Star Trek On The BBC: 1977 to 1982

Click here for part one: 1969  
Click here for part two: 1970 
Click here for part three: 1971
Click here for part four: 1972
Click here for part five: 1973
Click here for part six: 1974 to 1976
 
1977
For the first time in eight years no live action Star Trek was shown on BBC1. Star Trek: The Animated Series was run for the last time on BBC1 between March and May.

1978
Repeats of live action Star Trek began again on BBC1 in September 1978. It's tempting to link this to the hype over Star Trek: The Motion Picture, announced at a huge press conference on March 28 1978, but it seems more likely the plan was always for Star Trek to take a break before resuming repeats. In previous years Star Trek had filled the gap between series of Doctor Who but in 1978 the 17 episodes repeated ran alongside the fourth Doctor's search for the Key to Time. This time Star Trek would prime audiences for the return of Blake's Seven which started a second series on 9 January 1979. In fact, for one glorious week in late1978 it was possible to see all three series. Episode 1 of the Doctor Who story The Power Of Kroll was shown on 23 December, followed by a repeat of the final episode of Blake's Seven series one on 27 December (to remind audience of the end of series cliffhanger "space vehicle will be destroyed"!), and What Are Little Girls Made Of? on Friday 29 December.

Once again episodes are shown in the same order as the 1969 BBC1 broadcasts. With the exception of Charlie X which should have been sandwiched between The Devil In The Dark and Shore Leave. There is no obvious reason for Charlie X's disappearance from the schedule although The Prince of Wales turned 30 on 14 November 1978 four days after the episode would have been shown. Maybe it was felt in bad taste to broadcast a programme about a strange out of touch man raised in unusual circumstances and called Charles.

Its still not clear why the BBC persisted in using its own episode order. By the mid-70s BBC Enterprises was producing a sales brochure called A Quick Guide To Dr Who which listed all the episodes of Doctor Who made to date in order along with the production code. It seems unlikely the BBC was unique in making supplementary material like this for overseas broadcasters but, for whatever reason, they treated bought in programmes differently.

1979
The tenth anniversary of the Apollo Moon landings, and of Star Trek's BBC1 première. On 20 July the BBC marked the Apollo anniversary by following the repeat of Arena with a documentary presented by James Burke, Project Apollo: The Men Who Walked on the Moon.

The Squire Of Gothos kicked off the 1979 repeats. The planned 1978 transmission had been affected by a strike which took BBC1 and BBC2 off the air for two days on 21 and 22 December. This was a longer run of repeats than the year before, starting in July and ending at Christmas just before the third series of Blake's Seven began in January 1980. Once again all the episodes were in BBC transmission order, including The Return Of The Archons slotted back in between Arena and This Side Of Paradise for the first time since 1969. Well not all the episodes. The broadcast order of some stories in this block of repeats was swapped. Bread And Circuses was pulled forwards to 31 August, instead of being placed between The Trouble With Tribbles and Journey To Babel where it had always been in the past. The Enemy Within and Court Martial also swapped round in the schedule, this had previously happened during the 1974 repeats so it's possible someone consulted different paperwork when looking for the broadcast order. Charlie X, delayed from 1978, was transmitted between The Enemy Within and Court Martial.

The Galileo Seven was placed on the schedule twice after the first broadcast was preempted by coverage of the state funeral of Lord Mountbatten, killed by an IRA bomb on 27 August 1979.

All the episodes in this block of repeats should have been on their fourth showing; with the exception of The Return Of The Archons which is only on it's third repeat having gone unbroadcast between 1969 and 1976. Surprisingly it turns out The Deadly Years, A Private Little War, and Obsession are also only on their third repeat. Checking BBC Genome shows that for some reason these three episodes were omitted from the 1975 repeats when they would have been expected to be shown in the three weeks after Journey To Babel. UPDATE 02/05/20 see Star Trek: the Unscheduled for more information.


On 8 December 1979 BBC1's Saturday morning children's show Swap Shop marked the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture on 8 December. According to the Radio Times, "The Star Ship Enterprise has been rebuilt for its greatest and most exciting adventure yet - so beam down to the Paramount studios in Hollywood, USA, with Maggie Philbin. Join her behind the scenes of the new Star Trek movie and meet not only ADMIRAL KIRK (yes - he's been promoted!) and MR SPOCK , but two new crew members played by STEVE COLLINS and PERSIS KHAMBATTA" On 17 December the film was reviewed, along with The Black Hole and Apocalypse Now, by Barry Norman on Film 79.

The Daily Express 13/12/79

1980
By now the repeats had settled into a pattern. They would begin in the summer and run through to Christmas. The 1980 repeats began with By Any Other Name an episode which, like The Deadly Years, A Private Little War, and Obsession, was missed from the 1975 repeats.

Episodes were shown on a Monday in the same slot used by Blake's Seven from January to March. This meant that the repeat of I, Mudd scheduled for 25 August fell on the August Bank Holiday Monday and was bumped by special programming. Instead of simply shifting I, Mudd to the following week the schedulers kick the episode further down the year to 10 November. This displaces Operation - -Annihilate! (going by the original BBC1 broadcast order) which disappears completely from the schedule. Something similar happens to Day Of The Dove, due to be shown on 8 December, which is replaced by The Society of West End Theatre Awards.

1981
The BBC1 repeats of Star Trek resumed after Christmas instead of taking a break for the new series of Blake's Seven. Star Trek repeats ran until May and were followed by a repeat of Blake's Seven series three. The final series of Blake's Seven started in September.

Day Of The Dove was repeated on 2 February after The Enterprise Incident. No episodes appear to be displaced by this move because the three episodes following The Enterprise Incident are in a different order to the original 1971 BBC1 broadcasts. After Day Of The Dove comes Let That Be Your Last Battlefield and Wink Of An Eye which both seem to have dropped down the order from where they were scheduled in 1971 and 1973. It will come as no surprise to find there is no apparent reason for the moving of these two stories. It seems to have first occurred in 1975 when the BBC moved episodes around for the Christmas repeats called Holiday Star Trek.

On 13 April, the Monday before Easter, BBC1 showed part one of Irwin Allen's The Return of Captain Nemo in place of Star Trek. Going by the BBC order The Savage Curtain was due to be shown that week, between The Lights Of Zetar and The Tholian Web. Instead of being postponed to the following week The Savage Curtain drops off the schedule completely. As happened to I, Mudd and Day Of The Dove in 1980. Presumably the plan was to delay it until a slot later in the repeat run, except there isn't one. The repeats end three weeks later on 18 May.

1982
A single episode of Star Trek is repeated in 1982; perhaps the most bizarre piece of Star Trek scheduling ever. Operation - -Annihilate! is given a fourth BBC1 repeat nearly two years after it was bumped from BBC1 by the rescheduled I, Mudd. Operation - -Annihilate! was shown after a six week repeat run of Doctor Who called Doctor Who And The Monsters. Presumably, in 1982 a BBC bean counter must have noticed Operation - -Annihilate! had not been shown and seized the chance to get value for money by scheduling the episode before the rights expired. If that is the case then it's a shame no one also noticed the omission of The Savage Curtain.

UPDATE 26/1/15: Over at The Trek BBS user johnnybear remembers seeing an unscheduled repeat of The Savage Curtain in 1982.
"The BBC showed The Savage Curtain as an extra programme on a Saturday morning in 1982! I remember they placed it opposite the Space 1999 episode Death's Other Dominion on LWT if that helps? I missed videoing it and was annoyed for a long time about it but at least they showed it, sort of but no one knew!"

As other Trek BBS users have pointed out Death's Other Dominion was repeated by London Weekend Television at 11.15 on 1 May 1982.
According to BBC Genome the schedule for BBC1 that morning included a cartoon called Lucky Luke which was due to start at 11.00. 1 May was also the day of the first significant British offensive action in the Falklands war as Vulcan bombers attacked the Port Stanley airfield. Could Lucky Luke have been bumped for a news update and followed by a repeat of The Savage Curtain to fill the remaining time before Grandstand? Something disrupted the morning schedule because Lucky Luke shows up again on 5 June 1982 with a note that the programme was postponed from 1 May. Without access to the Programme as Broadcast information held by the Written Archive Centre it's impossible to be sure. UPDATE 14/05/17: BBC Written Archive Centre records confirm the 1982 repeat

"The Savage Curtain:
01/05/1982 broadcast – Duration 45’14” (no other footage details available)
According to the PasB this was broadcast at 11.00.50 until 11.46.04 and was a repeat of The Savage Curtain broadcast on 24/11/1971 at 19.24.52"

Numbers in brackets below show the number of times each episode has been broadcast.

1978-09-05     18.50     Where No Man Has Gone Before (4)
1978-09-12     18.50     The Naked Time (4)
1978-09-19     18.50     The City On The Edge Of Forever (4)
1978-09-26     18.55     A Taste Of Armageddon (4)
1978-10-03     18.55     Mudd's Women (4)
1978-10-10     18.50     Tomorrow Is Yesterday (4)
1978-10-20     19.10     The Menagerie Part 1 (4)
1978-10-27     19.10     The Menagerie Part 2 (4)
1978-11-03     19.10     The Devil In The Dark (4)
1978-11-10     19.10     Shore Leave (4)
1978-11-17     19.10     Space Seed (4)
1978-11-24     19.10     The Man Trap (4)
1978-12-01     19.10     Dagger Of The Mind (4)
1978-12-08     19.15     The Corbomite Maneuver  (4)
1978-12-15     19.10     Balance Of Terror (4)
1978-12-22     19.10     The Squire Of Gothos [cancelled due to strike]
1978-12-29     18.00     What Are Little Girls Made Of? (4)

1979-07-13     18.55     The Squire Of Gothos (4)
1979-07-20     18.55     Arena (4)
1979-07-27     18.50     The Return Of The Archons (4)
1979-08-03     18.50     This Side Of Paradise (4)
1979-08-10     18.50     The Doomsday Machine (4)
1979-08-17     18.50     Errand Of Mercy (4)
1979-08-24     18.50     The Conscience Of The King (4)
1979-08-31     18.35     Bread And Circuses (4)
1979-09-05     19.10     The Galileo Seven [not shown]
1979-09-12     19.10     The Enemy Within (4)
1979-09-19     19.10     Charlie X (4)
1979-09-26     19.10     Court Martial (4)
1979-10-03     19.10     Catspaw (4)
1979-10-10     19.10     Who Mourns for Adonais? (4)
1979-10-17     19.10     The Apple (4)
1979-10-24     19.10     Metamorphosis (4)
1979-10-31     19.10     The Galileo Seven (4)
1979-11-07     19.10     Wolf In The Fold (4)
1979-11-14     19.10     The Changeling (4)
1979-11-21     19.10     The Trouble with Tribbles (4)
1979-11-28     19.10     Journey To Babel (4)
1979-12-05     19.10     The Deadly Years (4)
1979-12-12     19.10     A Private Little War (4)
1979-12-19     19.10     Obsession (4)

1980-08-11     19.20     By Any Other Name (4)
1980-08-18     19.20     Return To Tomorrow (4)
1980-09-01     19.20     Patterns Of Force (4)
1980-09-08     19.20     The Immunity Syndrome (4)
1980-09-15     19.20     The Omega Glory (4)
1980-09-22     19.20     A Piece of the Action (4)
1980-09-29     19.20     The Ultimate Computer (4)
1980-10-06     19.20     Friday's Child (4)
1980-10-13     19.20     Assignment: Earth (4)
1980-10-20     19.20     Mirror, Mirror (4)
1980-10-27     19.20     The Gamesters of Triskelion (4)
1980-11-03     19.20     Amok Time (4)
1980-11-10     19.20     I, Mudd (4)
1980-11-17     19.20     The Paradise Syndrome (4)
1980-11-24     19.20     Requiem for Methuselah (4)
1980-12-01     19.20     All Our Yesterdays (4)
1980-12-15     19.20     The Way to Eden (4)

1981-01-05     19.20     The Cloud Minders (4)
1981-01-12     19.20     Spectre Of The Gun (4)
1981-01-19     19.20     Elaan Of Troyius (4)
1981-01-26     19.20     The Enterprise Incident (4)
1981-02-02     19.20     Day Of The Dove (4)
1981-02-09     19.20     Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (4)
1981-02-16     19.20     Wink Of An Eye (4)
1981-02-23     19.20     And the Children Shall Lead (4)
1981-03-02     19.20     Spock's Brain (4)
1981-03-09     19.20     Is There In Truth No Beauty (4)
1981-03-16     19.20     For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (4)
1981-03-23     19.20     That Which Survives (4)
1981-03-30     19.20     The Mark of Gideon (4)
1981-04-06     19.20     The Lights of Zetar (4)
1981-04-27     19.20     The Tholian Web  (4)
1981-05-11     19.20     The Alternative Factor (4)
1981-05-18     19.20     Turnabout Intruder  (4)

1982-05-01     11.00     The Savage Curtain (4)
1982-08-23     19.20     Operation -- Annihilate! (4)

Star Trek On The BBC: 1974 to 1976

Click here for part one: 1969  
Click here for part two: 1970 
Click here for part three: 1971
Click here for part four: 1972
Click here for part five: 1973

1974
For the first time since 1969 Star Trek was used as a between series substitute for Doctor Who. Series 11 of Doctor Who finished on Saturday 8 June and Star Trek repeats resumed the following Monday; 10 June. A measly 10 episodes were repeated, well down on 1973's massive 49 week block of repeats, but this was because the BBC had a new programme to schedule; Star Trek: The Animated Series.The Galileo Seven was the last episode of the block of 10 (again note how the BBC tends to stop and start Star Trek according to its own made up series order, The Galileo Seven was the final episode of the BBCs made up "series one" in 1969) and Star Trek: The Animated Series began the following Saturday; 31 August. It comes as no surprise to discover the BBC rejected both production order, and US broadcast order, in favour of a random order of its own devising.

Star Trek: The Animated Series led straight into a series of Christmas repeats of the live action series called Holiday Star Trek (it's tempting to imagine the BBC added holly to the logo and sleigh bells over the theme music). Holiday Star Trek was broadcast in the morning, just before midday, along with other child-friendly programming. Four years ago the BBC was withdrawing Star Trek episodes because of concerns over their content, now it is seen as suitable for children. The content hasn't changed, but the constant repeats have blunted its impact. The first episode shown at 11.25 is The Enemy Within which features bad Kirk's attempted sexual assault on Yeoman Rand. Merry Christmas! It is of course possible the early repeats were edited for unsuitable content, but there is no way to tell beyond noting that the Radio Times listings show the repeats of The Enemy Within and Court Martial occupied a 45 minute slot. Even this could just be the BBC being vague on the running time. Look at the episode durations of Doctor Who episodes and you'll be amazed at the amount of variation the BBC would allow in a programme supposed to fill a 25 minute slot each week.

UPDATE 02/05/20: The Return Of The Archons was repeated in place of BBC1's early evening current affairs programme Nationwide, 6pm on 18 April 1974. This was an episode which had not been broadcast since 1969. It's well known that complaints about Miri in 1970 resulted in the BBC never showing it again until 1992, and also led to three other episodes being pulled; Plato's Stepchildren, The Empath and Whom God's Destroy. In the wake of this the BBC also did not repeat Dagger Of The Mind and The Return Of The Archons but, for whatever reason, when the BBC put these two episodes to one side it did not classify them as unsuitable in the way it did for Miri, Plato's Stepchildren, The Empath and Whom God's Destroy. In 1973 the BBC finally repeated Dagger Of The Mind in place of Miri. Now someone appears to have found The Return Of The Archons sitting on the shelf and decided to tuck it in as a substitute programme. This is pure speculation but I've already noted how the constant repeats have made otherwise controversial material seem familiar and safe, hence the repeats of The Enemy Within and Dagger Of The Mind in the Christmas Holiday Star Trek slot. If the Festival material had originally made the BBC nervous about repeating The Return Of The Archons then by 1974 it was clearly regarded as typical Star Trek. Considering much of the rest of the series had already been shown three times, the sudden appearance of an episode unseen since 1969 must have been like watching a brand new story.

Further unscheduled repeats followed: By Any Other Name was repeated on Thursday 27 June at 3pm in place of Wimbledon 1974. A Private Little War got a repeat on Wednesday 2nd July when Star Trek again replaced Nationwide at 6pm. Obsession replaced Cricket: Second Test, England v Pakistan, which was abandoned due to rain on Tuesday 13 August, 3.30pm. See Star Trek on the BBC: The Unscheduled for more details.

1975
Holiday Star Trek carried on into the new year and then the repeats took a break until the new series of Doctor Who had finished. As in 1974 repeats of the live action series were followed by Star Trek: The Animated Series but this year the cartoon was moved out of the early evening slot and relegated to early on Saturday morning; presumably it hadn't achieved the same level of popularity. This time round the Radio Times does not print episode titles, another sign that the animated series was no longer held in the same regard, so all we can tell is that the animated series ran in a block from 27 September to 29 November. Holiday Star Trek must have been a success, the branded repeats returned for Christmas 1975. Included in the Christmas 1975 repeats was Dagger Of The Mind. At one point the BBC seemed reluctant to repeat this episode, now it can be shown, apparently unedited, in a fifty minute slot at 11.40 in the morning.

The Deadly Years replaced cancelled International Show Jumping on Sunday 30 March, 4.50pm.
See Star Trek on the BBC: The Unscheduled for more details.
 
1976
By now the BBC had settled into a routine. The repeats were put on hold after Christmas until the current series of Doctor Who had finished. The exception was Star Trek: The Animated Series, now firmly scheduled for children at 16.45 in the BBC's post-school slot. Six episodes were shown between 6 January and 10 February. It's possible this was the animated series' six episode season two but without episode titles there is no way to tell.

1976 was the year the BBC wound down its repeats of the live action series. There would be no repeats at all in 1977. In 1969 it looks as if the BBC bought the rights to show each episode of Star Trek three times over an eight year period. When And The Children Shall Lead was bumped for Easter Monday programming on 19 April it was quickly slotted back into the schedule in July as if it needed to be shown as soon as possible. This turned out to be the week after Turnabout Intruder, which would otherwise have been the last episode repeated.

Except, the BBC unexpectedly transmitted The Return Of The Archons again, for a third time, the week after And The Children Shall Lead. 

In the table below the number in brackets shows how many times each story has been broadcast. If there is no number then it's the first time an episode has been shown.

1974-04-18    18.00    The Return Of The Archons (2)
1974-06-10    19.20    The Corbomite Maneuver  (3)
1974-06-17    19.20    Balance Of Terror (3)
1974-06-27    15.00    By Any Other Name (3)
1974-07-02    18.00    A Private Little War (3)
1974-07-10    18.50    The Squire Of Gothos (3)
1974-07-17    18.55    What Are Little Girls Made Of? (3)
1974-07-24    18.50    Arena (3)
1974-07-31    18.50    This Side Of Paradise (3)
1974-08-07    18.50    The Doomsday Machine (3)
1974-08-13    15.30    Obsession (3)
1974-08-14    18.50    Errand Of Mercy (3)
1974-08-21    18.55    The Conscience Of The King (3)
1974-08-28    18.50    The Galileo Seven (3)

1974-08-31    17.10    Once Upon a Planet
1974-09-07    18.35    The Jihad
1974-09-14    17.05    The Infinite Vulcan
1974-09-21    17.05    The Magicks of Megus-Tu
1974-09-28    17.15    More Tribbles, More Troubles
1974-10-05    17.05    The Survivor
1974-10-19    17.05    Beyond The Farthest Star
1974-10-26    17.05    Yesteryear
1974-11-02    17.05    One Of Our Planets Is Missing
1974-11-09    17.45    Mudd's Passion
1974-11-16    17.05    The Time Trap
1974-11-23    17.05    The Terratin Incident
1974-11-30    17.05    The Ambergris Element
1974-12-07    17.05    The Slaver Weapon
1974-12-14    17.15    Eye Of The Beholder
1974-12-22    13.30    The Lorelei Signal

1974-12-23    11.25    The Enemy Within (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1974-12-24    11.05    Court Martial (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1974-12-26    09:40    Catspaw (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1974-12-27    11.40    Who Mourns for Adonais? (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1974-12-30    11.45    The Apple (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1974-12-31    11.45    Metamorphosis (3) [Holiday Star Trek]

1975-01-01    10.55    Wolf In The Fold (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-01-02    11.45    The Changeling (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-01-03    11.45    The Trouble with Tribbles (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-03-30    16.50    The Deadly Years (3)
1975-05-19    19.25    Bread And Circuses (3)
1975-06-02    18.50    Journey To Babel (3)
1975-06-09    18.50    Return To Tomorrow (3)
1975-06-16    18.50    I, Mudd (3)
1975-06-23    19.20    Patterns Of Force (3)
1975-06-30    19.20    The Immunity Syndrome (3)
1975-07-07    19.20    The Omega Glory (3)
1975-07-14    19.10    A Piece of the Action (3)
1975-07-21    19.10    The Ultimate Computer (3)
1975-07-28    19.10    Friday's Child (3)
1975-08-04    19.10    Assignment: Earth (3)
1975-08-11    19.10    Mirror, Mirror (3)
1975-08-18    19.10    The Gamesters of Triskelion (3)
1975-12-20    10.35    Wink Of An Eye (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-12-21    12.00    Let That Be Your Last Battlefield  (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-12-22    11.40    Amok Time (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-12-23    11.40    Dagger Of The Mind (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-12-24    11.40    Operation -- Annihilate! (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-12-26    10.05    The Paradise Syndrome (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-12-28    11.40    The Cloud Minders (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-12-29    11.25    Requiem for Methuselah  (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-12-30    11.25    All Our Yesterdays (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1975-12-31    11.20    Day of the Dove  (3) [Holiday Star Trek]

1976-01-01    11.00    Spectre of the Gun  (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1976-01-02    11.10    The Way To Eden (3) [Holiday Star Trek]
1976-04-05    19.25    Elaan of Troyius (3)
1976-04-12    19.25    The Enterprise Incident (3)
1976-04-26    19.25    Spock's Brain (3)
1976-05-03    19.25    Is There in Truth no Beauty? (3)
1976-05-10    19.25    For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (3)
1976-05-17    19.25    That Which Survives (3)
1976-05-24    19.25    The Mark Of Gideon (3)
1976-06-07    19.25    The Lights Of Zetar (3)
1976-06-14    19.20    The Savage Curtain (3)
1976-06-21    19.25    The Tholian Web (3)
1976-06-28    19.25    The Alternative Factor (3)
1976-07-05    19.25    Turnabout Intruder (3)
1976-07-12    19.20    And The Children Shall Lead (3)
1976-07-19    19.25    The Return Of The Archons (3)

Notes

1974-04-18:  The Return Of The Archons, unscheduled repeat replacing Nationwide. 

1974-06-27: By Any Other Name, unscheduled repeat replacing Wimbledon 1974. 

1974-07-02: A Private Little War, unscheduled repeat replacing Nationwide again.

1974-10-12: No Star Trek: The Animated Series this week. The 1974 Horse Of The Year Show was broadcast at 21.40. Making space for this programme seems to have disrupted the whole evening's schedule.

1974-12-22: Shown at Sunday lunchtime. The day before the early evening Saturday slot had been filled by a Christmas edition of Disney Time.

1974-12-27: A good day for science-fiction fans. Star Trek at 11.40, and an omnibus repeat of Planet Of The Spiders at 14.45.

1975-03-30: The Deadly Years, unscheduled repeat replacing cricket.

1975-12-27: A Saturday. No Holiday Star Trek although the repeats ran on Friday 26 and Sunday 28 December. There was a repeat of the Doctor Who story Genesis Of The Daleks on the afternoon of 27th. Was the BBC trying to avoid repeating the two science-fiction series on the same day?

1976-04-19: Easter Bank Holiday Monday, Star Trek was replaced by the film version of Dad's Army.1976-07-05: Another good day for science-fiction fans. A repeat of part one of the Doctor Who story Planet Of Evil at 18.35 plus Star Trek at 19.25

Star Trek On The BBC: 1973

Click here for part one: 1969  
Click here for part two: 1970 
Click here for part three: 1971
Click here for part four: 1972

"Television's most popular space series returns," was how the Radio Times described Return To Tomorrow the episode which launched 1973's mammoth 49 week repeat run of Star Trek. This could be viewed as slightly insensitive to the BBC's home grown series Doctor Who which was in the middle of its tenth anniversary story, The Three Doctors.

Aside from the bumper length of the repeat run this was mostly business as usual for a series which had now been shown on BBC1 for five consecutive years. The only unusual event was the repeat of Dagger Of The Mind which was finally repeated after being skipped in 1971 and 1972. It was slotted in between Amok Time and Operation -- Annihilate! on 2 April 1973. This was the week Miri would have been shown for a second time if it hadn't been marked as unsuitable for broadcast following complaints in 1970. Presumably someone at the BBC realised Miri could not be repeated and looked around for another episode to show in its place. It's interesting that the BBC opted to show Dagger Of The Mind. Presumably the choice would have been between pulling the repeats forward a week, so that Operation -- Annihilate! followed on directly from Amok Time, or repeating one of either Dagger Of The Mind or The Return Of The Archons. Neither of these two episodes had been seen since they premièred in 1969, and they seem to have been caught up in the wake of the Miri complaints. The BBC must have felt that of the two episodes Dagger Of The Mind was the most acceptable for broadcast, and there must have been a desire to get value for money by repeating as may episodes as possible before the rights expired.

In the table below the number in brackets shows how many times each story has been broadcast.

1973-01-08    19.10    Return To Tomorrow (2)
1973-01-15    19.10    I, Mudd (2)
1973-01-22    19.10    Patterns Of Force (2)
1973-01-29    19.10    The Immunity Syndrome (2)
1973-02-05    19.10    The Omega Glory (2)
1973-02-12    19.10    A Piece of the Action (2)
1973-02-19    19.10    The Ultimate Computer (2)
1973-02-26    19.10    Friday's Child (2)
1973-03-05    19.10    Assignment: Earth (2)
1973-03-12    19.10    Mirror, Mirror (2)
1973-03-19    19.10    The Gamesters of Triskelion (2)
1973-03-26    19.10    Amok Time (2)
1973-04-02    19.10    Dagger Of The Mind (2)
1973-04-09    19.10    Operation -- Annihilate! (2)
1973-04-16    19.10    The Paradise Syndrome (2)
1973-04-27    19.25    Requiem for Methuselah (2)
1973-05-04    19.25    All Our Yesterdays (2)
1973-05-11    19.25    Day of the Dove (2)
1973-05-18    19.25    The Way To Eden (2)
1973-05-25    19.30    Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (2)
1973-06-01    19.30    Wink of an Eye (2)
1973-06-08    19.30    The Cloud Minders (2)
1973-06-15    19.30    Spectre of the Gun (2)
1973-06-22    19.30    Elaan of Troyius (2)
1973-06-29    19.30    The Enterprise Incident (2)
1973-07-05    19.45    And the Children Shall Lead (2)
1973-07-13    19.30    Spock's Brain (2)
1973-07-20    19.30    Is There in Truth No Beauty? (2)
1973-07-27    19.00    For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (2)
1973-08-03    19.00    That Which Survives (2)
1973-08-10    19.00    The Mark of Gideon (2)
1973-08-17    19.00    The Lights of Zetar (2)
1973-08-24    19.00    The Savage Curtain (2)
1973-08-31    19.10    The Tholian Web (2)
1973-09-10    19.10    The Alternative Factor (2)
1973-09-17    19.15    Turnabout Intruder (2)
1973-09-24    19.15    Where No Man Has Gone Before (3)
1973-10-01    19.15    The Naked Time (3)
1973-10-08    19.15    The City On The Edge Of Forever (3)
1973-10-15    19.10    A Taste Of Armageddon (3)
1973-10-23    19.15    Mudd's Women (3)
1973-10-30    19.00    Tomorrow Is Yesterday (3)
1973-11-06    19.05    The Menagerie Part 1 (3)
1973-11-13    19.15    The Menagerie Part 2 (3)
1973-11-20    19.15    The Devil In The Dark (3)
1973-11-27    19.25    Charlie X (3)
1973-12-04    18.55    Shore Leave (3)
1973-12-11    18.55    Space Seed (3)
1973-12-18    19.25    The Man Trap (3)

Star Trek On The BBC: 1972

Click here for part one: 1969  
Click here for part two: 1970 
Click here for part three: 1971 

Three weeks into 1972 BBC1 began showing most of the stories skipped during the spring 1971 block of repeats. There's no obvious reason why these stories are suddenly acceptable for broadcast; just as it's still not clear why the episodes weren't repeated last year.

The BBC had just completed a major survey into television violence. This survey showed that American programmes made up only one third of the schedule but contained two thirds of television violence; according to a Daily Mirror story on 27 January 1972 which named Star Trek, along with the BBC's own Doctor Who, and two other Desilu programmes The Untouchables and Mannix. What may be significant is that this survey had run from November 1970 to May 1971. Miri was broadcast in December 1970, not long after the survey began. It's possible the complaints about Miri came at exactly the wrong time for a BBC already concerned about violence and other inappropriate material in imported programmes. This could explain not only the withdrawing from broadcast of Miri, The Empath, Whom Gods Destroy, and Plato's Stepchildren but also the delayed repeats of episodes which might otherwise have been expected to air during February to April 1971 while the survey was still being conducted. By the start of 1972, with the survey over and the report written, the BBC might have been able to take a more relaxed view about the content of Star Trek and was able to reschedule episodes which seemed less suitable the year before. The slightly later 7.25pm start time might also have helped deflect any complaints. It's only 15 minutes after the start time for the 1971 repeats but the difference between an 8pm finish, and one after 8pm might be important for the BBC. A post 8pm finish, presumably after the bedtime of young children, gives them a fig leaf of protection if they are concerned about being accused of showing programmes unsuitable for children too early in the evening

The Daily Mirror 27/01/1972

Regardless of the reason it seems as if the block of unrepeated stories are dropped into the schedule as soon as possible. I've already obsessed over the BBC's eccentric Star Trek broadcast order but there's something odd about the way all the previously skipped episodes are tucked in between Errand Of Mercy and The Conscience Of The King. It means all the episodes in the BBC's made-up "series one" from 1969 are shown before the repeats of "series two" episodes begin with Court Martial. As if the BBC programme planners believed they couldn't repeat "series two" until all of "series one" had been shown.

All the "series one" episodes? Well not quite. In 1969 The Naked Time was the second episode broadcast on BBC1. In 1972 it's held back a few weeks to air after The Menagerie Part 2. Court Martial which launched "series two" in 1970 is held way back and just scrapes in as the penultimate 1972 episode. Dagger Of The Mind, and The Return Of The Archons do not appear at all. In a 1984 letter the BBC justified its decision not to show Miri, The Empath, Whom Gods Destroy, and Plato's Stepchildren because they dealt, "most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness,torture, sadism and disease." Did the BBC still have some lingering doubts about the acceptability of The Naked Time's space-drunkeness and Finney's madness in Court Martial? It looks as if they did. The no show of Dagger Of The Mind and The Return Of The Archons implies that the BBC found those two episodes utterly unsuitable for broadcast given their high levels of madness,torture, and sadism.

In the table below the number in brackets shows how many times each story has been broadcast.

1972-01-05    19.25    The Doomsday Machine (2)
1972-01-12    19.25    Errand Of Mercy (2)
1972-01-19    19.25    The City On The Edge Of Forever (2)
1972-01-26    19.25    The Menagerie Part 1 (2)
1972-02-02    19.25    The Menagerie Part 2 (2)
1972-02-09    19.25    The Naked Time (2)
1972-02-16    19.25    Charlie X (2)
1972-02-23    19.25    The Man Trap (2)
1972-03-01    19.25    Balance Of Terror (2)
1972-03-08    19.25    Arena (2)
1972-03-15    19.25    The Conscience Of The King (2)
1972-03-22    19.25    The Galileo Seven (2)
1972-03-29    19.25    The Enemy Within (2)
1972-04-05    19.25    Catspaw (2)
1972-04-12    19.25    Who Mourns for Adonais? (2)
1972-04-19    19.25    The Apple (2)
1972-04-26    19.25    Metamorphosis (2)
1972-05-03    19.25    Wolf In The Fold (2)
1972-05-10    19.25    The Changeling (2)
1972-05-17    19.25    The Trouble with Tribbles (2)
1972-05-24    19.25    Bread And Circuses (2)
1972-05-31    19.25    Journey To Babel (2)
1972-06-07    19.25    The Deadly Years (2)
1972-06-14    19.25    A Private Little War (2)
1972-06-21    19.25    Obsession (2)
1972-06-28    19.25    Court Martial (2)
1972-07-05    19.25    By Any Other Name (2)

Star Trek On The BBC: 1971

Click here for part one: 1969  
Click here for part two: 1970  

The BBC's made up "series three" continued until 10 February 1971 and was followed by nine weeks of repeats beginning with Where No Man Has Gone Before.

When the BBC started broadcasting Star Trek in 1969 it showed the episodes in a random sequence which by 1971 had somehow become the BBC's preferred order. The 1971 repeats keep the 1969 order, presumably the person in charge of the repeats simply consulted the old schedules, although some episodes are skipped.

1969		1971
Where No Man Has Gone Before		Repeated
The Naked Time		Skipped
The City On The Edge Of Forever		Skipped
A Taste Of Armageddon		Repeated
Mudd's Women		Repeated
Tomorrow Is Yesterday		Repeated
The Menagerie Part 1		Skipped
The Menagerie Part 2		Skipped
The Devil In The Dark		Repeated
Charlie X		Skipped
Shore Leave		Repeated
Space Seed		Repeated
The Man Trap		Skipped
Dagger Of The Mind		Skipped
The Corbomite Manoeuvre		Repeated
Balance Of Terror		Skipped
The Squire Of Gothos		Repeated
What Are Little Girls Made Of?		Repeated
Arena		Skipped
The Return Of The Archons		Skipped
This Side Of Paradise		Repeated

Why were some episodes missed out? My best guess is that in the wake of the problems with Miri the BBC was reassessing the suitability of all Star Trek episodes. The BBC described Miri, The Empath, Plato's Stepchildren and Whom Gods Destroy as dealing "most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness,torture, sadism and disease." It's easy to find matching elements in the skipped episodes; the space madness in The Naked Time; McCoy's cordrazine induced psychosis in The City On The Edge Of Forever; Pike's disease, and his torture in the clips from The Cage, in The Menagerie; more madness and torture in Dagger Of The Mind; Charlie's sadistic treatment of the crew in Charlie X. Only The Man Trap and Balance Of Terror don't have any obviously unsuitable elements, possibly the BBC just thought they were too intense. When the repeats resume in December 1971 there is a similar pattern. What Are Little Girls Made Of? and This Side Of Paradise are repeated in the 1969 order while two episodes are missed out Arena (possibly too intense) and The Return Of The Archons (madness and sadism during the festival).

In April the BBC shrewdly replaced Star Trek with Mission: Impossible episodes featuring Leonard Nimoy as master of disguise Paris. The Mission: Impossible episodes are a random selection from season four and five in no particular order. Apparently there was nothing unusual in the BBC's treatment of Star Trek, it was simply how all imported series were scheduled.

A fourteen week BBC created "series four" began in September 1971. Then on 05 November 1971 there was a treat for Star Trek fans. An episode of Ask Aspel, a children's programme where viewers could write in and ask to see clips of programmes, featured Leonard Nimoy as a guest. Presumably Leonard Nimoy was in London at the time; although this wasn't the time mentioned in his book I Am Spock when he saw the infamous Heineken poster with the drooping ears that was 1975.

Appropriately the final first run Star Trek episode shown on BBC1 was Turnabout Intruder. This was followed by the beginning of several more months of repeats which would last well into 1972.

In the listings below repeats are marked with a number in brackets after the episode title. The number indicates how often the episode has been broadcast by the BBC, all the  repeats below are on their second showing.

1971-01-06    19.20    All Our Yesterdays
1971-01-13    19.20    Day of the Dove
1971-01-20    19.20    The Way To Eden
1971-01-27    19.20    Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
1971-02-03    19.20    Wink of an Eye
1971-02-10    19.20    The Cloud Minders
1971-02-17    19.20    Where No Man Has Gone Before (2)
1971-02-24    19.20    A Taste Of Armageddon (2)
1971-03-03    19.20    Mudd's Women (2)
1971-03-10    19.20    Tomorrow Is Yesterday (2)
1971-03-17    19.10    The Devil In The Dark (2)
1971-03-24    19.10    Shore Leave (2)
1971-03-31    19.10    Space Seed (2)
1971-04-07    19.10    The Corbomite Maneuver  (2)
1971-04-14    19.10    The Squire Of Gothos (2)
1971-09-15    19.25    Spectre of the Gun
1971-09-22    19.25    Elaan of Troyius
1971-09-29    19.25    The Enterprise Incident
1971-10-06    19.25    And the Children Shall Lead
1971-10-13    19.25    Spock's Brain
1971-10-20    19.25    Is There in Truth No Beauty?
1971-10-27    19.25    For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
1971-11-03    19.25    That Which Survives
1971-11-10    19.25    The Mark of Gideon
1971-11-17    19.25    The Lights of Zetar
1971-11-24    19.25    The Savage Curtain
1971-12-01    19.25    The Tholian Web
1971-12-08    19.25    The Alternative Factor
1971-12-15    19.25    Turnabout Intruder
1971-12-22    19.25    What Are Little Girls Made Of? (2)
1971-12-29    19.25    This Side Of Paradise (2)

Notes:

1) 1971-01-06, Memory Alpha has The Paradise Syndrome transmitted here. However television listings in The Daily Mirror name All Our Yesterdays as do print editions of the Radio Times. Frustratingly BBC Genome has no records between 2 January 1971 and 9 January 1971, but the entry for 6 January 1970 currently shows a 10 minute version of All Our Yesterdays starting at 7.20pm between a Tom and Jerry cartoon and Harry Worth. The start time, day, and month are correct presumably BBC Genome has somehow assigned the wrong year and will be corrected at some point.

2) 1971-12-08, surprisingly this doesn't seem to be a repeat for The Alternative Factor. Memory Alpha suggests this episode aired on 6 December 1969 but the Radio Times is adamant the episode didn't get shown until 8 December 1971. On the face of it the Radio Times listing must be wrong. The 1971 date is way after any other first season stories were broadcast. If correct it would mean some first season stories received a BBC repeat before the première of The Alternative Factor. Astonishingly it looks as if the Radio Times is correct. When The Alternative Factor was shown in 1971 it was sandwiched between The Tholian Web and Turnabout Intruder. This also happened when it was repeated in 1973, and in 1976; and again in 1981. It does look like the BBC sat on the episode until 1971 and it ended up being the penultimate first-run BBC story. Why they sat on the episode for so long is another question.

Star Trek on the BBC: 1970

Click here for part one: 1969

Star Trek returned to BBC1 on 6 April 1970, one week after the Easter Bank Holiday Monday, and ran weekly until 24 August. In an odd scheduling move the series then took a one week break for the August Bank Holiday on 31 August, returned for one more episode on 7 September, and then took another four week break before returning again on 7 October.

The block of episodes from 6 April to 7 September appears to have been promoted as "series two" of Star Trek. The 1969 "series one" of 25 episodes had slotted neatly between series six and seven of Doctor Who but now the two programmes would run concurrently. Doctor Who was back on Saturdays at 5.20pm and Star Trek was scheduled for 7.10pm on Monday. The later start time might be due to Star Trek drawing a more adult audience than expected, or it might be because the stories were a little more intense than appropriate for the original 5.15pm start time, or it could just be that the series was a ratings success and the BBC wanted to bring Star Trek back as soon as possible and the 50 minute Monday evening slot vacated by The Andy Williams show was ideal.

The episodes shown were a random selection of season one and two stories. It's possible these were originally intended to fill an uninterrupted 22 week block ending on the Bank Holiday Monday. "Series three" would then begin in October 1970 following the September break. The slightly disjointed end to "series two" came about because the August Bank Holiday Monday evening slot was given over to a live rock climbing event from Wales; The Anglesey Climb The Spider's Web. These live outside broadcasts from around Great Britain were an occasional feature in the late 60s and early 70s. The most famous was the 1967 three day climb of The Old Man of Hoy, and there would be another in 1971 The Glencoe Climb. These live outside broadcasts seem to have been the inspiration for the Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road. 

In 1969 the successful Apollo 11 Moon landing had taken place between the first two episodes of Star Trek shown on BBC1. In an unfortunate echo of this the real life drama of Apollo 13 began on 14 April 1970 the day after The Enemy Within premièred. 

Towards the end of "series two" the Radio Times interviewed Gene Roddenberry.  The interview was published in the 25 June 1970 edition and was accompanied by this fantastic piece of Frank Bellamy art.

 
A "series three" of 16 episodes began on Wednesday 7 October 1970 and would continue until February 1971. The Ultimate Computer began this run and its broadcast was accompanied by a slightly confused Daily Mirror article which mixed up the BBC's invented "series three" with the actual last season three of Star Trek. In fact because of the way the BBC had divided up the stories they would be able to present a 14 episode "series four" in 1971. By the end of 1970 the BBC had showed all the episodes of season one and two, as well as a few from season three.

The Daily Mirror 7/10/1970
 

"Series three" was transmitted at 7.20pm. The start time had crept a little further forwards into the evening but it wasn't enough to head off some controversy when Miri was shown on 2 December 1970. Several viewers complained about the themes of the episode. The complaints have never been made public but the BBC took them seriously enough to review all unbroadcast episodes of Star Trek. Three more episodes were pulled; The Empath, Whom Gods Destroy, and Plato's Stepchildren. This must have been done at very short notice as The Empath was due to be shown on 16 December, two weeks after Miri, and remains on the BBC Genome site and in newspaper listings as being broadcast at 7.20pm. The BBC's institutional memory seems to have labelled all four episodes as utterly unsuitable for broadcast. As late as 1984 enquires to the BBC were being answered with the BBC line that, "we feel that [the episodes] all deal most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness,torture, sadism and disease. You will appreciate that account must betaken that out of Star Trek's large and enthusiastic following, many are juveniles who would watch the programme no matter what time of day the series is put into the programme schedules." These four episodes went unseen until 1993 when BBC2 began a full repeat season of Star Trek to fill the gap between their broadcast of season three and four of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  

Date             Time   Episode

1970-04-06: 19.10: Court Martial
1970-04-13: 19.10: The Enemy Within
1970-04-20: 19.10: Catspaw
1970-04-27: 19.10: Who Mourns for Adonais?
1970-05-04: 19.10: The Apple
1970-05-11: 19.10: Metamorphosis
1970-05-18: 19.10: Wolf In The Fold
1970-05-25: 18.15: The Changeling
1970-06-01: 19.10: The Trouble with Tribbles
1970-06-08: 19.10: Bread And Circuses
1970-06-15: 19.10: Mirror, Mirror scheduled but dropped for a World Cup repeat
1970-06-22: 19.10: Journey To Babel
1970-06-29: 19.10: The Deadly Years
1970-07-06: 19.10: A Private Little War
1970-07-13: 19.10: Obsession
1970-07-20: 19.10: By Any Other Name
1970-07-27: 19.10: I, Mudd
1970-08-03: 19.10: Patterns Of Force
1970-08-10: 19.10: The Immunity Syndrome
1970-08-17: 19.10: Return To Tomorrow
1970-08-24: 19.10: The Omega Glory
1970-09-07: 19.10: A Piece of the Action
1970-10-07: 19.20: The Ultimate Computer
1970-10-14: 19.20: Friday's Child
1970-11-04: 19.20: Assignment: Earth
1970-11-11: 19.20: Mirror, Mirror
1970-11-18: 19.20: The Gamesters of Triskelion
1970-11-25: 19.20: Amok Time
1970-12-02: 19.20: Miri
1970-12-09: 19.20: Operation -- Annihilate!
1970-12-16: 19.20: The Empath not shown, replaced by The Paradise Syndrome
1970-12-30: 19.20: Requiem for Methuselah

Notes

1) 1970-04-06. Court Martial was scheduled for broadcast on 1969-12-06 according to the BBC Genome site and The Daily Mirror, while Memory Alpha suggests The Alternative Factor. BBC Genome also lists Court Martial as starting the 1970 run of Star Trek. As do the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express. A repeat within the space of five months seems unlikely. The Daily Mirror listing specifically describes the 1970 broadcast as the start of a new series, as does the BBC Genome listing referring to "the new adventures of the Star Ship Enterprise." I think we can take this as confirmation that Court Martial was originally scheduled to be shown on 6 December 1969 but held back. A story in which Kirk must fight to keep control of the Enterprise might have been seen as a better hook to begin "series two."

2) 1970-05-25, a Whitsun Bank Holiday showing of Disney Time pushed The Changeling into the earlier 6.15pm slot.

The Radio Times 16 July 1970

3) 1970-06-15 and 1970-11-11. What's going on? According to the Radio Times Mirror, Mirror was scheduled twice on 15 June 1970 and then later in the year on 11 November. Memory Alpha opts for Mirror, Mirror on 15 June and The Doomsday Machine on 11 November. However this cannot be correct. One reason for consulting physical copies of the Radio Times themselves is they carry information not yet available online; like the great piece of Star Trek art by Frank Bellamy further up this page. The Radio Times letters page for the week 16 July 1970 carries a viewer's letter which refers to Star Trek being dropped for a World Cup replay. This replay can only be the notorious (if you're an England fan) 3-2 loss to West Germany (the team England had beaten 4-2 in 1966 to win the world cup) which took place on 14 June 1970. It looks as if Star Trek was cancelled for a repeat of that match. What a fun evening of television that must have been.

4) In the second half of 1970 several one off specials interrupt "series three" of  Star Trek.

1970-10-21 (19.20) Blackpool Tower Circus: An excerpt from the 1970 Show with The Svensons in their classical riding fantasy presenting a colourful Troika. Freddie Kenton and his beautiful partner, PETRONELLA, from Holland, in sophisticated juggling. David Rosaire with his family of perky pekes. Gerard Edon grace and electrifying thrills on the swinging trapeze. The Elwardos four young Danes hand-balancing on a staircase. Ruppert's Bears returning to Blackpool after a long engagement in Las Vegas. Charlie Cairoli with his son CHARLIE JUNIOR , his partner PAUL and the long suffering LITTLE JIMMY in trouble again - with the Circus plumbing. The Skating Sandras in the glittering water finale with The Tower Circusettes.

1970-10-28 (19.20) Remember, Remember... : Millions get innocent pleasure and amusement from firework displays, but we are still one of the few countries left that sells fireworks to children. The law says that they must be over 13 before they can buy - but those badly burned are frequently much younger. Every year fireworks are an annual hazard which injure and scar thousands of children.
Two years ago the Man Alive team reported on the cost, in human suffering, of Guy Fawkes night. Last year, when the programme was shown on BBC1, it caused an outcry. A National Campaign to Prevent Fireworks was formed. Others cried ' kill-joy ' - but 1,000 fewer children were injured. Moves were made in Parliament to change the law. But still nothing has been done. Tonight a programme introduced by DESMOND WILCOX examines the question afresh, investigates the need for safety, questions the law as it stands today, and asks-is the situation good enough?

1970-12-23 (18.35) Jesus: The story of His life through the eyes of the young generation Introduced by Kenneth More and featuring The Young Generation.
(19.20) Ace of Clubs: The Grand Final . Michael Aspel introduces a Gala Performance featuring artists competing in the Final of the 1970 Stage Awards from the City Varieties Theatre, Leeds. Of the 10 artists taking part, five will receive Golden Jesters, and the most outstanding act will be presented with the Bernard Delfont Special Award. 

5)  1970-12-16. What replaced The Empath? The Paradise Syndrome like The Doomsday Machine has no first-run date listed on BBC Genome. The first repeat takes place in 1973 scheduled between Operation -- Annihilate! and Requiem For Methuselah, a pattern also repeated in 1975. In 1980 something odd happens. The schedule goes I, Mudd, The Paradise Syndrome, then Requiem For Methuselah but as The Paradise Syndrome and Requiem For Methuselah are repeated back to back I think the point still holds. The Paradise Syndrome must have premièred the week before Requiem For Methuselah which makes it 16 December 1970; the date planned for The Empath before that story was cancelled in the wake of complaints about Miri.