History of Dragon Ball in the UK and Ireland

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Earlier this year we marked the 25th anniversary of Dragon Ball airing in the UK and Ireland with a broadcast history, today I bring you all the history of not just TV airings but also home video and streaming in the British Isles.

As with TheRed259's fantastic thread on Greece and Cyprus I will organize by series/movies and years.

DRAGON BALL Z

2000-2005: Dragon Ball Z's debut was March 6, 2000 on Cartoon Network and the final episode on the channel was 238 (edited numbering). The Saban dub was used for episodes 1-53 followed by the Funimation inhouse dub for episodes 54-107 and the remaining episodes on the channel were broadcast with the Westwood dub. Episodes 239-276 were shown on the short-lived sister channel CNX between October 14, 2002 and March 1, 2003 with episodes 239-260 initially airing with the Funimation dub before switching to the Westwood dub at some point during reruns. The Saban and Funimation inhouse dubs were based on poor English translations Funimation received from TOEI, and the Westwood dub scripts used the Funimation dub as a basis but made tweaks.
2003-2005: Reruns on CNX until its closure on September 1, 2003 and the Toonami channel between the end of 2003 and sometime in 2005. All 276 episodes were re-aired. TV specials 1 and 2 were aired on October 28, 2005 and November 4, 2005 exclusively on Toonami.
2012-2013: DVD release from Manga UK comes on July 2, 2012 with the final box set releasing on September 16, 2013. All 291 episodes were released and unlike the broadcasts it was exclusively the Funimation remastered dub. This marked the first time the entirety of Dragon Ball Z was legally available in the UK and Ireland, the first time the Japanese version was available in both territories, as well as the TV series debut on home video in the region.
2014: At some point Manga UK released 6 individual part DVDs for Dragon Ball Z season 1. These were originally just intended for the grocery store Sainsbury's but they became available on Amazon too.
2018: A DVD and Blu-Ray release of the TV specials came from Manga UK on April 16, 2018.
2019-2024: The series came to Blu-Ray with Funimation's 30th anniversary collection on November 25, 2019, which was followed by individual season sets and steelbooks released between November 9, 2020 and July 26, 2021. These releases marked the debut of Dragon Ball Z in its original 4:3 aspect ratio on home video in the UK and Ireland, although the following Blu-Ray complete collection on December 2, 2024 from Crunchyroll reverted back to using 16:9 discs.
2024-Present: Dragon Ball Z was streamed from March 1, 2024. Like the home releases it was Funimation's remastered dub. All 291 episodes were released.

DRAGON BALL GT

2003-2003: Dragon Ball GT premiered on CNX March 3, 2003 and concluded on June 30, 2003. Blue Water Studios English dub was aired. Dub was based on the Japanese version. All 64 episodes were aired.
2003-2005: Reruns on Toonami. All 64 episodes were rerun. The TV special was aired on August 19, 2005. Unlike the TV series the special used the Big Green dub.
2013-2018: DVD release from Manga UK with seasons 1 and 2 hit stores on January 20, 2014 and March 17, 2014 respectively. A complete box set was released on December 3, 2018. All releases used the Funimation dub.
2024-Present: Dragon Ball GT was streamed from March 15, 2024. Like the home releases it was Funimation's remastered dub. All 64 episodes were released.

DRAGON BALL

2003-2004: Dragon Ball arrives on Toonami October 6, 2003 and concluded on December 13, 2004. The Blue Water Studios English dub was broadcast. This dub used a mixture of Funimation's scripts with Japanese-to-English translations for earlier episodes, but exclusively used the latter for around the last 100+ episodes. All 153 episodes were aired.
2004-2005: Reruns on Toonami. All 153 episodes were rerun although the later episodes had less reruns than the earlier episodes.
2014-2015: Manga UK DVD release began with season 1 on May 5, 2014 and concluded with season 5 on November 24, 2014.
2024-Present: Dragon Ball was streamed from February 9, 2024. Like the home releases it was Funimation's remastered dub. All 153 episodes were released.

DRAGON BALL KAI

2012-2015: Dragon Ball Kai had a preview on Kix December 26, 2012 followed by the general run on January 5, 2013, and the series concluded on November 27, 2013, but had several reruns for the next 2 years. Funimation's dub, which was based on the Japanese version was broadcast. The Final Chapters to this day has never been aired.
2015-2018: DVD and Blu-Rays from Manga UK were released between August 3, 2015 and December 28, 2015 with The Final Chapters following between October 15, 2018 and December 10, 2018.
2024-Present: Dragon Ball Kai was streamed from August 21, 2024.

DRAGON BALL SUPER

2016-2017: Dragon Ball Super first became available subbed starting with episodes 47-56 on October 23, 2016 followed by Crunchyroll in 2017.
2017-2019: DVD and Blu-Ray Parts between Manga UK were released between October 30, 2017 and January 20, 2020
2019-2020: Dragon Ball Super arrives on Pop July 1, 2019 and finished up on September 18, 2020. The channel used Funimation's edited English dub. Funimation's dub of Super was based on the Japanese version.
2020-2025: Reruns on Pop. All 131 episodes were rerun. A Steelbook Blu-Ray collection was released on October 17, 2022 marking the first Crunchyroll-branded home release. As with Dragon Ball Z Crunchyroll released a complete collection Blu-Ray set for Dragon Ball Super on December 2, 2024. The English dub also came to Crunchyroll's streaming platform on March 29, 2024.

DRAGON BALL DAIMA

2025: Daima arrived on Crunchyroll on October 11, 2024 and Netflix UK on a week later. It was the Japanese version with English subtitles.

DRAGON BALL MOVIES

2003: Dragon Ball Z Movies 4 and 3 were released on VHS and DVD on September 8, 2003 and movie 2 was released around the same time. The Big Green dub was used and these releases were distributed by AB Groupe and Warner Vision. The Big Green dub was based on the French dub by SOFI.
2005: Toonami broadcast Dragon Ball Z movies 1-9 between May 30, 2005 and October 21, 2005. The channel also aired the original Dragon Ball movies between July 29, 2005 and August 12, 2005.
2014-2017: The first release of any of the revival era movies on home video was Battle of Gods on November 10, 2014 followed by Resurrection 'F' on January 25, 2016. Although the former only received a convention screening in Ireland* and a festival slot in Scotland on August 3rd and October 12th 2014 respectively, the latter received screenings on September 30, 2015. Both movies were aired on Sky Cinema August 13th and 20th 2016 and available to stream on Netflix December 15, 2017.
2017-2018: The features containing 2-3 Dragon Ball Z movies were released between October 23, 2017 and March 12, 2018. A complete collection was released on October 29, 2018.
2019-2025: Dragon Ball Super : Broly and Dragon Ball Super : Super Hero were screened theatrically on January 23, 2019 and August 19, 2022 with previews for the latter two days prior. Broly was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on May 27, 2019 and Super Hero was released on both formats June 12, 2023 followed by a 4K on December 18, 2023. Broly's release marked the first time a steelbook variant was made for any of the Dragon Ball movies or content in general in the UK and Ireland. In terms of streaming Broly arrived on Netflix November 20, 2019 in Japanese audio with English subtitles and Super Hero dropped on Crunchyroll in English and Japanese from July 12, 2023. Battle of Gods finally got a theatrical run on March 1-2, 2025. A second Broly Blu-Ray steelbook, this time with Crunchyroll's branding was released on November 10, 2025.

* I know this because I attended the Nom Con Convention this year, which Chris Sabat presented the crowd with a private screening of Funimation's dub during the closing ceremony.

[Kid Buu]

Does Ireland have the same TV networks as the UK then? Always wondered about that.

I remember noticing the change of voices / scores between the dubs. Also remember the mad hype of promos for the hatch Buu egg episodes.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Does Ireland have the same TV networks as the UK then? Always wondered about that.

Yes, I had access to all the channels that aired Dragon Ball in the UK. We have channels exclusive to Ireland like RTÉ1, RTÉ2, TV3 (now Virgin Media One) and TG4 but they never aired Dragon Ball (although RTÉ2 aired some anime from time to time Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh). My parents had Cartoon Network, CNX, Toonami, Kix and Pop through a Sky subscription, so I was always able to watch the various Dragon Ball shows when they were on.

I remember noticing the change of voices / scores between the dubs. Also remember the mad hype of promos for the hatch Buu egg episodes.

Yeah, I always loved the Westwood dub score and over the years wondered why a lot of the voices and music on the home releases and YouTube clips were not what I remembered from TV. I don't remember much of the Funimation Fusion saga on CNX other than Gohan's "I wanna kill you" line (which was "destroy you" in the Westwood dub) and the score being more edgy than the rest of the Buu arc.

[Kid Buu]

I understand this is a Dragon Ball forum, but since we're on the subject....here in England we get a black out for 3pm Saturday Premier League games. Doe that apply to Ireland then?

We often got American or Canadian dubs. Would you have liked to have seen a dub with British or Irish voice actors back then?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I understand this is a Dragon Ball forum, but since we're on the subject....here in England we get a black out for 3pm Saturday Premier League games. Doe that apply to Ireland then?

There was no blackouts where I live at that time, probably depends on the area. Although I'm not a big Premier League fan though, for sports I mostly just watch Ireland and Dublin games.

We often got American or Canadian dubs. Would you have liked to have seen a dub with British or Irish voice actors back then?

Yes, as there are actors on both the American and Canadian sides I've liked in the Dragon Ball dubs we've had I would be open to hearing British or Irish voice actors.

The Big Green dub was probably the only European English dub we'll ever get though. An English dub produced in the UK or Ireland would probably be far too niche especially when there is already an established fanbase here for the Funimation and Ocean casts.

On that note I did ask TG4 who produce and air Irish language dubs if they'd consider licensing Dragon Ball though. They said they had no plans but would let me know if that changed. Probably wouldn't be enough of a demand, but felt it wouldn't hurt to ask anyway.

[Kid Buu]

There was no blackouts where I live at that time, probably depends on the area. Although I'm not a big Premier League fan though, for sports I mostly just watch Ireland and Dublin games.

Yeah that's fair. Isn't gaelic football the big one there? That and Ireland getting big attention for the 6 Nations success.

Yes, as there are actors on both the American and Canadian sides I've liked in the Dragon Ball dubs we've had I would be open to hearing British or Irish voice actors.

The Big Green dub was probably the only European English dub we'll ever get though. A dub produced in the UK or Ireland would probably be far too niche especially when there is already an established fanbase here for the Funimation and Ocean casts.

At the time I honestly never even though about where a cartoon was from, but once I learned how anime and dubbed works I was curious if we'd ever get UK dubs. I haven't kept up much with modern anime but I still think we just inherit what dubs North America gives us.

I've only seen clips of the Big Green dub but from what I remember it kept the original score lol. I know it is in English but I wasn't sure what country that dub came from. Quick google search says France?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Yeah that's fair. Isn't gaelic football the big one there? That and Ireland getting big attention for the 6 Nations success.

Yeah Gaelic football is really popular, particularly in Mayo, which is sort of like the underdog team as they haven't won an all-Ireland since 1951 but they always get quite far only to be disappointed later. The Premier League is quite big too, Liverpool and Man Utd are the most popular teams in my experience. I don't watch much rugby though, prefer regular football. Ireland's win against Hungary over the weekend was a great watch and surprise win, glad since that match we're not out of the World Cup qualifiers just yet.

At the time I honestly never even though about where a cartoon was from, but once I learned how anime and dubbed works I was curious if we'd ever get UK dubs. I haven't kept up much with modern anime but I still think we just inherit what dubs North America gives us.

Yes, as far as I'm aware the vast majority of English anime dubs are recorded in North America, specifically Texas and Los Angeles. As interesting as a UK dub of Dragon Ball would be I think this franchises history with English dubs is convoluted enough.

I've only seen clips of the Big Green dub but from what I remember it kept the original score lol. I know it is in English but I wasn't sure what country that dub came from. Quick google search says France?

Most likely yes, the voice actors are American but worked on French productions. One fan has also theorized the reason the performances sound the way they do is because they use the "rhythmo band" method, which is considered far less effective than the "Three Beep Method" that US anime dubs use. David Gasman (who played Goku) said AB were in a hurry so I guess a combination of the cast using a dubbing method uncommon in English dubs and a rushed production schedule was bound to not give the best results.

[Kid Buu]

Yeah that's fair. Isn't gaelic football the big one there? That and Ireland getting big attention for the 6 Nations success.

Yeah Gaelic football is really popular, particularly in Mayo, which is sort of like the underdog team as they haven't won an all-Ireland since 1951 but they always get quite far only to be disappointed later. The Premier League is quite big too, Liverpool and Man Utd are the most popular teams in my experience. I don't watch much rugby though, prefer regular football. Ireland's win against Hungary over the weekend was a great watch and surprise win, glad since that match we're not out of the World Cup qualifiers just yet.

Yeah Liverpool and Man Utd are pretty popular everywhere lol, to be fair Roy Keane is definitely a big icon. Yeah that was a great goal scored against Hungary, and Ireland did beat Portugal with Ronaldo being sent off.

Yes, as far as I'm aware the vast majority of English anime dubs are recorded in North America, specifically Texas and Los Angeles. As interesting as a UK dub of Dragon Ball would be I think this franchises history with English dubs is convoluted enough.

Not too surprising since the US is the richest and most popolous English-speaking country. Probably even on this fourm the majority of posters are probably Americans. Yeah I think at this point a UK/Ireland dub would be counter productive but it would have been cool to see back in the day.

Most likely yes, the voice actors are American but worked on French productions. One fan has also theorized the reason the performances sound the way they do is because they use the "rhythmo band" method, which is considered far less effective than the "Three Beep Method" that US anime dubs use. David Gasman (who played Goku) said AB were in a hurry so I guess a combination of the cast using a dubbing method uncommon in English dubs and a rushed production schedule was bound to not give the best results.

Kind of strange it came from France since they have a big domestic industry so wouldn't expect an English language dub from there. Would have expected it more from Netherlands or Scandinavia. Funny thing is, around the time of the Trunks debut episodes of DBZ first aired, someone at school had come back from holiday from either France or Portugal. He had a magazine that showed how the Androids looked like, but it was actually the ones from the Super 13 film. Yeah you can say I was in shock lol.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Would have expected it more from Netherlands or Scandinavia.

I guess the Netherlands and Scandinavia (or Finland at least) used the existing English dubs for the TV broadcasts so there probably wasn't a need for their own English dub. Apparently the Finnish movie VHS releases even had the Big Green dub, but Sweden, Norway and Denmark all got dubs for the home video market.

Funny thing is, around the time of the Trunks debut episodes of DBZ first aired, someone at school had come back from holiday from either France or Portugal. He had a magazine that showed how the Androids looked like, but it was actually the ones from the Super 13 film. Yeah you can say I was in shock lol.

Funnily enough I had little toys of Hirudegarn and Tapion but had no idea who they were. AB Groupe's marketing was strange.

[Tian]

Funnily enough I had little toys of Hirudegarn and Tapion but had no idea who they were. AB Groupe's marketing was strange.

Did you get those in late 2002 or early 2003? Because I know that Germany and Poland premiered movies 12 & 13 (using the AB Groupe combined version) in cinemas at that time and it wouldn't be weird to suggest that AB was planning more premieres around Europe.

Of course, had it been released in the UK, it would've been dubbed by the folks from the Big Green cast because FUNimation didn't dub those movies until mid 2000s.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Funnily enough I had little toys of Hirudegarn and Tapion but had no idea who they were. AB Groupe's marketing was strange.

Did you get those in late 2002 or early 2003? Because I know that Germany and Poland premiered movies 12 & 13 (using the AB Groupe combined version) in cinemas at that time and it wouldn't be weird to suggest that AB was planning more premieres around Europe.

Of course, had it been released in the UK, it would've been dubbed by the folks from the Big Green cast because FUNimation didn't dub those movies until mid 2000s.

I want to say late 2001/early 2002 because from what I recall I had them before the Majin Boo arc premiered on Cartoon Network UK.

I never thought a theatrical release of Z movies 12 and 13 could have been planned and fell through, but I guess it's certainly possible. I always wondered whether there was any plans for screenings of the movies that did get dubbed by the Big Green cast because it seems strange before Toonami UK they were only released for the home video market. Given the success of the Pokemon and Digimon movies you'd think Dragon Ball would be the next anime property any licensor would have wanted to capitalise on.

[Kid Buu]

Would have expected it more from Netherlands or Scandinavia.

I guess the Netherlands and Scandinavia (or Finland at least) used the existing English dubs for the TV broadcasts so there probably wasn't a need for their own English dub. Apparently the Finnish movie VHS releases even had the Big Green dub, but Sweden, Norway and Denmark all got dubs for the home video market.

Funny thing is, around the time of the Trunks debut episodes of DBZ first aired, someone at school had come back from holiday from either France or Portugal. He had a magazine that showed how the Androids looked like, but it was actually the ones from the Super 13 film. Yeah you can say I was in shock lol.

Funnily enough I had little toys of Hirudegarn and Tapion but had no idea who they were. AB Groupe's marketing was strange.

Yeah, I think I remember seeing a Tapion toy but was just thinking it might be from some RPG game.

Speaking of video games, the Sega Saturn had its own TV show in Portugal and they did play a DBZ game on it, if you ever want to include that on your Portugal history page.

[90sDBZ]

Funnily enough I had little toys of Hirudegarn and Tapion but had no idea who they were. AB Groupe's marketing was strange.

I'll always remember the weird choices they made with the toys over here. There were toys of SS3 Goku, Gotenks, Super Buu, and Janemba while the Cell Saga was still airing. In hindsight it actually spoiled quite a lot of stuff.

By the time the Fusion Saga aired I was excited to finally see Super Buu on the show, after having toys of him for so long. I remember being surprised when I first saw Fat Buu, as there hadn't been any toys of him. I was really intrigued about how he ended up transforming.

I also remember thinking Janemba was another form of Cell, because at the time Z felt like it might end at Cell, and it was hard to imagine a stronger villain.

[M0nsoon07]

Just started watching the ocean dub of DBZ as going on a history tour (I’ve watched all the Funi dubs so now time for Ocean!)

Only seen first two eps but is sooo good- can’t wait to meet Brian Drummond’s Vegeta soon

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Just started watching the ocean dub of DBZ as going on a history tour (I’ve watched all the Funi dubs so now time for Ocean!)

Only seen first two eps but is sooo good- can’t wait to meet Brian Drummond’s Vegeta soon

Enjoy! Brian Drummond is fantastic as Vegeta, such a charismatic performance. Even though the censorship is quite bad (after the first 2 episodes all mentions of death are replaced with "next dimension") some of the voices really elevate this dub and make it enjoyable for what it is.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

So schedules from tvguide.co.uk no longer list programming on Pop from 6am tomorrow (January 1, 2026), so the early hours of tomorrow will be the final time Dragon Ball Super airs on the channel.

The final episodes broadcast will be:

• Episode 117 - Showdown of Love! Androids vs. Universe 2!! (December 31, 2025 @ 7:02-7:33PM)
• Episode 118 - Accelerated Tragedy - Vanishing Universes (December 31, 2025 @ 7:33-8:00PM)
• Episode 123 - Body, Soul and Power Unleashed! Goku and Vegeta!! (December 31, 2025 @ 8:00-8:31PM)
• Episode 80 - Awaken Your Dormant Fighting Spirit! Gohan's Fight!! (January 1, 2026 @ 1:50-2:14AM)
• Episode 81 - Bergamo The Crusher vs Goku! Whose Strength Reaches the Wild Blue Yonder? (January 1, 2026 @ 2:14-2:38AM)

With the rise of streaming this may mark the final time any Dragon Ball content airs on traditional TV in the UK or Ireland, but it had a good run.

Hard to believe Super lasted nearly 7 years on the channel too as that's longer than any of the previous shows aired on their respective channels during a time when linear TV was big.

[LostTimeLord]

this may mark the final time any Dragon Ball content airs on traditional TV in the UK or Ireland

In practice, it may as well still be on traditional TV for many, as Pop Up still has an EPG channel number and programme listings despite being IPTV rather than over-the-air. Anyone flicking through the Kid's section will still find it as if it's a regular channel, as long as their TV/device is connected to the internet.

But I think that the bigger picture is that Dragon Ball's in a much better position now than when it premiered on Pop. In terms of accessibility and reach, Super is on the BBC, which is bigger than any SVOD platform in terms of average reach and watch time (though I don't know how it compares with specific demographics). I doubt that much of CBBC's audience exclusively watches the live channel, and once they're on iPlayer, Dragon Ball Super is waiting for them. Plus the Japanese version of Daima streamed on Netflix (the most popular SVOD platform) within a week of its original broadcast, which is actually huge in terms of making the series available to as many people as possible.

It's not like Pop was doing anything special in terms of channel presentation either. From the beginning, they introduced every episode with a generic ident and the same recording of their announcer naming the show.

[EF2024]

Bit offtopic but considering warner bros discovery relaunching tlc as an entertainment channel on freeview channel 12 it would be the perfect time to give toonami a second chance especially as finn arnesen and paul cackett are gone so we could have the grown up toonami cnx was meant to be. I've been try to message them at the tlc uk instagram https://www.instagram.com/tlctvuk?igsh=NzVoZzJtM2UydHp6
Please help even if they get adult swim back it could be a proper start to getting anime a place on tv that isn’t cut to shreds on bbc iplayer.

[M0nsoon07]

I have been summoned...

I've got the email addresses for the two heads of Adult Swim UK/Europe, from the meeting I had with them in October, they had no plans to relaunch toonami in uk. That was before TLC was announced to be changing tho, may have changed. they seemed very interested in my idea though, i think my passion of ocean kai finally being released showed

let's hope something happens ie tlc, and hopefully in march when hbo max launches, they'll have ocean kai

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Yeah, HBO Max is launching here in March.

In terms of resurrecting the Toonami brand in the UK, something I'd like to see would be if they offered it as an add-on premium package like Orange TV did in Spain. It's not a lot, only an extra €3 a month, but third party content like Dragon Ball is expensive to license long term, so I say if they can keep it it would be worth it, especially for Ocean Kai (hopefully the heads of Adult Swim Europe have been sold on it). Pop was fortunate it could continue airing Super for many years because of the sponsorship deals with Smyths, but I can't imagine HBO Max would have that luxury, so I'd gladly support HBO Max if they were to offer Dragon Ball content that's never been seen before.