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Television, colloquially known as telly, was a system that allowed people to view broadcast plays, news, drama and comedy. It was a major source of entertainment and information on Earth from the mid 20th century onwards.
- You may be looking for the prefix used on this wiki to denote television stories.
The Sixth Doctor once dreamed that his adventures were broadcast on television. (PROSE: Christmas Special [+]Loading...["Christmas Special (ST short story)"])
History
Earth
In 1066, the First Monk believed that his meddling with history to change the course of the Battle of Hastings would lead to Shakespeare putting the play Hamlet on television. The First Doctor responded that he knew the medium. (TV: "Checkmate")
In 1903, after receiving a wealth of information from the future, Grigori Rasputin foresaw the creation of television. (AUDIO: The Wanderer [+]Loading...["The Wanderer (audio story)"])
The First Doctor claimed that television sets first appeared on Earth in the 1930s. (AUDIO: Upstairs [+]Loading...["Upstairs (audio story)"]) The television was invented by John Logie Baird in 1925 (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) and was commonly known as a televisor in its earliest years. As they were still experimental devices, very few people owned one at that time. UK Prime Minister of the era, (PROSE: The Wheel of Ice [+]Loading...["The Wheel of Ice (novel)"]) Ramsay MacDonald, (AUDIO: Storm Warning [+]Loading...["Storm Warning (audio story)"]) was among these few, as were the family of Josie Laws McRae, as her father was a lawyer who worked for the Logie Baird company in Long Acre. On 14 July 1930, the BBC broadcast a television adaptation of The Man with the Flower in His Mouth by Luigi Pirandello. This was the first television drama to be produced in the United Kingdom. Provided that it was successful, the BBC was considering producing a television adaptation of Black Orchid by George Cranleigh. (PROSE: The Wheel of Ice [+]Loading...["The Wheel of Ice (novel)"])
Traveling back to 1951, Sarah Jane Smith told Luke Smith that there were no TVs. (TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"]) In fact, by the early 1950s, the sets were already highly developed, although advances would continue to be made. The Wire tried to regain a physical body by using an Alexandra Palace television transmission of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953, but the Tenth Doctor managed to trap her in a video cassette. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern [+]Loading...["The Idiot's Lantern (TV story)"])
Hours of broadcast were strictly limited by the British government, and each evening's broadcasts from Alexandra Palace ended between 10.30 and 11pm with the National Anthem. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"])
In the 1960s, televisions used a test card in order to test its picture. In 1963, the test card used by the BBC had a circle in the centre. In 1967, the circle was replaced with a picture of a little girl and a clown playing noughts and crosses. (AUDIO: The Light at the End [+]Loading...["The Light at the End (audio story)"])
On 20 July 1969, according to the Eleventh Doctor, half a billion people watched the Apollo 11 moon landing live on television. (TV: Day of the Moon [+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"])
By 1998, television had become interactive thanks to technology introduced by I². (PROSE: System Shock [+]Loading...["System Shock (novel)"])
When Mickey Smith first saw the Guinevere probe on the television, he did not consider it noteworthy as he had encountered the "truth", (PROSE: Mars [+]Loading...["Mars (WiDW short story)"]) having encountered Autons (TV: Rose [+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"], PROSE: Dummy Massacre [+]Loading...["Dummy Massacre (short story)"], etc.) and the Slitheen. (TV: Aliens of London [+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"], World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"], etc.) However, upon closer inspection, Mickey found that the Guinevere probe was actually suspicious. (PROSE: Mars [+]Loading...["Mars (WiDW short story)"])
During his time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Saxon Master watched an episode of Teletubbies praising the idea of a lifeform having a television in its stomach as a miracle of evolution. (TV: The Sound of Drums [+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)"])
In 2013, Reece Stanford asked the Tenth Doctor what he watched on television, surprised that he had not heard of Doomcastle. The Doctor simply responded that he had not watched television "in ages", describing the last thing he saw as "that girl playing noughts and crosses, you know, with the clown". (PROSE: Autonomy [+]Loading...["Autonomy (novel)"])
In the 2020s, when Kate Stewart sent out a message to recruit humans for Operation Time Fracture, (WC: 14681 UNIT Field Log [+]Loading...["14681 UNIT Field Log (webcast)"], 14684 UNIT Field Log [+]Loading...["14684 UNIT Field Log (webcast)"]) one group received the message on a television in their home. (PROSE: And now for a story... [+]Loading...["And now for a story... (short story)"])
By the early 21st century, they were also holographic, capable of 3-D broadcasting. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Warhead [+]Loading...["Cat's Cradle: Warhead (novel)"])
By 2025, pocket-sized, portable televisions were extremely common. (AUDIO: Energy of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Energy of the Daleks (audio story)"])
Television was one of the mediums in which humanity created artistic renderings of its archenemies the Daleks, whose place in human popular culture became considerable. There were also Dalek stage plays and merchandising. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]Loading...["Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)"])
Other planets
In the far future, television was still a popular pastime. Violent television was much more common than before in such places as the planet Varos and in the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. (TV: Vengeance on Varos [+]Loading...["Vengeance on Varos (TV story)"], Bad Wolf [+]Loading...["Bad Wolf (TV story)"])
Other human nations, such as the New Earth Republic, liked to watch shows from old Earth. (PROSE: Synthespians™ [+]Loading...["Synthespians™ (novel)"])
On Atrios, there was a television system that broadcasted dramas and political messages. (TV: The Armageddon Factor [+]Loading...["The Armageddon Factor (TV story)"])
On Sto, watching TV was also popular. There was a popular series called By the Light of the Asteroid that involved twins. (TV: Voyage of the Damned [+]Loading...["Voyage of the Damned (TV story)"])
Television existed on Traken but it never became a popular form of entertainment. (PROSE: Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life [+]Loading...["Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life (short story)"])
Television existed on Skaro towards the end of the Thousand Year War. Captain Croag and the Highland Rangers was a Kaled propaganda television series. Davros watched it as a child, as did his elder half-sister Yarvell. (AUDIO: Guilt [+]Loading...["Guilt (audio story)"])
Television existed on Mondas at the time of the creation of the Cybermen. (AUDIO: Spare Parts [+]Loading...["Spare Parts (audio story)"])
Other realities
In Pete's World, television reviews were one of the options for content to be downloaded to a Cybus EarPod user's brain with the daily download. (PROSE: EarPod [+]Loading...["EarPod (feature)"])
References
When he was revived on Karn, the Eighth Doctor flippantly demanded that the Sisterhood of Karn bring him, among other things, a television to stave off the boredom. (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Night of the Doctor (TV story)"])