print of F part four (with Morocco TV label) junked, but salvaged by film collector	Prints from negatives dubbed into Arabic in Lebanon

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Saudi Arabia --- Jordan --- Libya	A1---B---C---E---F---G---J---K---L	Prints likely "lost" during September 1969 Libyan Revolution	Prints from negatives dubbed into Arabic in Lebanon

SEASONS THREE -- FOUR -- FIVE -- SIX

• All the serials from these four seasons were film-recorded using the Stored Field method during their BBC transmission (although some may have been recorded from VT on a later date)
• Prints of Mission to the Unknown and The Daleks' Master Plan were despatched to Australia in early 1966 along with the first couple of serials from Season 3. It's doubtful that the BBC would have pre-struck another set of prints intended for a subsequent sale so early on, especially without the confirmed first sale from Australia. And with the censorship issues in Australia arising in September 1966, and the subsequent arrangement with Terry Nation to withdraw all Dalek serials around that same time, again it's doubtful that the BBC would have struck any additional prints until both issues had been satisfactorily resolved. (As it transpired, the censorship problems did not get resolved at all, but the block on sales of Dalek stories was lifted by the end of 1967, by which time it was too late (and therefore too expensive!) to sell The Daleks' Master Plan to anywhere else as part of the Season 3 package.)
• A print of The Daleks' Master Plan episode 2 was held at the BBC's film studios in Ealing until late 1972 or early 1973 when it was "permanently borrowed". The BBC also still held prints of episodes 3 and 4 at that time, and episodes 5 and 10 turned up in 1983. (These may well have been the Australian prints, assuming the episodes had been returned to the BBC soon after it had been "rejected" by the ABC in mid-1967.)
• The BBC still had a complete set of prints of The Tenth Planet in 1973. Part 4 "disappeared" soon after it had been borrowed by Blue Peter, with only the other three still held in 1976. Unlike the case with Mission to the Unknown and The Daleks' Master Plan above, it's possible that this set of prints was struck to be included in the package of episodes sold to Barbados in mid-1967. But because The Power of the Daleks had been withdrawn from sale in 1966, The Tenth Planet was probably also pulled from sale and the "unsold" Barbados prints held "on the shelf" until such time as the restriction on Daleks was removed. When The Tenth Planet was re-issued for sale again in 1968 and sold to New Zealand, the BBC may have overlooked that it had a set prepared earlier (see what we did there?!) and sent a fresh set to NZ. Although, a far simpler explanation is that the three surviving prints are the ones returned from Singapore!

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Australia	T---T/A---U---V---W---X---Y---AA---BB--- CC---DD---EE---FF---GG---HH---JJ---KK---LL--- MM---NN---OO---PP---QQ---RR---SS--- TT---UU---VV---WW XX---YY---ZZ [see note 3 below]	Most of the films were returned to the BBC in 1975 or 1976; those that weren't returned were destroyed or junked prior to 1975 (see note [2] below) Y episode four was retained in error by the ABC, and returned to the BBC in 1984 An unused scratched print of BB episode two and a print of KK episode one were saved from incineration in Australia circa late 1969/early 1970 (along with a print from R -- see above) One of the two copies of HH episode 4 that exist is missing the "Next Week: The Macra Terror" caption. The print of T part 3 and Y episode 4 that were ex-ABC are also missing their "Next Episode" captions. Is this print of HH therefore from the ABC? Episode three of T and episode two of GG were junked by the BBC shortly after their return from Australia, but salvaged in the early 1980s, and subsequently returned to the BBC in 2011 All the prints of TT were retained by the BBC; they were given to the BFI in 1978, but copies were obtained, and later used in US syndication and for the VHS release	T/A and V did not screen The print of V episode 2 "borrowed" in 1973 and recovered in 2004 may be from the rejected Australian set The prints of V episodes 5 and 10 recovered in 1983 may be from the rejected Australian set (see the Mormon Mystery) The prints of DD episode 2 and NN episode 2 that were found in the possession of a film collector in the early 1980s may be from this batch Are the prints of KK part 3 and LL part 2 found in 1987 from this chain? Some of the prints from XX, YY and ZZ may have been sent by the BBC to Zambia in 1976 (see note [3] below) Did PP 6 end up in Taiwan?
Australia --- Singapore	Z		An alternative is that Singapore's prints of Z were supplied directly from BBC London, and is why the negatives survived being purged in 1974. Or, the prints were perhaps ones prepared for but not purchased by New Zealand?

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Barbados --- Zambia --- Sierra Leone	T---U---W---X---Y---Z---AA---BB---CC	All episodes were returned to the BBC in 1974	Sold by TIE Ltd? See note [1] below

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
New Zealand --- Singapore	T---U---W---X---Y---AA---CC---DD---EE		NZ sent to Singapore in two separate batches in 1972 Hong Kong didn't acquire this same back-catalogue probably because there were no further Minor Commonwealth "quota" sales remaining The prints of DD that the BBC held in late 1973 may have been returned from Singapore
New Zealand --- Singapore --- Nigeria	BB	NZ sent to Singapore in 1972 Singapore sent to Nigeria in 1973 Discovered in Nigeria, and returned to the BBC in 1985
New Zealand	LL---MM---NN---OO---PP---QQ---RR---SS	Other episodes destroyed or junked by the end of 1974 (buried in a landfill in Wellington)	OO and RR did not screen

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Germany	OO		These may have been on video tape rather than film prints This story was viewed as an Audition in May 1968 (although not necessarily in Germany) If the film/s were sent only to Germany, then back to the BBC, they may be the ones subsequently sent to Hong Kong (see below)

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Uganda --- New Zealand	FF---GG---HH---JJ---KK	KK returned by NZ to the BBC in 1970 (Are the existing prints of parts 1 and 3 from this return?) Other episodes destroyed or junked by the end of 1974 (buried in a landfill in Wellington) (although the film can for HH part three was retained)	EE and LL were not available to Uganda; the former had been withdrawn from sale and the latter had not yet been purchased by Australia Did Zambia receive a damaged print of KK episode 3 from Hong Kong, and received a replacement via New Zealand? Is the print of KK part one held by the BBC also from Zambia, or is it the one returned from New Zealand?

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Singapore --- Hong Kong --- Zambia	FF---GG---HH---JJ---KK	Zambia TV did not have any BBC material when it was checked in 2008	EE had been withdrawn from sale, hence it was not part of this package; LL was not yet available Zambia may have received replacements prints of KK from New Zealand, which is why the serial aired much later than the rest of the season Zambia's prints of GG ep 3, HH eps 2 and 4 and KK eps 1 and 3 may be the ones that exist today
Hong Kong --- Singapore	LL		Is this the print of The Evil of the Daleks part 2 found in 1987?
(Hong Kong) --- Singapore --- Hong Kong	MM	MM discovered in Hong Kong, and returned to the BBC in 1992	To account for the out of sequence screening, it's very likely that Hong Kong sent MM to Singapore unaired, and RTS sent it back to Hong Kong. Hong Kong may have accidentally retained the films until 1991 because they were recorded as being sent to Singapore!
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- Gibraltar --- Zambia --- Nigeria (x2)	NN---PP---QQ	PP and QQ (but not ep 3) discovered in Nigeria, and returned to the BBC in 2013	Gibraltar received UU to CCC before it received NN to TT and EEE to OOO The recovered print of QQ episode 5 had the words "COPY B" written on it; Hong Kong was indeed the second country after Australia to screen that story = "B" could mean "second print" struck One of the existing film cans for QQ has markings on it which record that the film prints were examined by the RTS in Singapore on 6 May 1970 NN, PP, and QQ were sold to RKTV in 1974, and PP and QQ (and possibly also NN) were then sent to BPTV in 1975
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- Gibraltar --- Zambia	OO		Are the prints of OO found in 1988 from this chain? (Those films, plus empty can for RR part 6, had "Cutting Copy" labels, but they may have been put on after their return from overseas.)
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- (Gibraltar) --- Nigeria --- Gibraltar	SS		If the films were sent from Singapore to the BBC first (1970/71) that could explain where the print of SS part 3 that was found in 1973 came from; a replacement copy had been struck before the story was sent to Gibraltar in 1973 The films for SS may have been sent to Gibraltar first, but were "borrowed" by Nigeria (screened in mid-1973) then returned to Gibraltar (to be screened in late 1973) Alternatively, they went directly to Nigeria first, then to Gibraltar
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- Gibraltar	RR		Gibraltar received UU to CCC before it received NN to TT and EEE to OOO These films were likely all sent back to the BBC once Gibraltar had aired them; the sadly empty film can for part 6 of RR was later found in 1988
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- {Gibraltar}	UU---VV--WW---XX---YY---ZZ		Gibraltar received UU to CCC before it received NN to TT and EEE to OOO Some but not all of these went back to the BBC, and some of those then went to Gibraltar Those that didn't go back may have been the prints later found in Taiwan?
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- {Gibraltar --- Nigeria}	TT		Some but not all of these went back to the BBC The print of TT 5 that was found in 1983, but dated back to 1971, might have been the Hong Kong/Singapore copy that was returned in 1971; it was a replacement that was sent to Gibraltar Some of these may have been the prints later found in Taiwan?

The tables below allow for the possibility that the Season Six stories sent to Gibraltar were supplied by one of three methods:

• A - Brand new films, perhaps all or some originally struck for New Zealand
• B - Films that had been bicycled in from Singapore
• C - a combination of A and B - i.e. only some films had been struck in advance for NZ, and the ones that hadn't been were supplied by Singapore

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
{Singapore} --- Gibraltar	UU---VV		Was TIE Ltd still involved in sales by this point? Gibraltar received UU to CCC before it received NN to TT and EEE to OOO The season six serials may have been originally intended for New Zealand but forwarded instead to Gibraltar Some but not all of these may have come from Singapore Some of the season six film prints may have been struck in anticipation of a sale to New Zealand but these were instead set to Gibraltar. Any prints not struck in advance were freshly made for the sale to Gibraltar One of the prints of VV that exists today apparently had a NZBC leader on it; was this a spare leader from a different film print that had been sent from New Zealand and which was put on the VV print by the GBC? Are these existing prints from this chain? These most likely went back to the BBC
{Singapore} --- Gibraltar --- Nigeria	TT---WW		Was TIE Ltd still involved in sales by this point? Some but not all of these may have come from Singapore Some of the season six film prints may have been struck in anticipation of a sale to New Zealand but these were instead set to Gibraltar. Any prints not struck in advance were freshly made for the sale to Gibraltar Those that didn't go back may have been the prints later found in Taiwan?
{Singapore} --- Gibraltar --- Zambia	XX---YY---ZZ		Was TIE Ltd still involved in sales by this point? Gibraltar received UU to CCC before it received NN to TT and EEE to OOO Some but not all of these may have come from Singapore Some of the season six film prints may have been struck in anticipation of a sale to New Zealand but these were instead set to Gibraltar. Any prints not struck in advance were freshly made for the sale to Gibraltar Those that didn't go back may have been the prints later found in Taiwan? Are some of these prints the ones held by the BBC in 1976? (see note [2] below)

SEASONS SEVEN -- EIGHT -- NINE -- TEN -- ELEVEN

• All the serials from these five seasons were telerecorded as 16mm black and white prints using the superior Stored Field method

• Gibraltar received AAA, BBB and CCC at the same time as UU through ZZ
• A damaged print of an episode of CCC apparently exists, but the origin of this print is unknown

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Australia --- New Zealand	AAA---BBB	AAA and BBB were sent to New Zealand as Audition Prints in mid-1974 TVNZ returned the prints of AAA and BBB (albeit with censor cuts) to the BBC in 1984
Australia	CCC---DDD EEE---FFF---GGG---HHH---JJJ KKK---MMM---NNN---OOO SSS---TTT	Some of these films prints were returned to the BBC in 1975 (they may have later been sent to Saudi Arabia?)	DDD, FFF, JJJ, TTT, did not screen The prints of PPP episodes 1,2,3 that were found in the possession of a UK film collector in the early 1980s were probably from this batch
Australia --- Gibraltar	LLL---RRR---PPP---QQQ---UUU		Australia acquired UUU on b/w film and colour Video Tape; the film was never used LLL aired very late and out of sequence in Gibraltar; this may have been because the films supplied from Singapore (see below) were unusable or delayed - or didn't show up in time Australia likely supplied the b/w films of UUU to Gibraltar because Singapore was no longer buying the series and Hong Kong had acquired the story on colour video tape only, effectively shutting down the same supply line to Gibraltar, per the Singapore / Hong Kong to Gibraltar chains that follow

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Hong Kong --- Singapore --- Gibraltar	AAA---BBB---CCC [but see below] EEE---GGG---HHH KKK---MMM---(LLL)---NNN---OOO		After Singapore aired AAA to CCC, it acquired a "back-catalogue" package of T to EE from New Zealand to fill in the schedules before it aired EEE onwards LLL might not have arrived in time, or was unusable, so Gibraltar got a new set from Australia? Did CCC 1 and 3 end up in Taiwan? See note [2] below
Singapore --- Hong Kong	RRR---PPP---QQQ---SSS		See note [2] below

As it was for Season Six above, the table below allows for the possibility that the three Season Seven stories sent to Gibraltar were supplied by one of three methods:

• A - Brand new films, perhaps all or some originally intended for New Zealand
• B - Films that had been bicycled in from Singapore
• C - a combination of A and B - i.e. only some films had been struck in advance for NZ, and the ones that hadn't been were supplied by Singapore

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
{Hong Kong --- Singapore} --- Gibraltar	AAA---BBB---CCC

Countries in Bicycling Group	Group of Stories	Proven Final Fate/s	Notes
Lebanon --- Saudi Arabia --- Qatar?	AAA		NOTE: It's not clear whether AAA aired in Qatar in b/w or in colour; if the former, they would likely have been supplied from Saudi Arabia
Lebanon --- Saudi Arabia --- Bangladesh	CCC---DDD---EEE		Films may have also had English soundtracks, hence they were sent to Bangladesh DDD and EEE did not screen in Lebanon
Saudi Arabia	FFF---HHH---JJJ MMM---LLL---NNN---OOO (RRR)---QQQ---SSS		Some of these films may have been ones returned from Australia Sale of RRR cancelled; did not screen in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia --- Lebanon	BBB
Saudi Arabia --- Bangladesh	GGG
Saudi Arabia --- Qatar?	KKK---PPP		NOTE: It's not clear whether Qatar got films or PAL tapes; if the former, they would likely have been supplied from Saudi Arabia

• As noted on the 1974 Recall page, a batch of episodes was returned to the BBC in 1981/1982, and despite the "do not destroy" order on them, they were junked. It's possible that those returns were Pertwees from the Middle East, since the screenings of the b/w Pertwees had concluded by 1979 and were not part of the 1974 recall.

General Summary

WILLIAM HARTNELL STORIES

Keeping the bicycling routes as simple as possible, if we assume that country X generally always supplied country Y with its prints, then:

• Australia – always had its own prints, and returned all but a few to the BBC in 1975
• Countries in West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone) and those in East Africa (Rhodesia, Zambia, Mauritius and Ethiopia) likely shared prints from time to time; of note, Nigeria acquired The War Machines from Singapore and The Time Meddler from New Zealand in 1973; Sierra Leone still had its prints of both serials at that time (they weren't returned to the BBC until 1974), so it does raise the question as to why Nigeria didn't source those two serials from closer to home! (One likely answer is that the BBC didn't want to split up Sierra Leone's holdings, as it may have planned to further sell those episodes as a complete set elsewhere; the Singapore and NZ prints were already from broken sets and therefore could be sent to Nigeria.)
• The New Zealand censors classified the season three episodes between May and July 1968, which was before or during the broadcasts in Barbados and Zambia, so New Zealand's prints cannot have been sourced from either of those countries
• It's a matter of recorded fact that New Zealand sent its prints to Singapore in 1972; since New Zealand did not have The Gunfighters, Singapore's prints of that must have been supplied from elsewhere else (Australia?) or from the BBC

PATRICK TROUGHTON STORIES

Keeping the bicycling routes as simple as possible, if we assume that country X generally always supplied country Y with its prints, even after an interim period of several years, then:

• Australia – always had its own prints, and returned all but a few to the BBC in 1975
• New Zealand – bicycled in as well as acquired fresh sets of prints. It had disposed of most of its prints by the end of 1974
• Hong Kong and Singapore always shared prints; a number of them may have ended up in Africa; in fact, it does appear that it was deliberate that the "Asian" prints eventually made their way to Africa and/or Gibraltar, bringing them closer to 'home' for the inevitable "recall" to London

JON PERTWEE STORIES

Keeping the bicycling routes as simple as possible, if we assume that country X generally always supplied country Y with its prints, even after an interim period of several years, then:

• Australia – always had its own prints, and likely returned all but a few to the BBC by 1975, when colour broadcasts commenced
• Hong Kong and Singapore always shared prints

NOTES

• [1] – Barbados and Zambia either shared the same prints OR, they had their own set of prints. (There's also the important factor that Barbados had TIE Ltd as its programme supplier, but Zambia was not part of that network.) There is a window of only three to four months between the airdates in Barbados and Zambia, but Zambia could well have received its prints before Barbados, but scheduled the serials to screen much later.
  • If the former, Zambia either got its prints of the season three stories directly from the BBC (in which case the films would have been sent the "long way" around the southern cape of Africa since the Suez Canal was closed at the time), or they were bicycled in several shipments from Barbados; the shipping distances from either point of origin to Zambia is roughly the same, although it's likely that the films were sent to London or via another mid-way point first (via Gibraltar?) rather than directly between Barbados and Zambia
  • If the latter, then the Caribbean prints may have been retained in case Jamaica or Trinidad picked up the series later on, which clearly did not happen. Why? It's a "chicken or egg" scenario: did the films go from Barbados to Zambia because Jamaica and Trinidad did not want them, or did Jamaica and Trinidad miss out because the films had been sent to Zambia? There is only a gap of a year between Barbados screening season three and when Jamaica aired season two. If Barbados kept the prints, why didn't Jamaica carry on after season two? Or was it simply a matter that both Jamaica and Trinidad rejected the offer of more episodes, leaving Barbados free to bicycle the films to Africa instead? For this reason alone, we believe the prints were no longer in the Caribbean by the time Jamaica caught up and wanted more, hence we've grouped Barbados and Zambia in the same chain for season three only

• [2] – It seems very likely that the majority of the stray Patrick Troughton episodes kept by the BBC and those that were later recovered from UK film collectors were all from the same sources: mostly from Singapore, Gibraltar, Zambia and Australia. The prints of the Jon Pertwee serials up to the end of season 9 held by the BBC at the end of 1976 may have also been returns from Gibraltar, since that run of episodes had concluded in late 1974, and Gibraltar was the final Commonwealth country to air them; it would seem that the BBC deliberately sold and therefore carefully channelled the films through the various countries in Asia, the Caribbean and Africa so they would end up in Gibraltar so they could be returned to "near-by" London at a much lower cost. (Were these returned at the same time in the 1974 "recall" of the first two Doctors?) Gibraltar certainly has form for returning material to the BBC soon after broadcast as late as 1978 (being geographically 'close' to London makes returning films a matter of convenience over storing the films awaiting the inevitable "return" instructions that'll come anyway), so it's safe to accept that it did so consistently and regularly. The b/w prints of the three serials that didn't air – DDD, FFF, JJJ - may well have been struck and intended for the Hong Kong / Singapore set, but left unsold "on the shelf".
  • Since the BBC retained the original film-recording negative for many episodes but did not necessarily also hold a positive print for each, with various prints being returned from overseas on a regular basis, they may have taken the opportunity to retain any print for which they also had the negative -- and to use that returned copy as a viewing print -- and discard all of those for which they did not also have a negative. (For instance, the BBC retained the original Stored Field film-recording negative for The Crusade part three. In 1976 they also held a Stored print of the same episode; that print may have been struck directly from the negative for the purpose of having a viewing copy on file (which means it was paid for by Enterprises), or the BBC deliberately preserved that print when it arrived from overseas for the purpose of having a viewing print on file. If it is the latter scenario, there are -- per this table at least -- only two possible overseas sources for this print.)

• [3] – Since Australia, Hong Kong / Singapore and Gibraltar had presumably returned all retained prints to the BBC by 1975, and these three stories (XX, YY, ZZ) were sent to Zambia in 1976, what was despatched to ZTV may well have been a selection of film prints from these countries, including some of the ex-ABC films with censor cuts.

• For comparison, the original Bicycling Chains table is HERE