BBC

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) was one of the UK broadcasters of Star Trek and is the parent corporation of BBC Worldwide, which in turn operates BBC America. The corporation had the rights to show , , , , and . They also have the terrestrial rights to show , , , and – the rights to broadcast were obtained by Channel 5 and the remaining film rights are held by Channel 4.
The BBC produced and broadcast two special evenings of Star Trek programming, each known as Star Trek Night, one in and another in .
The BBC is also known for producing the science fiction franchise Doctor Who.
== Star Trek ==
Initially, the BBC was the first-run broadcaster of Star Trek (-). The series was not shown in airdate or production order (although unlike on NBC, the pilot was aired first), and the BBC edited some episodes for violent content. The series was shown in four seasons, the first on Saturday evenings at 5:15 pm (in the time slot usually taken by Doctor Who), the second on Monday evenings at 7:10 pm. The final two seasons were shown on Wednesday evenings at 7:10 pm. Star Trek was one of BBC's bigger ratings winners and was repeated throughout the 1970s and early '80s. ()
During their original run of The Original Series, the BBC had chosen not to show the episodes , , and , deeming them unsuitable for the series time slot, due to their assessment that "(...) they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness, torture, sadism and disease", as stated in a letter sent to the UK-based Star Trek Action Group in 1976. These episodes were eventually shown during the 1992 repeat run. was not repeated by the BBC until for similar reasons, following audience complaints after its original transmission. ()
Apart from having no commercial breaks, there were several differences in how the episodes were presented, compared to their original NBC broadasts:
Firstly, all episodes had their opening titles moved to the start, in common with many series shown by the BBC.
Secondly, all Season 1 episodes featured the cello version of the theme music. The electric violin version originally used on the earliest episodes would not be heard in the UK until the VHS release of .
Thirdly, William Shatner's opening narration was heard on , having been absent on NBC.
Finally, the Desilu and/or Paramount closing logos were removed from all episodes, again in line with BBC policy, though it was a policy inconsistently followed as many imported series did keep their closing logos. However, ITV broadcasts still use the Desilu and/or Paramount closing logos until it fades to every ITV endcap in every ITV region.
At the time of first airing, BBC was still broadcasting in black and white. The first episode transmitted in color was .
Following the huge success of the series in the UK, BBC subsequently repeated the series throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, but in the order which followed the original NBC schedule.
=== Broadcast order ===
==== Season 1 ====
:Broadcast on Saturdays at 5:15 pm.
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==== Season 2 ====
:Broadcast on Mondays at 7:10 pm.
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==== Season 3 ====
:Broadcast on Wednesdays at 7:10 pm.
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==== Season 4 ====
:Broadcast on Wednesdays at 7:10 pm.
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==== Later airings ====
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== Spin-offs ==
The first season of was broadcast from to , with the second season being incorporated into a broadcast run the following year.
 premiered and ran until , up to . Many of the first season episodes were shown out of original airdate order, leading to some inconsistencies in plot lines across the first few episodes. After , the first-run rights of TNG – and later DS9 and Voyager – went to Sky One, with the BBC showing the episodes several months later.
From , the BBC instead repeated The Original Series, ending on . This screening mirrored the original US airdate order, and restored all of the edited content. The run of The Next Generation started again on , and once the run ended in 1996 the entire series repeated in its now regular Wednesday 6 pm time slot.
All of the Trek spin-offs were shown in an early-evening 6:00 pm slot – TNG on Wednesdays, DS9 on Thursdays, and VOY on Sundays – and as a result, several episodes had to be cut for violence and disturbing imagery, most notably the TNG episodes and . The BBC also refused to show the episode due to political sensitivity over its content (stating that terrorism had succeeded in re-unifying Ireland), broadcasting the episode for the first time on , nine years after the brought the conflict in question to a largely peaceful end.
The BBC lost out in the bidding to broadcast on terrestrial re-run to Channel 4 in , and did not renew its repeat rights for the other series until , when in July, Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation returned to the screen – Star Trek in a late-night Friday slot, with The Next Generation in a mid-afternoon Saturday slot (later following on from TOS in the Friday slot). Voyager repeat rights were taken by Five in .
BBC Two stopped repeating TOS in 2007 and TNG in 2008
== Further reading ==
*"Trek Britain: 45 years on British TV", Paul F. Cockburn, , 24 July 2014, pp. 28-33
== External links ==
* – official web site
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* – archive only, no longer active
* – distributor
* – production company
Category:Broadcasters