Doctor Who Prop Hunt

  Hi, thanks for stopping by and welcome to this, the first post of my new Blog. The Blog has sprung out of my classic Doctor Who Instagram account - @doctor_who_60s_70s_80s. For nearly a decade I’ve been posting photos covering all aspects of classic Who. Recently I’ve been particularly interested props that turn up in multiple Doctor Who stories and other TV/ film productions. As my Instagram posts on this topic have become more and more frequent I felt it was worth spinning these off into their own thing. The initial posts will all be research I have presented over on Instagram but it won’t be long before I’m posting new stuff.

The prop that featured as The Master’s ‘Iron Maiden’ TARDIS had a long and illustrious career on British TV and even appeared in a classic of British cinema. Here is a look at all of the occasions I have been able to spot this prop to date. ADAM ADAMANT LIVES!, 1966 This is the earliest I have been able to find the Iron Maiden. The episode is called Death Has A Thousand Faces. To be totally honest the jury is out on this one. The face of the prop is a match but the AAL example has its doors open so you can’t see the Maiden’s errr…charms. There are also a couple of alternative versions of this prop that I’ll look at later which muddy the waters a bit. Still I’m pretty confident it’s the right one. THE AVENGERS, 1967 From the season 5 episode Murdersville. CARRY ON HENRY, 1971 Yes, our Maiden is a film star. In this scene there is a gag with the engaged sign from a toilet. It’s filmed in close up to appear attached to the Iron Maiden. However it can’t be seen in the medium shots like thi...

The subject of this post is the bucket shaped space helmet worn by Beaus,one of the Delegates from Mission to the Unknown. In MTTU the helmet features a tall protuberance that I haven’t spotted anywhere else but the basic helmet turns up in a number of places. Presented here are all of the occasions I have been able to find it so far.  PATHFINDERS TO MARS, 1960 Five of these helmets can be found in this ABC Weekend TV production. These are the earliest examples I have spotted. THESE ARE THE DAMNED, 1961 One of the helmets seems to have been painted black for this Hammer film. MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS After Beaus’ appearance in Mission To The Unknown the next time I can find one of these helmets is in an episode of Monty Pythons’ third series ‘Mr. And Mrs. Brian Norris’ Ford Popular’. It was worn by Terry Gilliam. FRONTIER IN SPACE, 1973 PLANET OF THE DALEKS,1973 THE ANDROID INVASION, 1975 THE FACE OF EVIL, 1975 All of the helmets I have found seem to have had at least some modi...